Israelis and Palestinians Killed in the Current Violence

Suicide, number 1 killer in the Israeli army

By Saed Bannoura
From International Middle East Media Center
June 18, 2005

An Israeli source reported that 16 Israeli soldiers committed suicide since the beginning 2005, similar to 2004 suicide remains the number one killer in the Israeli army.

One soldier commits suicide every two weeks, number of soldiers who committed suicide is larger than those killed in military operations, traffic accidents, training and other causes, the source said.

In 2004, two soldiers were killed during training, three during military operations, five in traffic accidents using military vehicles, and 18 in normal traffic accidents.

During the same years the number of soldiers committed suicide, 40 during military operations, while in earlier years, number of soldiers who committed suicide was higher than the number of soldiers killed during military operations.

In most of the cases, the public was not informed of the suicide cases, in some cases the press manages to uncover these events.

Suicide cases in the Israeli army since 1980:

35 in 1980
20 in 1981
31 in 1982
19 in 1983
36 in 1984
26 in 1985
15 in 1986
29 in 1987
30 in 1988
41 in 1989
35 in 1990
41 in 1991
37 in 1992
38 in 1993
43 in 1994
43 in 1995
29 in 1996
32 in 1997
37 in 1998
30 in 1999
24 in 2000
38 in 2001
26 in 2002
37 in 2003
28 in 2004
16 until mid 2005