Mothers of Israeli soldiers in Gaza: Our children’s lives depend on a political game

The Hebrew newspaper "Maariv" reported that the mothers of Israeli soldiers said that their children felt frustrated about returning to fighting in areas from which they withdrew in the Gaza Strip, and that they did not trust their political leadership.

On Saturday, the newspaper quoted “Yael,” the mother of a soldier serving in a commando unit in Gaza, and who represents a group of mothers in the unit in which her son serves and in other units, as saying: “Israel’s failure to take a decision the day after the war leads to unnecessary deaths of soldiers.” "For their deaths."

The mother, whose son is scheduled to return to fighting in the city of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, added: “My heart breaks when I see how soldiers enter the war and die and get injured over and over again in the same places where they fought, just because of procrastination for political considerations.”

She continued: "Now Jabalia again and Al-Zaytoun (a neighborhood in Gaza City) again, and this will be the case in every neighborhood in which they actually fought. As mothers, we believe in military service, but we feel frustrated because our children's lives are being manipulated in a political game."

Yael explained: “My son is a brave and loyal fighter. He lost friends, many of whom were seriously injured and will not recover soon, and now, he and many of his colleagues, do not trust the political leadership.”

She added: The soldiers are very angry because their enormous sacrifices were not used to return those kidnapped by Hamas.

Earlier today, Saturday, the Israeli occupation army said in a statement that it "directed residents of Jabalia and neighboring neighborhoods to temporarily move to shelters west of Gaza City following Hamas's attempts to reorganize its ranks there."

Since last Thursday, Israeli forces have also continued their incursion into the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and areas in the Al-Sabra and Tal Al-Hawa neighborhoods, south of Gaza City, and are carrying out massive bombing operations in these areas, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries in addition to widespread material destruction, according to eyewitnesses and Palestinian medical sources.

Yesterday, Friday, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it “sniped a Zionist officer south of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City,” and said that it “directly hit” him, in addition to carrying out several attacks with multiple rockets and mortar shells against Israeli forces in Gaza City and the Zaytoun neighborhood.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza that has left about 113,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and nearly 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of children and the elderly.

Israel continues the war despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and also despite the International Court of Justice demanding immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.