Three Years After October 7, the War Continues to Leave a Deep Mark on Israelis’ Health
Three years after October 7, 2023, the war continues to leave a deep mark on the health of Israelis. A comprehensive analysis by Clalit Health Services, based on data from around five million members, reveals a sustained rise in psychological disorders, a deterioration in several health indicators among displaced populations, and a particularly concerning increase in distress among children and adolescents.
The study compares the period from October 2023 to September 2026 with the two years preceding the war. It therefore measures not only the immediate health impact of the conflict, but also its cumulative consequences after three years of war. Mental health has emerged as one of the clearest indicators of the war’s lasting impact.
During the first year of the conflict, new anxiety diagnoses increased by 45.5% across the population.
New diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) doubled, rising by 100%. The trend has not subsided in the years since.
Referrals and consultations with community mental health services also increased by between 20% and 28%.
The impact has been even more pronounced among Israelis evacuated from communities near Gaza and across southern Israel. Among these populations, new PTSD diagnoses were 18 times higher during the first year of the war than in the year preceding the conflict. Even during the third year, the rate remained six times higher than before the war. Anxiety diagnoses among residents evacuated from southern Israel increased tenfold during the first year, while sleep disorders rose by approximately 358%.
According to Professor Amir Krivoy, director of the Clalit-Geha Mental Health Center and the Clalit Center for Resilience and Mental Health Research, the figures show that the crisis is not a temporary phenomenon.
He said that the fact that PTSD diagnoses remain between two and six times higher than pre-war levels, three years after the beginning of the conflict, requires a comprehensive systemic response.
Children and Adolescents: A New Area of Concern
One of the most troubling findings of the report concerns children and adolescents. While psychiatric emergency consultations among adults did not change significantly, those involving young people rose sharply.
During the second year of the war, psychiatric emergency consultations among children and adolescents increased by 78.3%. During the third year, the increase reached 121.3%, more than double the pre-war baseline.
Referrals from pediatricians to mental health services also increased by 52.1%, while anxiety diagnoses among children in Israel rose by approximately 40% to 70%, depending on the indicators examined by Clalit.
Among children evacuated from southern Israel, psychological distress is also manifesting through physical symptoms. During the third year of the war, prescriptions for Minirin, a medication used to treat nighttime bedwetting, increased by 47.8% compared with pre-war levels.
The use of medication to treat ADHD also increased by 25% across Israel, compared with 20.5% among residents evacuated from the south and 5% among those evacuated from the north.
Physical Health Also Disrupted
The report shows that the consequences of forced displacement extend beyond mental health. Among residents evacuated from southern Israel, blood pressure control deteriorated significantly, with a deterioration of up to 53.7% compared with pre-war baseline levels.
Diabetes control also deteriorated during the first year of the conflict. While the deterioration was only 2.5% in the general population, it reached 53.7% among residents evacuated from the south. In northern Israel, new diagnoses of hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia increased by approximately 60%, compared with around 20% in the general population.
These developments may be linked to the dramatic lifestyle changes caused by displacement: months spent living in hotels, changes in diet, reduced physical activity, interruptions to employment and the loss of normal daily routines.
Continuity of care nevertheless appears to have helped limit some of these consequences. Medical teams maintained contact with many patients through temporary clinics as well as telephone and digital services. One of the most significant structural changes has been the growing use of telemedicine.
The overall number of primary care consultations remained relatively stable, but the way Israelis accessed healthcare changed significantly. In-person consultations declined by approximately 13%, while telephone consultations increased by 36%.
The war has also affected preventive medicine.
While screening rates remained relatively stable across the Israeli population as a whole, women evacuated from northern Israel experienced a continued decline of up to 7.5% in mammography screening.
Colorectal cancer screening also declined by between 2.5% and 3.5% among residents evacuated from the south and north.
An opposite trend was observed in smoking cessation. Among residents evacuated from southern Israel, the use of medication to help quit smoking increased by 104%, compared with 37% across Israel.
No Increase in Heart Attacks or Strokes
Despite three years of war and prolonged stress, Clalit found no statistically significant increase in acute myocardial infarctions or strokes among the general population.
The total number of emergency department visits actually fell by approximately 5.1%, while emergency hospital admissions declined by nearly 10%.
Among children, visits to general emergency departments fell by 8.7%. This decline may be partly explained by reduced exposure to infectious diseases and injuries during periods when children spent more time at home, as well as by the growing availability of remote medical consultations.
Clalit specialists nevertheless stress that the absence of an immediate increase in strokes does not mean that the effects of prolonged stress and deterioration in certain risk factors will not emerge over the longer term.
A Health Burden That Could Last for Years
Three years after the beginning of the war, the Clalit report therefore paints a complex picture.
Israel’s healthcare system has succeeded in maintaining stability across several major health indicators, particularly cardiovascular health. It has also adapted to a reality marked by security alerts, evacuations and population displacement, notably through the expansion of telemedicine.
But behind this relative stability lies another reality: a psychological crisis that is becoming increasingly entrenched, particularly among populations directly affected by displacement and among young people.
For Professor Eytan Wirtheim, CEO of Clalit, the war “does not end when the security situation ends.” Its consequences continue to affect mental health, children and adolescents, displaced families, preventive medicine and the management of chronic diseases.
The real challenge for Israel will now be to translate these findings into long-term public health policy: strengthen mental health services, monitor children exposed to trauma, restore preventive medicine and ensure continued care for displaced populations.
Caroline Haïat
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