OCTOBER 17, 2026 07:37

The brutal assault by Hamas on October 7, 2023, left many unseen injuries, traumas nearly as severe as physical wounds from blades or bullets.

Haim Ben-Arye became one such hidden casualty. A dedicated school-bus driver who cared deeply for his young riders, Haim had been married to Irit for three decades and was a devoted father to six grown children.

Shortly before the attack, Haim learned joyful news from his daughter: she was expecting his first grandchild. He had much to anticipate.

Yet on October 25, only 18 days after the massacre, Haim traveled to an isolated spot and took his own life.

“He cherished his work and the children he transported,” his wife Irit remembered. “On the morning of October 7, our son, who serves as a first responder, informed us that something awful had occurred.

“Haim went to the synagogue to support the youngsters whose fathers had joined the fighting. He played games and led songs with them. But after Shabbat, we watched the television and he simply broke down in tears.”

That same evening, Haim’s employer requested that he drive his bus to help move children from Kibbutz Be’eri to safety. He accepted at once. He arrived home at 5 a.m., overwhelmed and shaken.

“I could not assist them,” he told Irit. “My passengers stayed completely quiet for more than two hours.”

While Irit resumed her duties at Clalit Health Services on October 8, Haim remained at home viewing the terrible footage on television. He had rarely watched before.

On October 25, schools resumed half-day schedules, and Haim was set to restart his bus route. When Irit phoned him later, he did not respond. Soon afterward a friend reported that someone had died by suicide.

“I understood it was Haim,” Irit said. “I hurried home and found people assembled outside our house. My feeling proved correct. Haim was full of compassion.”

During the shiva period, a visitor shared how Haim had once rescued his child’s life.

The man’s son had appeared withdrawn on the bus, and Haim alone among family and teachers recognized the boy’s deep isolation and ensured he received support.

“I explained to my children that their father should not have ended his life, yet his heart simply could not bear it,” Irit said. “To me he remains a hero.”

Irit presented her family’s painful account to roughly 100 English-speaking journalists from around the world during a recent online seminar organized by the Clalit Research Institute, called Israel’s Mental Health Front: Three Years Since October 7.

The gathering underscored how individual sorrow mirrors a national psychological emergency.

The magnitude of the problem

Prof. Amir Krivoy of the Geha Mental Health Center stressed the size of the issue. Clalit, the country’s largest public health fund, covers five million members, half the population, and holds detailed electronic records on their mental health.

“The public has faced layered pressures since 2020, including pandemic restrictions, social divisions over judicial changes, the Hamas attack, the Gaza conflict, and Iranian missile strikes,” Prof. Krivoy noted.

“This chain produced enormous immediate and lasting strain. Although the height came on October 7, Israelis were already vulnerable.”

Clalit data show that 2018 and 2019 were the last typical baseline years. Since then, ongoing stress and PTSD have risen sharply, especially near the southern and northern borders.

Evacuated residents showed a tenfold rise in psychological distress compared with those who stayed put. Clinicians also report a striking increase in PTSD among children and teens, a group that seldom experiences it.

All four public health funds estimate that 60,000 Israelis developed clinical PTSD between October 2023 and December 2025; half belong to Clalit.

Krivoy recalled running a clinic in Sderot, where during the attacks and fighting 53 people, including 37 locals and visitors, 11 police officers, three IDF soldiers, and two firefighters, were killed.

“I learned that 90 percent of residents could not sleep at night. They feared another assault. Even two years later many avoided diagnosis because they were afraid to leave their homes.

“More people like them will appear in coming years unless they receive help. Ongoing monitoring is essential. We know Israelis are resilient, yet we must identify problems early and provide timely care.

“Israeli society will heal, but we must support those affected.”

Existing in a traumatic environment

Nufar Bar-Lipshatz, a developmental psychologist at a Clalit clinic in Beit She’an, told webinar participants that “we continue to live inside a traumatic reality. My own husband completed extensive reserve duty over summers and holidays, and the war persists.”

She added that “teams of Clalit therapists visited evacuated families who stayed for months in Eilat after the massacre.

“For some it was their first meeting with a therapist. They lived in hotels and did not know when they could return home. We urged them to speak openly; we asked their children to construct toy houses so we could better grasp their difficulties.

“In twenty years these children will help lead our society. Some lost family members to murder, injury, or hostage-taking. When the siren sounded the hardship continued. The child still finds it hard to feel secure. Some parents avoided discussion, yet the youngsters sensed the tension in their parents’ expressions and tones.”

Claiming everything is fine does not help, Bar-Lipshatz continued.

“They may develop fears that someone will abduct them while asleep or that their father might die in service, yet they keep these worries from their parents.

“This can lead to aggression and trouble in preschool or school. Parents need to offer truthful explanations, even when difficult.

“We can help the child find purpose, remember acts of courage such as quickly entering the safe room or phoning police or relatives even while crying.”

Young children who cannot yet speak struggle to share their experiences.

“We watch how they play and manage daily routines,” the psychologist said. “They may have nightmares, display aggression or withdrawal, act out soldier scenes, hide, or run to shelter. Not every issue started with the war. Some existed earlier, but conflict can worsen them.”

An increasing number of emotionally affected children began to stutter.

“We lacked staff to treat each child alone, so we formed a group for three- and four-year-olds with their parents,” Bar-Lipshatz recalled. “A siren sounded during one session, so we moved everyone to a shelter and practiced yoga, promoting movement, play, and laughter.”

Difficulties encountered by health funds in the past decade

Prof. Ran Balicer, founder and director of the research institute, Clalit’s chief innovation officer, and deputy director-general who also lectures at Ben-Gurion University, observed that mental-health coverage entered the required services basket only in 2015.

Then COVID arrived and added heavy demand. After the massacre the health funds discovered that mental-health services were underfunded, understaffed, and featured long waits.

The 9/11 attacks caused emotional harm in only 4 percent of Americans. By contrast 15 percent of Israelis were directly touched. Nearly every family felt the shock of the brutality.

When Iranian and other missiles struck, some Israelis carried knives into the “safe” room. They felt no place was secure.

Clalit ran a national survey with the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute involving 2,500 participants. In January 2024 depression affected 34 percent, and rates remain clinically elevated today.

Anxiety stood at 27 percent and now affects 20 percent. PTSD reached 32 percent and has fallen to 20 percent. One in five adults still report major difficulty with daily tasks, Balicer stated.

“We retrained primary-care physicians to assist with treatment. We introduced mental-health coaches, digital tools, and an AI screening system. Electronic records help identify problems and forecast future illness.

“Rather than waiting for patients to arrive ill, doctors now call and inform them they may have an issue. Not every physician embraced the approach at first, but they now value the preventive method because it can preserve lives.

“Many patients stayed silent after October 7, so we launched proactive outreach and followed treatment for 1,500 people weekly out of 8,000. We will maintain this effort.”