SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Israel announced last week that it would try to conquer one of the last remaining areas in Gaza that is not already under its control. This is despite growing protests from the families of hostages being held in Gaza calling for an end to the war. And now, with Israel's military escalation, new anti-war voices have emerged - Israel's own soldiers. NPR's Emily Feng reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED DEMONSTRATOR #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: When Ron Finer (ph), platoon commander, stood up to speak at an anti-war demonstration in Tel Aviv this month, he electrified the audience.
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RON FINER: (Speaking Hebrew).
FENG: He said, "the government doesn't care about the hostages or soldiers dying in battle. All they care about are fantasies of conquest." And the solution, he s4aid...
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FINER: (Speaking Hebrew).
FENG: ...Fighters must stop fighting. Military reservists must stop reporting for duty. And that's precisely what 26-year-old Finer did.
FINER: I have a lot of disagreements.
FENG: I met Finer a few days later in a square in Tel Aviv.
FINER: I've served there for four years as a infantry warrior.
FENG: On October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, he voluntarily reported back to duty. And after three exhaustive tours of duty, including one in Lebanon, doubt started to creep in about why he was still fighting. This past March, Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, and Finer said a switch flipped.
FINER: This time, it was so clear for me. They don't want this war to end anytime before they conquer the whole Gaza Strip. Another day we suspend it is another day Israeli soldiers could die. And the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and people dying every day also from hunger and also from, like, airstrikes.
FENG: More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed or starved to death in the war, Gaza health officials say.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: But a figure that has garnered far more alarm in Israel is the spike in soldiers' suicides - seven known cases alone in July, mostly among soldiers who have just returned from fighting in Gaza.
I'm here in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, right by the side of a highway. And here, a couple of veterans from the last war in Gaza have set up an inflatable mattress, picnic seats.
They're here to get the government to recognize the mental cost of fighting wars. Thirty-two-year-old Omar Amsalam fought in Israel's last war in Gaza in 2014.
OMAR AMSALAM: (Speaking Hebrew).
FENG: He survived, but he says the war killed him on the inside. On his left forearm is a tattoo.
AMSALAM: (Speaking Hebrew).
FENG: It shows the Gaza that still haunts him - a burning house, a tank and a lone soldier. Now he fears the government will not take care of the soldiers traumatized in this war.
NADAV WEIMAN: It has broken people.
FENG: This is Nadav Weiman, who works with the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence. It gathers testimonies from Israeli soldiers, like Weiman himself, about Israel's occupation of the West Bank and now its current war in Gaza.
WEIMAN: We don't have enough interviewers in Breaking the Silence to interview all of the soldiers that want to give us testimony.
FENG: And he's seeing a lot of trauma.
WEIMAN: And a lot of PTSD, a lot of PTSD. And, you know, when you see - you interview a lot of people, so you know that when somebody speaks, like, very monotone like this, like, trying to avoid or not being attached to what he did, that's the hardest thing.
FENG: But the voice of a soldier travels far in Israel, where the military is widely respected and service is mandatory for most citizens.
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UNIDENTIFIED DEMONSTRATORS: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED DEMONSTRATOR #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
FENG: Itamar is a reservist medic.
ITAMAR: And we need to protect our people.
FENG: Now he spends his time at anti-war protests like this one.
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UNIDENTIFIED DEMONSTRATORS: (Chanting in non-English language).
FENG: He asked we not use his full name because he fears being attacked abroad, where he is a student, for serving in the Israeli army. He had also volunteered to fight after October 7.
ITAMAR: I'm not naive about the security situation. I'm not naive about Hamas.
FENG: Then, more than two months ago, as Itamar was called up a fourth time to relieve another brigade that was headed into Gaza, he said no.
ITAMAR: The hostages were used as an excuse for Israel to continue the war. Although it's clear that the continuation of the war is not something that's going to bring them home.
FENG: Refusing to serve was a hard decision.
ITAMAR: And you're standing in front of your commander, and these are people that you appreciate, sometimes admire, sometimes you love.
FENG: But it's that love, he says, which made him change what he believes - that to save Israel, it needs to find a way to stop the war. Emily Feng, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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