Israel’s military leadership and opposition figures have warned that the Israel Defense Forces are nearing collapse under the strain of a multi-front war, citing critical troop shortages and a lack of clear strategy.
"The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield," opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a televised statement, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir to the security cabinet, according to Israeli media reports.
"The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers," Lapid said.
Media reports quoted Zamir as telling the security cabinet that "the IDF is on the verge of collapse."
Commenting on the troop shortage in a televised briefing Thursday, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said that "more combat soldiers are needed" on a range of fronts, notably in Lebanon.
"On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces," Defrin said, also mentioning increased needs in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Syria.
Lapid said that Zamir told the cabinet that he had reservists doing sixth and seventh rotations.
"These reservists are worn out and exhausted and can no longer meet our security challenges," Lapid said.
"The army does not have enough soldiers for its missions."
Lapid called for drafting men from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, who, since the creation of Israel in 1948, have been exempted from military service.
Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling established at the country's creation – when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community – men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.
"The government must stop being cowardly, immediately halt all funding for Haredi draft dodgers, send the military police after deserters, and draft the Haredim without hesitation," Lapid said.
