According to the Walla news website, the Israeli military’s Human Resources Directorate has failed to resolve the manpower crisis despite extensive efforts to recruit ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews into army units.
The report says that the army has revealed an alarming scenario, warning that the peak of the personnel shortfall will coincide with the start of 2027.
At that time, the simultaneous completion of the 30-month service term for large numbers of soldiers is expected to leave the army facing a sudden deficit of thousands of operational troops in a single day.
The Israeli army admitted the seriousness of the situation and stressed the urgency of addressing the resulting gap as quickly as possible.
“We are forced to fill the resulting gap in the nearest possible time,” the army warned while pressing the political establishment to intervene.
As part of this pressure, the military called for the draft law currently under review to be divided into several parts, prioritizing the conscription of Haredi groups.
It also demanded the approval of extending mandatory military service from 30 months to 36 months, underscoring the depth of the army’s personnel crisis and its growing reliance on coercive measures to sustain its forces.