Report: Foreigners form over half of Israeli 'lone soldiers'
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New data shows over 3,600 foreign lone soldiers serving with the Israeli occupation army, with heavy participation and casualties in the war on Gaza.
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Israeli soldiers work on their tanks at a gathering point near the Gaza Strip, in southern occupied Palestine, Saturday, October 11, 2025 (AP)
A new report by Davar Rishon website has highlighted a significant rise in the number of foreign fighters serving as “lone soldiers” within the Israeli occupation army, particularly since the start of the ongoing war on Gaza.
According to figures released by the occupation military’s Human Resources Department, 3,614 foreign lone soldiers are currently enlisted, making up 52% of all lone soldiers in the occupation’s forces.
In the Israeli colonial military context, a “lone soldier” refers to a member of the Israeli occupation forces who does not have immediate family living in occupied Palestine.
The report noted that 30% of these fighters originate from the United States, 18% from Russia, 12% from France, and 7% from Ukraine, reflecting a broad international recruitment network encouraging foreign nationals to join the occupation’s ranks.
The statistics further show that 6,850 reservist lone soldiers have been mobilized during the war on Gaza. The ongoing military campaign has caused particularly high casualties among newly arrived foreign recruits, with around 100 soldiers killed in the fighting and many more wounded.
Israelis lack will to fight
An article written on the Israeli Channel 12 website exposed the extent to which the Israeli army is not ready for war... in other words, not ready to die. The article, written by the IOF reserve general who has served as Commissioner of Soldiers' Admissibility, Yitzhak Brick, said that as opposed to Israelis in previous wars giving their all in aggression, the state is showing a reversal in this trend. He said:
"Whoever wants to completely avoid losing on the battlefield, completely loses the deterrence of the army and the ability to win the war."
Brick put down that the ground army is on its way toward severe deterioration for the reason that the security echelon does not trust them and does not activate them when they are needed.
According to them, the army of the senior IOF command is the Air Force, Intelligence, and Cyber, whereas the army on the ground, particularly the reserve system, is ignored.
This way, the Israelis became a "one-dimensional" Air Force, which, alone, will not be able to win a war.
Studies have repeatedly shown that a strong fighting spirit is core and essential to fighting and winning a war - no matter how technologically advanced and high-tech the army is. The loss of willingness to sacrifice is the root of incompetence.
