Dozens of soldiers court-martialed for faking skin disease

The IDF meted out punishment to 48 soldiers on Tuesday for pretending to catch a skin disease during an outbreak at an army base earlier this month, the military said.

The harshest sentences were given to two soldiers who were dismissed from their combat positions over the incident. The other 46 soldiers were ordered to remain on base without leave for between 14 and 28 days, the army said.

Last week, over 200 soldiers told army doctors they were infected with a skin disease on the Shizafon base in the heart of the Negev desert, prompting the IDF to fly down a special medical team to diagnose and treat them.

None of the soldiers who professed to have rashes and lesions were found to be seriously ill, but many of them were sent home to recuperate, while the medical team sent samples to the Tel Hashomer hospital in Ramat Gan for testing.

Dozens of soldiers were found to have impetigo, a bacterial infection that causes sores, typically spread through unsanitary living conditions. The infected soldiers were prescribed antibiotics, the army said.

The remaining soldiers, however, seem to have been faking their symptoms.

“The conduct of the soldiers is incompatible with what is expected of IDF soldiers,” the army said in a statement. “It also brought about the special activation of medical systems unnecessarily at the cost of operational preparedness.”

At least three more soldiers were due to be court-martialed in the coming days.