120 ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews who volunteered to join the Israeli Defense Forces last month began their service on Monday, Israeli media have reported.
The troops, expected to serve in ‘combat support’ roles inside the regular army, are set to be joined by about 120 more recruits from the Haredi community by Wednesday, with the IDF ultimately planning to establish two new companies of Ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
Media first reported on recruitment of Ultra-Orthodox believers by the IDF last month, about two weeks after the bloody escalation of the three quarters of a century old Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7. The first 120 troops were recruited from among roughly 3,000 applicants, and designated reservists after two weeks of basic training. Combat support roles are expected to include positions such as medics and drivers.
Along with military service, the state has offered volunteering Haredim service as “working hands” helpers to the IDF, with the job including assisting with funerals, logistics, etc. The latter are not required to go through basic training.
Amid the escalation with Hamas, anti-war Heredim have faced instances of violence from Israeli police and the army.
Ultra-Orthodox communities won exemptions from Israel’s universal conscription laws after the country’s establishment in 1948, under the so-called Torato Umanuto (‘lit. ‘Torah study is his job’) arrangement with the state. Past attempts by authorities to force them into conscription have been met with mass protests and other forms of resistance, up to and including violence against government officials.
The IDF mobilized over 360,000 reservists in mid-October following the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel, launching a massed bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and following it up with slow, steady incursions into the besieged, Hamas-governed territory. Over 340 Israeli troops have been killed since the escalation began, and the IDF says it has killed 1,500 Hamas fighters in Israeli territory. The civilian death toll has surpassed these numbers by an order of magnitude, with Palestinian officials reporting over 10,000 civilian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israel reporting over 1,000 civilian dead inside the country and over 240 more taken hostage by Hamas. Tens of thousands more civilians have been wounded, with over 1.5 million Palestinian residents of Gaza and 200,000 Israelis inside Israel displaced.