Israel's mental health crisis in the wake of Oct. 7 attacks

As the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, terror attack approaches, Ronen Shalev feels the physical toll of the trauma. “You start shivering,” he told Deutsche Welle. “It’s not just one day and you move on. We have many graves to visit, many families to meet. It’s a difficult time and you feel it in your body.” Shalev’s two children were at the Nova Festival in southern Israel, where nearly 400 people were killed in a coordinated attack by Hamas and its affiliated groups based in the Gaza Strip. Around 1,200 people died in the assault, and approximately 250 were taken hostage. The attack led to the war in Gaza, during which Israeli forces killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced large parts of the population. Shalev’s son, Roee, was shot and hospitalized, surviving the attack but witnessing the killing of his girlfriend, Mapal Adam. His daughter, Lior, also survived. Shortly after the attack, Shalev’s wife, Gavriela, disappeared. Her body was later found in a burned car along with a farewell letter. “She couldn’t handle the sorrow from that day,” Shalev said. Roee began showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, primarily through extreme mood swings. “He went to treatment to please me, but he didn’t really believe in it. He thought he was OK, that he was strong,” Shalev recalled. Two years after Gavriela’s death, Roee struggled further. In a final message posted on his Instagram account, he wrote, “I’m alive, but I’m dead within. I’m sorry.” Since October 2023, Israel has faced a mental health crisis of unprecedented scale. A report by Israel’s State Comptroller from February 2025 revealed that 39 percent of Israelis experience moderate or severe post-traumatic symptoms, depression, or anxiety, amounting to 3 million people, with 600,000 suffering severely. Those affected include survivors of the attack and individuals evacuated from their homes in southern and northern Israel due to the conflict. Despite increased funding for mental health services following the war, the resources remain insufficient and delayed. According to Noga Dagan-Buzaglo, a researcher at the Adva Center, a think tank focused on inequality in Israeli society, the mental health system continues to struggle with an ongoing crisis. “The biggest challenge is convincing people to work in Israel’s public mental health system, both due to lower wages in comparison to the private sector and due to an overload of work,” she said. The situation extends beyond patients to mental health professionals themselves. A study by the University of Haifa found that 84 percent of therapists treating victims of the October 7 attack also exhibited traumatic symptoms. Approximately 45 percent of these professionals described feeling mentally exhausted. While Israel’s Health Ministry claims it has expanded funding and hiring for the public mental health system, staffing shortages persist, particularly in remote areas of the north and south. As a result, waiting times for treatment through the public healthcare system can exceed six months, with some patients waiting over a year for assistance. Mental health non-governmental organizations and volunteers attempt to fill the gaps, but the demand continues to outstrip available resources. The crisis underscores the deep psychological scars left by the conflict and highlights the urgent need for sustained investment in mental health care across the country.