The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been experiencing gear shortages amid its war against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, according to IDF personnel and suppliers interviewed by The Epoch Times.
The problem has persisted for decades but is coming into sharper focus as the war against Hamas stretches into its second year.
The gear used by the IDF is outdated, according to the sources and pictures obtained by The Epoch Times. Examples include helmets from 1979 and combat bandages from 1975.
“It’s a very serious issue that is not going away soon,” said Daniel Mael, who runs a group to help get gear to IDF soldiers.
The shortages include ballistic plates, boots, kneepads, helmets, vests, medical equipment, and modern hydration systems.
One item that has been in short supply is trauma shears that cut through thick vests and other materials, according to Ron Gal-Or, an IDF reservist who serves on the frontlines as a medic on search-and-rescue missions in Gaza.
Trauma shears allow medical personnel to get quickly to wounds.
Additionally, medical bags supplied by the IDF do not have compartments, making it difficult to retrieve emergency supplies instantly, said Gal-Or.
The IDF did not expect to have to call up a large number of service members in response to the invasion and massacre by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
“On Oct. 7, we had 300,000 reservists that were called up. The gear that we had was in storage. We didn’t have enough vests for everyone. We weren’t prepared for this type of war,” said IDF reservist Noy Leyb.
The gear shortages affect military readiness, said suppliers and a soldier who spoke with The Epoch Times.
Avi Feifer, who ran a program decades ago to give gear to soldiers, says the shortages hurt soldiers’ morale.
Feifer said lighter helmets that stay on soldiers’ heads make them “feel more secure.”
And he said having lightweight vests allows them to move more quickly.
“All my guys are inside Lebanon, and it’s night, and it’s dark, and they needed the equipment that we don’t have,” said Mikael Cohen, who is on active duty, doing logistics.
The gear shortage has resulted in the deaths of soldiers, with bullets piercing subpar ballistic plates, according to an IDF soldier who requested anonymity.
The IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The issue is not confined to operations in Gaza and Lebanon, the latter of which will cease within 60 days following a cease-fire reached between Israel and Hezbollah.
“There was almost a terrorist attack in central Israel because of something as stupid and technical as faulty communication systems,” said Chaya Hitin, who helps get gear to soldiers.
The systems could have been fixed for just over $5,000, she said.
The Israeli government is not addressing the issue, according to people who spoke with The Epoch Times.
One factor being blamed is the bureaucracy up the chain of command.
“We were supposed to learn from these mistakes,” said Hitin, referring to the thwarted bombing in central Israel. “I mean, we got here because of laziness, and apathy, and stupidity.”
Tova Hametz, who has children serving in the IDF and helps get donations to the frontlines, said, “The army’s known it’s been a problem, and it gets put on the agenda, and then it gets shuffled into a pile.”
It is just the elite units that get top-notch equipment, she noted.
Moreover, Israel does not have the military-industrial complex to mass-produce gear, she said.
“Israel [doesn’t] have the power to do it,” Cohen said. “And Israel is not ready to fight for one year. It’s a lot of money, and it’s a lot of soldiers that ... need the equipment.
“It’s not easy. And America give[s] us a lot of things, but it goes fast.”
A major organization known to help IDF soldiers is Friends of the IDF (FIDF), which was founded in 1981 and fulfills whatever the military requests.
But FIDF has been accused of falling short when it comes to giving gear, such as boots and helmets, which soldiers have requested. Mael criticized the group for spending money on nonessential items rather than urgent, frontline needs.
Padan equated some of the requests to an example of a college student asking for a new car. “He [has] a car. He would be more than happy to get a new one. That doesn’t mean that he needs it.”
Grassroots Groups Step Up
Some grassroots organizations have filled the void.Unit 11741 was founded by Mael, an American who served in the IDF after graduating from Brandeis University, where he was known for his pro-Israel activism.
Another group, Operation Israel, was founded by Adi Vaxman, who is based in New Jersey but has a family member serving in the IDF.
Vaxman embedded with the IDF this year in Gaza.
Vaxman’s group, which has raised more than $9 million, said that in July and August, she received more than 15,000 requests. In April, she received 8,000 requests.
The groups get the gear from vendors approved by the IDF.
Operation Israel sources its equipment from U.S. entities.
Vaxman’s group gets ballistic glasses from Revision and ESS, ultrasounds from Butterfly Network, and medical gear from Rescue Essentials.
Before getting donations, Vaxman spent $160,000 on her credit cards to purchase equipment for soldiers on Oct. 7, 2023.
Despite these groups’ efforts, “we’re seeing that not only are things as bad as ever, in many ways, it’s worse,” said Hitin, who works with Mael.
Hitin said that soldiers who got gear donations after Oct. 7, 2023, have been coming back asking for more due to the deterioration of equipment brought about by nonstop combat.
However, the IDF does not allow official donations and Israeli Customs often seizes gear from third-party sources, according to Hitin.
One reservist, who requested anonymity, said the amount of equipment confiscated by Customs has been “immense.”
Decades-Long Problem
The IDF’s gear shortage problem spans decades.Feifer ran a program to help with military gear shortages during the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2005. He raised money for vests and helmets, running the program out of his home.
In 2014, two kids whom Hametz adopted lost their lives due to an army vehicle from the 1960s or 1970s malfunctioning.
Hametz alleged the IDF acted irresponsibly regarding equipment management ahead of Oct. 7, 2023.
She said the unprecedented number of reservists called up after Oct. 7, 2023, made the gear shortage problem worse and brought the issue into the spotlight.
“It’s just that most people who were not active members of the military were not truly tuned into the ins and outs of what was going on,” said Mael.
Israel can still win the war but with costs to individual soldiers, said Daniel Polisar, who has been helping get gear to the frontlines.
“The Israeli army could achieve those aims using only the gear that it has and leaving all of the shortages that have been plugged by private initiatives,” he said.
“But there would be significant consequences at the individual level, and there are cases in which I think the army’s ability to function to achieve its objectives more quickly is enhanced by certain things that private donors are able to give that the army is not able to give.”
Nonetheless, the gear shortage issue will not deter Israel as the Jewish state will do all that it takes to fight for its survival, Cohen said.
“Even if we’re going to go with sticks and swords ... we’re going to win because this is what we do in Israel. This is what we believe,” he said.
