IDF Withholds Data On Mental Health Discharges Since October 7, Haaretz Says

Haaretz reported that the Israel Defense Forces is withholding data on the number of soldiers discharged since October 7 for mental health reasons, despite a legal obligation. The investigation described in the report says the army refrained from disclosing detailed figures about discharges for psychological reasons during the war on the Gaza Strip. It also says the army delayed responding to formal requests submitted since June of last year under the Freedom of Information Act, even as accusations mounted that it deliberately hides sensitive information about the scale of psychological losses. Haaretz frames the issue as a conflict between legal requirements and what it describes as on-the-ground realities, citing that requests exceeded legally prescribed response deadlines that reach up to 120 days.

“The Israeli army refrained from disclosing complete data relating to the number of soldiers who were discharged from service for psychological reasons during the war on the Gaza Strip, in a move described as a violation of the Freedom of Information Act, amid explicit accusations by senior officers of deliberately concealing the true data”

Al-Jazeera Net

The investigation described by وكالة شهاب الإخبارية says former officers in the Human Resources Department and the army's spokesperson unit confirmed a trend to derail publication of any data that could damage the army's image, especially information described as “undignified.” It adds that a reserve officer indicated the presence of experts inside the army whose tasks include rewriting numbers and statistics to hide the extent of psychological pressures endured by soldiers. The report says the army was compelled by a court ruling to surrender partial data relating to the first year of the war, which it describes as unprecedented in the military institution’s history. Those figures, as presented in the report, include “7,241 soldiers and officers were permanently discharged for psychological reasons,” and it also says the number of suicides among soldiers doubled and remained sealed until the end of 2024. In an official statement, the army spokesperson “merely said that the requests regarding these data are being processed,” while Haaretz says that contradicts the legal and on-the-ground realities observed during the investigation.

The same investigation says fears within the army's General Staff that revealing the scale of psychological injuries could undermine morale and deepen internal divisions are central to the concealment. It also says medical sources within the army's mental health department attributed the deterioration to the scale of traumas faced by soldiers after the October 7 events and subsequent violent military operations in the Gaza Strip. Several soldiers who participated in battles inside the Gaza envelope, according to the report, said they are unable to return to fighting, prompting the army to expand mental health support units on an unprecedented scale and establish specialized treatment centers. The report further says media emphasis highlighted the effectiveness of treatment rather than spotlighting the size of the mental health crisis, while Hebrew-language media images distributed by the army's spokesperson showed scenes of significant losses among soldiers during the war. In parallel, Yeni Şafak’s framing of Haaretz’s findings emphasizes that the official spokesperson refused to provide full data requested after a late June 2025 filing, and it cites legal deadlines requiring responses within thirty days with possible extensions up to one hundred twenty days.

“The Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that the Israeli army is concealing precise statistics regarding the discharge of thousands of officers and soldiers from military service due to mental health disorders during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, while the official spokesperson refused to provide the full data requested”

Yeni Safak