Knesset panel told of widespread marital, financial strain among reservists’ families

By Sam Sokol 11 November 2025, 3:37 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

One third of IDF reservists’ wives have considered getting divorced or separated since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, lawmakers on the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality are told.

According to figures provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 58 percent of divorced women and 48% of single mothers who share children with a reservist reported experiencing financial hardship.

Five percent of reservists’ spouses who are employed and 73% of those who are self-employed reported suffering economic harm, and among partners of reservists who were self-employed before October 7, 12% are now salaried employees while 8% are out of work.

“The war may have ended in its current form, but its consequences are far from over. The harm to the wives and families of reservists, as reflected in the Central Bureau of Statistics survey, indicates a broad and deep crisis that requires systemic, focused and long-term treatment,” says committee chair Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid). “This is an unfortunate — but unfortunately not surprising — result of a reality in which approximately 300,000 reservist servicemen and women have been drafted for extended periods since the beginning of the war, some… for hundreds of days.”

She adds: “The CBS survey data shows that approximately half of the women reported harm to their marital relationship, and a third stated that the harm even led to thoughts of separation or divorce. In addition, a significant proportion of the women reported a negative change in the mental state of their children, or that they themselves sought psychological help.”

While an official at the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Ministry told lawmakers that funding has been allocated to appoint designated coordinators to deal with compensation issues at 90 local authorities, an official from the Finance Ministry says that “there is no budgetary source from the Treasury for the government’s decision” and that “the government’s decision does not specify an additional budget.”

Multiple women testify that they felt the government’s assistance has been insufficient.