Yona, 19, an Israeli activist, burned her military conscription papers knowing she would be immediately sentenced to jail.
She is blunt in her reasoning for doing so.
“I am refusing because my country is committing genocide and I will not enlist into an army that’s committing genocide,” she says. “I have no doubts in my mind that this is the right thing to do.”
She is part of a growing movement of Israeli teenagers refusing the draft and taking a stand against the Israeli government’s 22-month devastating bombardment of Gaza.
Shortly after burning her papers outside the enlistment centre in Haifa at the weekend, she was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
Speaking to The Independent just before being incarcerated, Yona, a transgender woman, said she knew prison wouldn’t be easy: the last transgender woman “refusenik” was held in solitary confinement. But she remains determined.
“I think it’s a very simple moral and political question. The imperative is that we withhold ourselves as a resource from the state. That we do everything in our power to resist and end this horrible crime.”
She is part of a movement of youth, most of them members of Mesarvot – or “refusers” in Hebrew – that supports conscientious objectors, that are horrified by Israel’s war in Gaza.
They have staged regular protests, publicly burning their papers and marching towards the border crossing with Gaza to break Israel’s blockade on the besieged strip.
Alongside the refuseniks, there has also been a parallel surge in soldiers refusing to show up to reserve duty – with reports in Israeli media saying in the last major offensive that as many as 100,000 have effectively deserted.
Fury over the war increased inside Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet controversially recently green-lit an expansion of the current offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli government has repeatedly denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza or that the military has committed any crimes in the enclave.
But it is facing growing backlash internationally and from inside Israel.
Palestinian health officials say Israel’s bombardment and blockade has killed over 61,000 people. The United Nations says the war has sparked unfolding famine and seen more than 90 per cent of the 2.3 million strong population forced to flee their homes.
On Saturday night, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding an end to the war and the immediate ceasefire deal to secure the return of the remaining 50 hostages and captives held by Hamas in Gaza.
At the protests, family members of the hostages are publicly calling for reservists to refuse to serve in the upcoming military escalation.
For the youth, they are protesting about even joining the army in the first place. The death toll among IDF soldiers is now nearing 900.
At least 20 refuseniks have served prison time since October 2023, explains Iddo Elam, 19, another Israeli activist who refused to enlist in November and was jailed before being handed an exemption on mental health grounds.
He had a strong message for his fellow teenagers: “It’ll be on your record that you were an IDF soldier, or that you were a refusenik…
“Think whether or not you want to go around the world as a former IDF soldier. We are almost two years into this genocide – or war, as many Israelis call it – but nothing has been achieved. Nothing has changed. Nothing.
“We cannot stop terrorism. We cannot stop attacks on the Israeli state as long as we participate in – and basically live with – the occupation and oppression of millions of [Palestinian] people.”
While Iddo and Yona admit those refusing to fight because of the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza is a relatively small number, it is growing.
Tal Mitnik, another activist from Tel Aviv, turned 18 shortly after war erupted and so was the first public conscientious objector. He spent six months in prison, which was “nothing like what the Palestinian prisoners are dealing with”.
He said he was on his own at the beginning but that has changed: “I think an important thing to say is that what we lose with Israeli society is what we gain with Palestinian society.”
Earlier this month, Netanyahu and his security cabinet pushed through a controversial plan to expand the war in Gaza, stating the the ultimate goal was to disarm Hamas, return the hostages and to exert “Israeli security control” over the besieged strip – i.e. a boots-on-the-ground occupation.
It has faced fierce resistance from the international community, as well as opposition from within. Sources said even Netanyahu’s own Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, rejected the plan.
Many in Israel fear it will not only embroil the Israeli military in a costly, protracted, and unwinnable conflict, but also serve as a “death sentence” for the 20 remaining hostages who are still believed to be alive. It could also crush the hopes of retrieving the bodies of 30 more slain captives who remain in the hands of militants.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the numbers of those who have refused reserve service or their conscription papers. They said the military “cherishes” all of its soldiers, expressing “deep appreciation for their great contribution”.
“In this challenging security reality, the contribution of the reservists is essential to the success of missions and to maintaining the security of the country,” they said in a statement.
According to Kan, Israel’s national broadcaster, during the last offensive in May, over 40 percent of soldiers did not show up to reserve duty – a stark contrast to the start of the conflict, when Israeli media reported that 135 percent of people showed up.
Ishai Menuchin, spokesperson for Yesh Gvul – an Israeli movement that also supports refuseniks and reservists who do not want to fight – said their hotline, which usually only gets 30 calls a year, has received more than 200 calls since January alone.
“It’s the highest wave of refusal since we were founded at the start of the 1982 Lebanon war,” he told The Independent, explaining how he himself spent 35 days in prison for refusing service.
He said the true number of refusniks is difficult to calculate as the military is now pushing through exemptions: “There is a policy not to deal with ideological refusal – they are afraid of the numbers.”
Iddo agreed – saying they are now exempting refuseniks on mental health grounds rather than jailing them, as they “would rather give young people exemptions than to deal with hundreds of people in prisons”.
He had a strong message for Israel’s western allies, including the UK and the US, to take a stand against the Israeli military and impose arms embargoes.
“At the end of the day, the butterfly effect to stop this genocide will just start with one phone call from each leader – and one phone call from Trump telling Netanyahu to stop. We cannot do it alone. We have to have international help.”
