Over 1,000 IDF soldiers reportedly discharged due to PTSD

Some 1,135 Israeli soldiers have been discharged from service with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Walla reported. The figure includes active-duty soldiers, reservists, and career soldiers removed from duty due to combat-related psychological trauma. The outlet said the numbers are based on military data covering the period from Oct. 7, 2023, to July 2025.

The Israeli military’s Medical Corps and Technological and Logistics Directorate has responded to this growing phenomenon by expanding psychological services to IDF soldiers. Time appears to be critical. Data presented to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz indicated that some 85% of affected IDF soldiers could return to duty if their stress symptoms were treated at an early stage. 

However, the challenge of treating PTSD is not limited to merely limited resources. 

“One of the most difficult issues around PTSD is shame,” one reservist soldier said on condition of anonymity. The soldier has been fighting multiple rounds of combat since the Oct. 7 attack. 

“Fighters and commanders experience symptoms to varying degrees, but they’re afraid to seek help; afraid of documentation that could hurt them later,” the soldier explained. 

IDF ground forces commanders recognize the challenge but argue that the military’s health services have improved over time. 

“We are constantly surprised by the availability and quality,” one IDF commander stated. “But no matter how much is provided, we must keep thinking about the soldiers still on the front lines,” the commander added. 

However, the challenge is still considerable. The number of IDF soldiers who seek psychological help has increased from 270 per year before the Oct. 7 attack to some 3,000. This constitutes a tenfold increase since the war started nearly two years ago. The IDF reported that 21 soldiers committed suicide in 2024, which was the highest number in more than decade. 

Furthermore, the issue of growing PTSD in Israeli society extends far beyond the IDF. 

NATAL, an organization that assists Israelis with war- and terror-related trauma, reported in November 2023 that it had received 15,000 calls for mental health assistance in October – ten times the usual monthly average.

A health report at the time revealed that Israeli health services were overburdened even before the Oct. 7 attack. 

“Even before the outbreak of war, the public mental health system was significantly deficient, which was visible through, among other things, repeated claims of a significantly lacking budget, a lack of personnel, long waiting times for psychotherapeutic or psychiatric treatment, and poor infrastructure in mental health hospitals,” the report stated. 

In January 2024, psychiatry experts warned that the Hamas Oct. 7 atrocities and the ongoing war has caused the worst mental trauma in the modern history of the State of Israel. 

Eli Cohen, the head of Clalit, one of Israel’s largest Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), noted that much of his organization’s already strained resources are invested in assisting war-affected Israelis, especially those living in the south and the north. 

"As Israel's largest HMO, serving over 50% of the country's population, most of those displaced by the situation in the north and south are our patients. Given the growing number of mental health inquiries, we are taking proactive and rapid measures. This initiative, supported by the best professional standards, will swiftly and effectively expand our response to the current and future challenges," Cohen stated.