TEHRAN- The so-called Israeli defense ministry has announced that more than 12,000 soldiers have been injured since October 7, 2023, with the majority of them in serious condition.

The data was published by the ministry’s rehabilitation department which said that among the soldiers it has received are 8,500 with physical injuries.

The number of injured soldiers in the department has increased by 20% since October 7, bringing the total number to 74,000 soldiers receiving treatment.

Experts say the figures have been released after Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was expected to expose the casualties in a TV interview with Hebrew media.

On Monday, Lapid told Israeli Channel 12 that “11,000 soldiers were injured and 890 others killed,” warning that the number of army casualties would rise rapidly if the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t do anything”.

Reports suggest that Lapid underlined that the Israeli military conceals the true number of its casualties.  

The ministry has also revealed that 1,500 soldiers were injured twice since October last year and that 900 soldiers have been injured since the beginning of the botched ground invasion of Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that another four soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon with at least 58 others injured during the past 24 hours. 

Tel Aviv pulled many of its battalions out of Gaza and deployed them to the north in a bid to start the invasion of Lebanon one month ago.

However, the ground operations have met intense resistance by Hezbollah fighters.

The resistance movement’s operation room provided a summary on the latest battlefield developments. A statement read:  

“Hezbollah fighters continue, based on precise intelligence data, to confront the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy's army in its equipment and personnel, including officers and soldiers, across the confrontation axes from the front edge to their locations deep within occupied Palestine. In the last few days, there has been a notable increase in the number of daily Islamic Resistance operations, with a new daily record set that reached 48 operations.”

The statement goes on to detail the ground confrontation with the Israeli invaders seeking to advance on Lebanese villages from the south from five different directions.  

“The Islamic Resistance Operations Room confirms that as of the time of this summary’s publication, the enemy army has been unable to gain full control or occupy any frontline village in southern Lebanon.” 

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its missile force continues to “target enemy gatherings in military sites and barracks along the Lebanese-Palestinian border, extending to military, strategic and security bases deep inside occupied Palestine with various types of missiles, including precision missiles used for the first time. The number of launches carried out by the missile force during the past four days amounted to 103.” 

This is while Hezbollah said its air force is gradually intensifying day by day to target the enemy's military bases “from the Lebanese-Palestinian border reaching to the depths of occupied Palestine. Since September 9, 2024, a total of 65 launches of more than 150 drones of various types and sizes have been carried out, 30 of them during the past four days, reaching a depth of up to 145 km as far as the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv.”

The Lebanese resistance also revealed that its air defense unit carried out five surface-to-air missile launches against Israeli aircraft in the skies over southern Lebanon from October 24 to 28.

The statement concludes that more than 90 Israeli army officers and soldiers have been killed and more than 750 wounded on the Lebanese border. Additionally, 38 Merkava tanks, 4 military bulldozers, a Hummer vehicle, an armored vehicle, and a personnel carrier have been destroyed, and 3 Hermes 450 drones and one Hermes 900 drone have been shot down.

This figure does not include the “Israeli enemy's losses in military bases, positions, barracks, settlements, and occupied cities,” Hezbollah pointed out.