A group of Israeli soldiers have claimed that their military service at the anti-missile Iron Dome defense system has given them cancer.
Some soldiers have already filed lawsuits against Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
In 2011, 240 Israeli soldiers started their service at the Iron Dome, six of them got cancer after their release or at the end of their service, according to an investigative report by Yedioth Ahronoth.
They called the Iron Dome, which intercepts short-range missiles, the “Toaster.”
"When you're near a radar you're literally feeling your body boiling from the inside out. If you try to imagine what happens to food when it is in the microwave, it is like that. You feel the heat coming in waves,” said Jonathan Haimovich, a former Israeli soldier.
A year on from his release from Iron Dome service, Israeli soldier Ran Mazur was diagnosed with cancer.
Meanwhile, Shir Tahar said that during her time at the Iron Dome, she did not have adequate protective gear.
“We were never protected with radiation equipment,” Yedioth Ahronoth quoted her as saying. Ten months after her service ended, she started suffering from pain in her lower back and legs and was diagnosed with leukemia.
The Israeli army said in a statement that its medical staff had conducted an in-depth investigation and had concluded that “the types of morbidity found were common among the characteristics of the population examined.”
