About 30 soldiers in the reserve paratrooper brigade in the Israeli occupation army refused commands to prepare for a military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, according to Israel’s Channel 12 yesterday.

According to the channel, “army officials said they would not force reserve personnel” to partake in the invasion and stated that their refusal to join will not lead to an operational gap, while the report noted this is a “clear indication of depleted reserve forces after months of fighting.”
 
One commander said he had received dozens of letters from his soldiers in which they expressed their unwillingness to participate in the military operation in Rafah, claiming that he was not partaking in the military operation because he enjoys war, but rather “because it is necessary to do so while my brothers and sisters are kidnapped and because we are in the midst of the second establishment of the State of Israel.”