JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Only 5% of 24,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as Haredim, responded to military draft orders in 2024, an Israeli military official said on Wednesday.

“The army had issued 24,000 draft orders out of 80,000 planned,” Shai Tayeb, head of the personnel planning branch in the Israeli army, said during a Knesset Subcommittee meeting.

“Only 1,212 people responded to the 24,000 draft orders,” he added.

The Israeli official said that the army intensified the pursuit of the draft dodgers, especially at the Ben Gurion Airport, where 411 were arrested and 43 others were banned from leaving the country.

He said that the penalties for the dodgers will be tightened and dealt with strictly, since “current sanctions for individuals are insufficient.”

The Haredi community, which accounts for roughly 13% of Israel's 10 million population, has continued to protest conscription following a Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 2024, mandating their enlistment and halting funding for yeshivas (religious schools) whose students refuse service.

Haredim argue that Torah study is their primary duty and that integration into secular society threatens their religious identity.

For decades, Haredi men have evaded conscription at age 18 through repeated deferrals tied to yeshiva enrollment until reaching the exemption age of 26.

The Israeli opposition accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pushing for a new law to restore Haredi exemptions to satisfy coalition partners Shas and United Torah Judaism, risking the government's collapse.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.