A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Israel is calling up more troops as it returns to war in Gaza. This time, fewer reservists say they're willing to report for duty. NPR's Daniel Estrin has details from Tel Aviv. And just a warning - you will hear the sounds of gunfire in this report.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: We spoke to three Israelis who were officers and commanders of troops in Gaza and who became frustrated with the military strategy.
ALON SCHNEIDER: I was called a week and a half ago. I decided this time around I'm not going.
ESTRIN: Dr. Alon Schneider (ph) left his hospital job after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
SCHNEIDER: It felt like do or die almost, like an existential thing.
ESTRIN: In Gaza, he led a unit of combat physicians serving with commando soldiers. They had motivation. But as the months dragged on, soldiers were sent back to fight in the same areas in Gaza they'd already retreated from.
SCHNEIDER: Soldiers got killed in the same places again and again and again and again. It freaks me out. Whenever I hear about soldiers that got killed in a different neighborhood or refugee camp, I'm saying, but we cleared it. People got killed because they cleared it. How come it happened again?
ESTRIN: The turning point came when his tour of duty ended and he started watching the nightly news and the mudslinging between Israeli leaders deflecting blame for the war. Schneider says 15 out of 40 soldiers in his medical combat unit will not show up for duty in Gaza again, him included.
SCHNEIDER: I have zero trust in the decision-makers that are sending me to war.
ESTRIN: Another officer who dropped out is Yotam Vilk. He served in a tank company in Gaza for hundreds of days and had friends who got killed.
YOTAM VILK: It was obvious that a lot of people in the Israeli government, they're pulling this war to be an unending war, to make ethnic cleansing in Gaza, to resettle in Gaza. They don't care about Palestinian's life, about my life, about hostages' lives. And on the extreme right wing, they have an interest of us continuing in this war to be able to fulfill their wishes to expand Israel or make Palestinians leave.
ESTRIN: Israel's newly stated goals are to capture more land in Gaza for a buffer zone and to help Palestinians leave Gaza. Vilk signed a petition with 300 other reservists refusing to serve in Gaza again.
VILK: We all paid a really huge price the last year and a half. We did our own duty. Like, we showed up, and then we were just betrayed by our own country.
ESTRIN: In a recent poll by Israeli Channel 12 TV, nearly 70% of Israelis surveyed said they do not trust their government and want to complete a deal with Hamas to end the war and free the remaining hostages. Israel says more military pressure is needed to strike a better deal with Hamas for the release of 59 living and dead hostages.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #1: (Shouting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #2: (Shouting in non-English language).
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
ESTRIN: This is a video that reservist Captain Kobi Cohen filmed in Gaza last year, an ambush on his troops. One of his soldiers lost his vision in one eye. When Israel struck a ceasefire deal with Hamas this year and pulled many troops out of Gaza, he thought the job was half done.
KOBI COHEN: When they came to the deal, I had in mind, like, listen, like, you're giving up on a lot of our success and a lot of blood that we shed. We're not a toy. We're not something that you could go in and out, and in and out of Gaza because every time we go in and out, it has a price, of course.
ESTRIN: He says about 30% of his reserves unit has dropped out for personal or family reasons. He and most of his unit are willing to leave their families and serve in Gaza again, but he hopes Israel permanently captures parts of Gaza as a deterrent against future attacks.
COHEN: We ask and demand that this should be the last time because if we play it right, I really think that this could be the last time, at least in this area in Gaza, for the next decades.
ESTRIN: In a statement, the Israeli military said it has not seen a drastic change in enlistment rates. Israeli media are reporting the military is concerned about high dropout among reservists. The debate among reservists has become public, and it complicates Israeli plans for expanding the war in Gaza.
Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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