Gallant greenlights draft orders for 1,000 ultra-Orthodox starting this Sunday

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant authorized on Thursday the dispatch of approximately 1,000 draft orders to ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men beginning this Sunday, marking the first such initiative since Israel's High Court of Justice's landmark ruling in June abolishing the long-standing Haredi exemption from IDF service.

According to a defense ministry statement, the IDF plans to issue these draft orders in three phases to achieve its goal of 3,000 Haredi recruits this year, in addition to the 1,800 expected to integrate into existing IDF units.

Brig.-Gen. Relli Margalit, speaking at a session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee later in the day, outlined a "learning process" to refine operations after each wave, with the second wave anticipated approximately two weeks after the first, and the third two weeks thereafter.

The Jerusalem Post contributed to this report