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8 Israeli soldiers commit suicide in past 3 months: Report

Wednesday, 11 October 2017 8:07 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 11 October 2017 11:28 AM ]

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at Palestinian protesters during clashes in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on October 6, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

A new report says eight Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives over the past almost three months, raising concerns about the growing number of suicides within the ranks of the regime’s military.

Israel’s 0404 news website reported that an Israeli soldier at the Hatzor military base had fired a bullet at her head on Tuesday.

The new incident brings to eight the total number of Israeli troopers who have committed suicide over the past almost three months, according to the report.

Back in January, a senior official in the Israeli military’s manpower directorate said suicide was the main cause of deaths among the army soldiers in 2016, adding that 15 troopers— all of them male — had killed themselves in that year.

“Most of the fallen soldiers who committed suicide last year (2016) were soldiers in their mandatory service, and the act was during their service and not during their training,” she said.

The photo shows an Israel soldier during a military exercise in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on September 7, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Israeli army was conducting a program to reduce the number of suicides with commanders requested to identify warning signs in those under their command, she pointed out.

The 2016 suicide figure in the Israeli military remained unchanged compared to its previous year, but more than doubled the low of seven recorded in 2013.

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