IDF ‘deeply values’ its 7,000 ‘lone soldiers’

The length of their service depends on both age and the type of program in which they enlist and can range from shortened service to full military service for both men and women.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

Some 7,000 “lone soldiers” are serving in the Israel Defense Forces, including about half who immigrated to the Jewish state specifically to enlist, according to official figures released on Monday.

About one-third of these soldiers—service members who do not have immediate family in Israel—are serving in combat units, an Israeli military official told JNS.

Last year, 1,050 lone soldiers from Jewish communities in the Diaspora enlisted in the IDF, including 33% from the United States, 14% from France, 13% from Russia, 6% from Ukraine, 3% from Australia, 1.2% from Germany and 0.6% from Spain.

The number of lone soldiers has remained stable over the past several years, with a slight increase during the first year of the war sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the official said.

The length of their service depends on both age and the type of program in which they enlist and can range from shortened service to full military service for both men and women.

“We are committed to ensuring that no lone soldier ever stands alone,” Maj. Lior Peretz Sheleg, head of the IDF’s Lone Soldiers Section, Personnel Directorate, told JNS.

“We deeply value their meaningful contribution to the success of the war, as well as the values ​​they and their families embody, and recognize the very profound challenges faced by parents living continents away from their children.”