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combat units

Illustrative: Female soldiers of the Bardelas Battalion during training, July 13, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
January 12, 2026, 2:44 pm
Saved from the street, an ex-lone soldier works to lend a hand to IDF vets in her shoes
Drawing on her own experience, Moriya Azulay established Lone Front to fill gaps faced by female combat troops lacking a family support system during and after their army service
By Stav Levaton
Israeli soldiers seen near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on March 4, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
May 31, 2025, 7:11 am
As more women head to war, IDF uniforms designed for men expose female troops to risks
The army’s one-uniform-fits-all approach means a fifth of combat soldiers are operating in clothes, vests and other gear unsuited to their physiques, harming safety and effectiveness
By Tal Schneider
Female IDF combat soldier (Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
May 12, 2024, 8:54 pm
Fighting and dying alongside men for decades, female soldiers finally get their due
Women Warriors site gathers stories and info about female troops killed in line of duty, as group hopes to memorialize fallen and inspire more integration in combat roles
By Maya Zanger-Nadis
Female members of IDF armored forces at a staging area in southern Israel near the border with Gaza, January 01, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/FLASH90)
March 3, 2024, 8:37 pm
Equal but different: The specific health considerations of female combat soldiers
While serving on the front lines against Hamas alongside their male IDF comrades, women must contend with the medical realities of their biology
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Ready for action. Soldiers pose with the equipment that parent Korin Itzhaki has purchased for them with the help of donations. (Courtesy, Korin Itzhaki)
October 12, 2023, 11:53 pm
IDF says it’s providing all equipment. Reservists find different reality on ground
Private citizens rush to purchase proper equipment as reserve soldiers called up for the war find old, inadequate combat gear
By Sue Surkes
Members of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, including party leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as well as Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf hold a party meeting at the illegal West Bank settlement outpost of Evyatar, February 27, 2023. (Courtesy: Otzma Yehudit)
May 25, 2023, 2:49 pm
Far-right proposal saying gov’t policy must adhere to ‘Zionist values’ set for vote
Cabinet motion scheduled for Sunday asserts Jewish right to settle all ‘Land of Israel,’ including West Bank, seeks to better implement contentious Nation-State Law
By Jeremy Sharon
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi speaks during a ceremony honoring wounded soldiers, in Tel Aviv, on November 21, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
January 26, 2022, 9:42 pm
IDF chief: Motivation to serve in combat units up among Israelis, except the wealthy
Kohavi doubles down on superiority of infantrymen over intel officers; reflecting on deadly 1997 helicopter crash, defense minister calls for thorough probes of recent accidents
By Judah Ari Gross
Left: IDF combat soldiers take part in a drill in December 2021; Right: An IDF soldier from the C4I Corps types on a computer. (Israel Defense Forces)
December 25, 2021, 2:46 pm
As start-up nation snaps up IDF tech alumni, combat vets say they are left behind
In a changing Israel where those hailing from tech units get the red carpet treatment for high-wage jobs, a debate is growing on what constitutes significant IDF service
By Itamar Sharon
From the cover of 'Women on the Front Lines' by Debbie Zimelman (Courtesy Debbie Zimelman)
April 10, 2019, 4:53 am
Photographer launches book featuring women on the front lines
Debbie Zimelman spends five years photographing female combat soldiers in the IDF
By Jessica Steinberg
Illustrative: Religious soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion pray while completing the final stages of a 40 kilometer journey in 2010. (Abir Sultan/Flash90)
August 8, 2018, 6:25 pm
Religious paratroopers under fire for turning backs on female instructor
IDF says it will not tolerate ‘disrespect’ of teachers; women’s group slams army for weak response to the incident
By Judah Ari Gross
Soldiers from the mixed-gender Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion take part in an exercise in the Tzeelim army base on February 5, 2018. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)
August 8, 2018, 3:24 pm
Breaking record, 1,000 women join IDF combat units this summer
Military figures on unprecedented female enlistment to field units come a day after air force announces appointment of the first woman commander of a flight squadron
By Judah Ari Gross
Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner (Screencapture: YouTube)
January 30, 2018, 12:48 am
Nationalist rabbi warns young women not to serve, says IDF ‘destroys’ families
Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner, who heads a pre-army academy, tells teens the army wants to harm families, mixed service has led to ‘insanity’
By ToI Staff
Israeli soldiers seen returning after a training drill in the fields near the Israeli border with Gaza on July 24, 2014. (Miriam Alster/ FLASH90/ File)
September 14, 2017, 11:21 am
In ‘revolution,’ IDF boosts combat soldiers’ pay to 40% of minimum wage
Army touts extra benefits for troops to counteract shrinking motivation to serve in fighting units
By Judah Ari Gross
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein teaching a lesson in 2013. (Screen capture: YouTube)
May 3, 2017, 4:27 pm
Pre-army yeshiva head who denigrated women goes on leave
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, filmed saying military service drives female soldiers ‘crazy,’ asks students not to contact him
By ToI Staff
A female combat soldier (Abir Sultan/Flash90)
July 9, 2016, 5:47 am
UK lifts ban on women in frontline combat army roles
Cameron says move to be implemented ‘as soon as possible’; Israel and others already allow females to serve in fighting units
By AP
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