The bottom line, military officials say, is clear: there are not enough soldiers to carry out the missions.
In January, the law is set to leave mandatory service at just 30 months. Against that backdrop, defense officials see the current period as the last available window to increase the number of service members through legislation. They are intensifying pressure on the government, warning that the IDF’s manpower crisis is only worsening.
Figures presented by IDF representatives to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee point to a shortage of about 12,000 soldiers, including 6,000 to 7,000 combat troops. If the situation remains unchanged, after soldiers who enlisted from July 2024 onward serve only 30 months, the shortage is expected to grow by another 2,500 combat troops — the equivalent of one company in every battalion.
A military official said the current bill dealing with exemptions for Haredi men does not meet the army’s immediate needs.
“It does not solve the problem tomorrow morning, but if this law holds for several years, it can balance out,†the official said.
“There is no Haredi soldier today who cannot serve in the army,†a defense official said, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle updated the Haredi parties that discussions in the Knesset committee on the draft exemption bill and the extension of mandatory service would resume Wednesday.
According to IDF figures, Haredi enlistment has risen in recent years. From 2019 to 2022, an average of about 1,700 Haredi men enlisted annually. In 2023, the number rose to 2,200; in 2024, to 2,800; and according to estimates, about 3,000 Haredi men enlisted in 2025.
But despite the moderate increase, the numbers remain far from what the IDF had hoped for. Not all Haredi recruits are designated for combat roles. According to the military, an average of about 250 Haredi combat soldiers enlist in each draft cycle, and the goal is to double that number.
The army says the modest rise is the result of the war, a desire among some not to stand aside, the expansion of service tracks for Haredi recruits and sanctions. According to IDF data, there are currently about 38,000 draft evaders, around 80% of them Haredi. In addition, some 50,000 more draft candidates have not reported for service and are in advanced stages of being added to the pool of draft evaders.
For months, the senior leadership of the IDF’s Planning and Manpower Administration has viewed the army through numbers and placement charts. The body is responsible for a soldier’s path from candidacy for service, through regular service and officer tracks, and into the reserve system, which is also desperate for manpower.
The war across seven fronts has changed all the rules. Operational demands have soared, the high number of casualties requires unprecedented force-building, and burnout among regular and reserve soldiers has reached a boiling point.
“The security need is enormous, urgent, and the erosion is many times greater than anything we have known,†said a senior defense official familiar with the latest data.
The figures show the depth of the strain. Regular combat soldiers who once had cycles that included time off and training are now in continuous operational deployment. There is no training, officials say — only frontline duty.
In the reserves, the situation is even more severe. The IDF had intended for reservists to serve about 42 days over the next two years, but because of the volume of missions in the multi-front war, many are now serving between 80 and 100 days a year.
The IDF’s central paradox lies in what the Manpower Directorate calls the “holy triangle†of operational need, regular service and reserves. On one hand, motivation among young Israelis to enlist in combat units is at a peak, and thousands of new fighters are entering the system. But the overall picture has barely changed.
In 2022, about 20,000 male and female combat soldiers entered the army. In 2023, that number rose by about 1,200; in 2024, another 1,100 were added; and in 2025, there was a jump of another 3,000 combat soldiers.
Despite the encouraging data, the actual number of combat troops has remained nearly the same: 30,139 in 2023 compared with 30,099 in 2025. The gap is the result of burnout, injuries and casualties. At the same time, operational needs grew by another 1,500 positions, and combat staffing rates fell by a worrying 6%.
The IDF understood as early as January 2024 that the old system had collapsed and demanded legislation permanently extending mandatory service to 36 months. The bill passed its first reading but has since been stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The reason is political. In the Knesset, the extension of mandatory service was tied to the Haredi draft law, and the discussions stalled. The army tried to compromise, lowering its demand to a temporary order of 32 months while urgently asking lawmakers to separate the two bills.
“Regular soldiers and reservists are paying the price,†military officials warned. “If we do not act through legislation now, the situation will worsen and disrupt the entire system.â€
The consequences of the political delay are expected to hit the army soon. Soldiers who enlisted in July 2024 signed on for 30 months of service, and that is the discharge date listed in their unit records. As a result, they are set to be released all at once in January 2027, while their replacements will arrive only in March of that year.
“That will be a drop in the heartbeat,†officials in the Manpower Directorate warned. “The staffing levels will fall all at once in a dramatic way, and only after several months of training will they be restored.â€
The lack of legislation is forcing the army to keep existing combat troops in a state of constant sprint throughout their service, without any real ability to rest or train in an organized manner.
The IDF’s goal is to raise unit staffing rates to 120%, compared with 108% in the past, in order to give combat soldiers breathing room, allow combat and training rotations and open third companies in armored and support units. But even if the law passes tomorrow, officials say it will take the army five years to close the shortage of thousands of soldiers.
To address the shortfall, the IDF is trying to expand the pool of service members in every possible way. One of the clearest bright spots is the rise in female combat service and broader force-building in the ground forces.
Motivation among men is at a high point. Attendance at special forces screening days stands at 79%, compared with just 52% before the war, and about half of male recruits are entering combat roles.
At the same time, the number of female combat soldiers has reached a historic high. In 2012, only 547 women enlisted in combat roles. In 2025, that number rose to about 5,200. Women now make up 21% of the IDF’s combat force, compared with just 7.2% in 2015.
About one-fifth of female recruits now enter combat roles, and the army is looking for the next step that will allow it to increase those numbers further.
“Without female combat soldiers, it is impossible to carry out all of the IDF’s missions,†the military says.
During the war, new units have been established at a rapid pace, including an additional engineering battalion, new armored companies, tactical air-defense batteries and a fifth battalion in the Home Front Command. Over the past two years alone, the ground forces have grown by about 2,500 positions.
Still, the Manpower Directorate acknowledges that managing the system is difficult and complex. In the Armored Corps, for example, there is an ongoing motivation challenge, with only a small core of recruits willing to choose the corps in advance.
