Three Israeli soldiers dismissed, jailed for refusing to return to fighting in Gaza

Defence affairs analysis

The Israeli army said Sunday that it had dismissed and jailed three soldiers for refusing to return to fighting in the Gaza Strip.

A military statement said the three soldiers, from the Nahal Infantry Brigade’s 931st Battalion, were jailed between seven and 12 days in a military prison.

According to the public broadcaster KAN, the dismissed soldiers cited a “deep internal crisis” as the reason for their refusal to return to fighting in Gaza.

KAN cited one of the soldiers’ mothers as saying that they had fought inside Gaza for months and lost several comrades and were exposed to “harsh scenes and tragic experiences”.

This was not the first time Israeli soldiers have refused to join combat in Gaza.

According to military data, 895 Israeli soldiers had been reported killed and 6,134 injured since the beginning of the war in Gaza. The army faces domestic accusations of concealing higher losses.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.