Israeli press review: Army hit by spate of suicides and study reveals population drop Submitted by Nadav Rapaport on Wed, 12/31/2025 - 13:38 In other news, the Israeli army has approved the expansion of the illegal Homesh settlement in the occupied West Bank This archive image shows Israeli soldiers taking up position in Kfar Aza near the Gaza Strip on 10 October 2023 (AFP) Off Israel's population declines with emigration For the first time since the early 1980s, Israel’s population growth rate will fall below one and half percent, according to The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, an independent socioeconomic research institute based in Jerusalem. A report by the institute titled Israel 2025: A Demographic Fork in the Road examines demographic developments in Israel over the past year, with the country’s population growth rate standing at 0.9 percent. The number marks the lowest growth rate since the establishment of Israel in 1948 . The report focused on the impact of birth rates, mortality and migration on Israel’s demography over the past year. While the number of births and deaths remained stable, the report determined that emigration is "the main factor underlying Israel’s falling demographic growth rates". According to the report, over the past two years, approximately 120,000 more Israeli citizens have left the country than returned to it. These figures do not include new Jewish immigrants to Israel, but even when they are included, Israel's migration balance remains negative. Record number of Israelis leaving and not returning since 2020, Knesset report says Read More » Most Israeli citizens who left Israel were not born in the country, the report states, but "emigration of native-born Israelis has been rising steadily for the last four years". The report's author, Alex Weinreb, estimates that the negative migration trend is expected to grow during 2026. "The number of Israelis registered as leaving Israel will continue to be high until at least June 2026," the report states. "More Israelis have left Israel over the last few years than ever before,” it adds. "Over the past couple of years, Israel has entered a new period in its demographic development. "It means that Israel’s growth rate of 0.9 percent in 2025 is not a one-off." Rise in suicides in Israeli army Over the past year, 21 active-duty soldiers in the Israeli army died by suicide, according to data released on Tuesday by the Israeli military. According to a report by the Israeli news site Ynet, in addition to the 21 active-duty soldiers that took their own lives last year, 15 additional soldiers died of suicide after being discharged from the army. Those 15 former soldiers were not included in the military's official count. War on Gaza: Four Israeli soldiers kill themselves in under two weeks Read More » As a result, the actual number of Israeli soldiers who took their own lives over the past year stands at 36. "We are preparing for even more complex years regarding the concern over suicides," sources in the Israeli army told Ynet. "The war has ended but the psychological burden remains on the shoulders of those who served," they added. This week, a special military committee determined that soldiers who took their own lives while not on duty will not be recognised as "fallen soldiers". Their families will not be entitled to financial benefits granted to relatives of soldiers who died during their military service, regardless of the way they died. Since October 2023, there has been an increase in the number of Israeli soldiers dying as a result of suicide, a trend that has led to extensive media coverage of the issue. According to data published in October, 279 soldiers attempted suicide between the beginning of 2024 and July 2025. Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, at least 64 have taken their own lives, some while in active service and others after discharge. By military order, a settlement expands The area of the illegal Homesh settlement, located in the northern occupied West Bank, will be doubled as a result of an order issued by the commander of Israel's army Central Command, Avi Bluth, Ynet revealed on Tuesday. According to the report, the settlement's jurisdiction will be expanded to 1,537 dunams "as part of a move that significantly enlarges Homesh and lays the foundations for the settlement’s growth in the years to come". The order, which, according to Ynet, will encircle the Palestinian villages surrounding the settlement, was signed with the encouragement of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defence Ministry responsible for civil administration in the West Bank. The order includes the declaration of jurisdictional areas for seven additional settlements in the occupied West Bank. "Another significant step in the revolution we are carrying out in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich wrote on X regarding the military order, which defines separate areas of jurisdiction for Palestinians and Jews. "We are advancing de facto sovereignty on the ground in order to prevent any possibility of establishing an Arab state in Judea and Samaria," he said, using the Israeli name for the West Bank. Israel’s Katz doubles down on support of settlements in Gaza Read More » Homesh is one of four settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated by Israel during the 2005 disengagement. Following legislation passed in 2023 ordering the revocation of the disengagement law, efforts have been made to re-establish the evacuated settlements. On Wednesday, it was reported that the Civil Administration will approve a building plan for the settlement of Sa-Nur, which was also evacuated in 2005. "The government is establishing a massive settlement that will constitute an enormous security burden, while stealing private Palestinian land," Peace Now, an Israeli movement advocating for peace, told Ynet regarding Homesh. "It appears that the government is racing toward the de facto annexation of the West Bank and it is disregarding Trump," the movement added. Inside Israel News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0