Hundreds of career personnel in the Israeli military, including senior officers and experienced non-commissioned officers, have submitted requests for early retirement, worsening the military’s growing manpower crisis during its ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports published Wednesday. Yedioth Ahronoth said the military’s Personnel Administration briefed the Knesset’s so-called Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that around 600 career troops have filed for early resignation, including officers whose retirement had been postponed due to the lack of replacements.

Military representatives told the committee that 85% of those who retire from career service hold the rank of lieutenant colonel or below. Bar Kalifa, a senior military official who attended the session, linked the accelerating resignations to the Israeli Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down additional pension benefits for career officers, removing a major incentive for continued service.

Kalifa further pointed to the wider manpower shortage tied to the longstanding exemption granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews, even as ground forces struggled during the assault on Gaza City. He said the military currently “needs another 12,000 soldiers.”

Supreme Court ruling and Haredi exemptions under scrutiny

On August 8, the Israeli Security Cabinet provisionally approved a plan put forward by Benjamin Netanyahu to gradually reoccupy the Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, before the plan was halted when a ceasefire took effect on October 10.

Kalifa said the political crisis surrounding Haredi conscription is now straining both the military and police, with ultra-Orthodox leadership ramping up protests against recruitment efforts.

Haredim, around 13% of the population, argue that military service threatens their religious and communal structure, prioritizing Torah study instead. Prominent rabbis have encouraged followers to refuse enlistment and reject military summons.

Related News

Gaza health crisis: 100,000 wounded, hospitals in collapse

Iran slams UN Gaza resol. as attempt to undermine Palestinian rights

Surge in draft evasion and political tension

Kalifa warned that draft evasion has sharply risen as legal challenges mount: “We now have more than 17,000 draft dodgers. Dodging the draft has become the norm,” he told lawmakers, noting that a growing number of lawyers specialize in securing exemptions on questionable grounds.

Opposition figures accuse Netanyahu of pursuing legislation to permanently shield the Haredim from service requirements in order to satisfy the demands of ultra-Orthodox factions. Shas and United Torah Judaism left the governing coalition earlier this year but are expected to rejoin once a binding exemption law is passed.

Meanwhile, the devastation in Gaza continues. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 170,700 others wounded since the war began in October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities.

'Israel' may turn to foreigners

"Israel's" ongoing wars and its brutal campaign in Gaza have left its military ranks depleted, forcing the military to turn outward in a bid to fill the gap. Israeli Army Radio revealed that officials are weighing a plan to enlist 600 to 700 Jews each year from abroad, with the United States and France identified as the primary targets.

According to ZeroHedge, currently, around 3,500 foreign Jews are serving in the Israeli military, with nearly 900 Americans among them. These fighters are known as "lone soldiers."

According to Noya Govrin, Director of the Lone Soldiers Program at Nefesh b'Nefesh, "The majority of American lone soldiers are coming after high school, either directly after high school or after a gap year program. In the past two years, there has been a notable increase in college graduates that come to Israel to serve as lone soldiers," she told the Times of Israel.

Draft dodger crisis

The Supreme Court's 2024 decision to end blanket exemptions for ultra-Orthodox conscription has only added to the turmoil. Netanyahu's fragile coalition hinges on Haredi parties that insist their followers continue to avoid combat and remain in seminaries. Haredim dedicate their lives to religious study in Yeshivas while drawing state stipends, a policy increasingly resented by other Israelis who are forced into "Israel's" wars across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.

"Israel's" desperate recruitment push is also colliding with the growing anger among Jews abroad. As Rafael Shimunov, a New York host of a Jewish Left radio show, put it, "Awkward moment for some of my fellow Jews in the diaspora. Cheerleading Israelis sending their kids to do genocide, but will never send their own."

Despite mounting outrage, "Israel's" allies in Washington are attempting to shield the project. Legislators catering to "Israel" have even introduced a bill that would extend the privileges enjoyed by US service members to Americans who join the Israeli occupation military, benefits not granted to anyone serving in any other foreign military.