Army probing apparent suicides of three Gaza veterans

Military police are investigating the possible suicides of three IDF soldiers who served in the same brigade and fought in the same area of Gaza over the summer, Israeli news site NRG reported Monday.

In separate incidents over the past several weeks each of the Givati infantry brigade soldiers was found dead with his rifle at this side. It was not clear from the report if the soldiers had served together or knew each other.

According to the report, one of the deaths happened in the center of the country and the two others were in IDF positions near the Gaza border.

In August, lone soldier David Menahem Gordon, who had been reported missing days beforehand, was found dead. The 21-year-old Givati Brigade soldier, a resident of Jerusalem, was found in central Israel with his rifle by his side, the IDF said in a statement.

A senior official in the IDF’s psychological service said the army’s suicide figures for 2014 are the same as for the previous year, even including the three recent incidents. The total number of suicides will only be released at the end of the year but during 2013 there were seven, the lowest number ever in the IDF’s history.

As part of the preparations for the summer’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza, soldiers were given courses on dealing with the stress of combat. All soldiers on active duty received the training, as did 70 percent of the reserve troops who were called up.

During the seven weeks of fighting in July and August, members of the IDF psychological branch were stationed on the border with Gaza so that any soldiers suffering stress could be treated quickly as their units were cycled out of the combat zone for rest and recuperation.

The source told NRG that 85% of those treated returned to their units.

In the coming weeks the IDF intends to conduct interviews with hundreds of fighters who took part in the campaign to check how they are doing. Over the past month the medical corps contacted injured soldiers as well as many others who their commanders identified as possibly suffering post traumatic stress disorder.