The story of Alex Miller has many similarly tragic antecedents over the last two and a half years that Israel has been at war.
Miller, 23, an American who had served in the IDF, died of an apparent suicide in Miami, where he had been living since being discharged from the army.
In October 2022, while serving in the Kfir Brigade, Miller was moderately wounded during a car-ramming attack by Palestinians in the West Bank.
After undergoing rehabilitation, Miller returned to the IDF according to the Katzrin Regional, where his father, Danny Miller, lives. In June last year, one of Miller’s close friends, Noam Shemesh, was killed by anti-tank fire in Gaza, an incident that greatly affected him, according to Danny.
“We had a lot of conversations about the [2022] attack, but apparently, the attack and Noam’s death broke him. Even though he didn’t admit it, he suffered a lot,” he told Israel National News.
Miller’s plight and suicide do not come in a vacuum, and his death comes amid growing concern over the mental health toll of Israel’s conflicts. Driven by psychological trauma from the war in Gaza, including prolonged deployments in combat zones, witnessing harrowing scenes, and the loss of friends, suicide among soldiers and former soldiers is on an alarming rise.
In 2025, 22 active-duty soldiers died by suicide, marking the highest number since 2010. Between January 2024 and July 2025, 279 active soldiers attempted suicide, according to a report published by the Knesset Research and Information Center last October.
As for former soldiers like Miller, the report found that as of August 2025, 15 civilians died by suicide linked to their military service since the onset of the Gaza war.
High Court of Justice hears challenge to handling of soldiers’ deaths by suicide
The circumstances surrounding Miller’s heartbreaking death came a day after the High Court of Justice heard a petition challenging the state’s handling of discharged soldiers and reservists who died by suicide after their military service, in cases where their deaths may have been connected to their service. The hearing ended without an immediate ruling.
The petition, filed in January by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice and Forum Yahalomey Krav, an advocacy organization for war-related post-trauma, asked the court to halt implementation of the recommendations of a committee headed by former IDF Manpower Directorate chief Maj.-Gen. (res.) Moti Almoz.
The Almoz Committee was appointed to examine the response given to families of soldiers who died by suicide after service, in circumstances that may be connected to their military service. According to the state, the committee recommended an interim support track for families while the formal recognition process is examined, including IDF accompaniment, assistance in approaching the Defense Ministry, and the presence of military elements at a civilian funeral.
The petitioners argue that the committee created a lesser category of “died after service” instead of full recognition as fallen soldiers, leaving families with symbols and accompaniment rather than the recognition they believe they are owed.
State draws legal line against fallen discharged soldiers
At the heart of the case is a painful legal and moral gap: when a soldier is killed while in active service, the path to military burial and recognition as a fallen soldier is clear. But when a soldier or reservist returns from war, is discharged or no longer under an active call-up order, and later dies by suicide, allegedly because of trauma from that service, the state says the legal answer is not the same.
The justices made clear during the hearing that they did not dispute the basic premise that mental injury from military service can be just as severe as physical injury.
So many soldiers have emerged from the battlefields of the last two and a half years not only with physical injuries, but like Alex Miller, with severe psychological wounds.
After giving so much of themselves to the country they were defending, these soldiers – whether still active, whether still living in Israel or not – deserve the same status and honor from the IDF and from Israel that are afforded to any soldier who is killed in battle.
It’s time to end the double standard and give the families of soldiers like Alex Miller the recognition that they deserve.
