2024-03-25 11:01:03
The IDF began preparing to provide financial aid to the families of wounded soldiers on a regular basis. Parents of wounded soldiers who are absent from work to care for them, report that IDF representatives contacted them and took details of the days of work they lost in order to compensate them.
According to the explanations provided by the army representatives to the parents, the IDF records the days of work they lost – including vacation and sick days – and is supposed to pay them for each such day, including retroactive payment for days already lost.
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This is a correction for a distortion that harms the families of soldiers wounded in regular service. With the outbreak of the war, the Ministry of Defense and the National Insurance decided to immediately, temporarily, recognize the war wounded as entitled to financial support – for them and their families, and to check only in a year whether they are entitled to permanent assistance. The support includes support for their families.
According to the explanations given to the parents of the wounded, the IDF records the days of work they lost, and is supposed to pay them retroactively.
However, family members of the regular soldiers “fell through the cracks” and were not included in the aid package. The citizens were immediately recognized as victims of hostilities – and they and their families receive assistance from the National Insurance.
A helicopter evacuates wounded in the operation of the wounded rescue unit of Unit 669 in the Gaza Strip, January 4, 2024 (photo: IDF spokesperson)
Permanent soldiers, reservists and soldiers who were released from Seder due to their injury or the end of their service – were immediately and temporarily recognized as disabled by the IDF, and they and their families receive assistance from the Ministry of Defense. The regular soldiers are treated for free anyway, and therefore were not included in Seder – and the army ignored the need to help their families.
In January, the IDF prepared a new order that refers to the families and guarantees them compensation for the days of work they were absent, as well as psychological care and additional assistance. But according to an official privy to the details, the order got stuck in the intricacies of the military bureaucracy, and the relevant party that was supposed to approve and sign it did not approve and sign it until recently.
“We manage to get to work twice a week. They ask us, ‘How long will it last?’ I finished my sick days and vacation and left for the sick leave, and my husband is on his way to that. Until this week, the army has not told us if and when we will receive compensation”
Noam (pseudonym), a fighter in combat engineering, was seriously injured in the war and has been hospitalized for about three months. His parents stay 24 hours a day at his bedside, taking turns between them.
According to his mother Ronit (pseudonym): “We manage to get to work twice a week and our heads are not there. We are veterans at our jobs so we are not fired, even though they ask, ‘How long will this last?’ I finished my sick and vacation days and left for the sick leave, and my husband is on his way to that. Until this week, the army has not told us if and when we will receive compensation.”
Evacuation of the wounded to the Barzilai Medical Center (Photo: Barzilai Hospital Spokesperson)
About a week and a half ago, the story of Liat (pseudonym), the mother of a soldier from an elite unit, who was seriously injured in the current war in the IDF’s activities in the West Bank, was broadcast on the program “It will be alright” on IDF airwaves. Liat said that due to the shortage of manpower at the hospital, her son needs her care and she is by his side all the time. Liat started working two weeks before her son’s injury and has no vacation or sick days, and the employer only paid her wages until February.
Liat inquired with the IDF, the Ministry of Defense and the National Insurance about possibilities for assistance, and did not receive a clear answer. Last week, a welfare officer approached her and asked how many days of work she had lost, in order to grant her compensation.
The Ministry of Defense told Ronit and Liat that they will be entitled to immediate assistance if and when their sons are released from the IDF. But the difficult situation of these two soldiers is improving, so it is not known if they will be released
Our investigation shows that other parents of wounded soldiers, such as Ronit, Noam’s mother, have received similar requests from the IDF in recent days; it is possible that the completion of the IDF procedure and the contact to the parents occurred following the publication on the IDF airwaves.
The Ministry of Defense told Ronit and Liat that they will be entitled to immediate assistance if and when their sons are released from the IDF. But the difficult situation of these two soldiers is improving, so it is not known if they will be released.
IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip, March 2024 (photo: IDF spokesperson)
Like most wounded soldiers, they have a strong motivation to return to active duty and even combat, after they recover. Liat said in the same interview: “The desire to return to the service is what keeps my son, I will not work to bring about his release.”
About 20 thousand wounded, most of them will remain disabled
According to the data of the Ministry of Health, since October 7, approximately 14,900 wounded from all fronts of the war have been treated in the hospitals. According to IDF data, more than 3,100 of them are regular and reserve soldiers. The rest are police officers, security personnel, and mainly civilians. 139 of the war wounded died in the hospitals.
About 670 of these wounded (civilians, policemen and soldiers) suffered mental injuries; The rest – more than 14 thousand – were physically injured, or both physically and mentally. This is a war with the highest number of wounded in the country’s history.
Since the beginning of the war, the National Insurance has temporarily recognized more than 60 thousand civilians as victims of hostilities, most of them (around 50 thousand) are mentally injured who are treated in the community
Since the beginning of the war, the National Insurance has temporarily recognized more than 60 thousand civilians as victims of hostilities, most of them (around 50 thousand) are mentally injured who are treated in the community. The Ministry of Defense temporarily recognized more than 6,000 permanent and reserve soldiers, police officers and members of the security forces as disabled by the IDF. Professionals estimate that thousands more Israelis suffered mental injuries during the war, but were not recognized as casualties.
In total, it is estimated that the number of physically injured is about 20 thousand. Professionals in the security system estimate that 80% of the injured soldiers and policemen will have some form of disability.
IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, March 2024 (photo: IDF spokesperson)
An IDF spokesman said in response: “At the end of significant staff work conducted in recent weeks by the IDF and the Rehabilitation Division at the Ministry of Defense, a precedential IDF order was approved, which significantly expands the entitlements granted to servicemen and their families, and compares the entitlements granted to the wounded who are not in (regular) service with those granted to the wounded while in service.
“The amended order was approved on February 4, 2024 and entered into force upon its distribution. The vast majority of the additional entitlements, including a one-time grant for each hospitalized person, global reimbursement for lodging expenses, travel, parking, emotional care for first-degree relatives, and more, are already realized today.
“The mechanism regarding the rest of the entitlements will be completed as soon as possible, and will be given retroactively to all the wounded and their families from the beginning of the war”
“The mechanism regarding the rest of the entitlements will be completed as soon as possible, and will be given retroactively to all the wounded and their families from the beginning of the war. The IDF and the Rehabilitation Division will continue to accompany the wounded and their families.”
The “other entitlements” mentioned in the response of the IDF spokesperson, which will be granted from now on, include the assistance to the families of the wounded soldiers.
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