The High Court of Justice said on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces must begin a trial for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps by November, following repeated delays by the military.

Currently, female soldiers can serve in tanks in the IDF’s Border Defense Corps as part of an all-female tank company in the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which operates along the Egyptian border — not in fighting deep behind enemy lines.

The tentative pilot program in the Armored Corps, which the IDF had previously deemed impractical, was originally scheduled to start in 2024.

Its opening was delayed twice during the war, and the IDF last said it was expected to begin in November 2026.

In its ruling on Monday — following a petition filed in 2020 demanding that the IDF open additional combat roles to female recruits — the High Court said that “the IDF has a legal obligation to uphold, to the extent possible, equal opportunities between men and women in assignments to combat roles.”

The justices said that the IDF must open the Armored Corps trial for women in November 2026, and not delay it further.

There was no immediate response to the ruling from the military.

The army has insisted in the past that it is allowing more women to serve in combat positions out of practical considerations, not due to a progressive social agenda.

Despite claims made by rabbis and other religious activists against the Armored Corps pilot, the military has been planning only gender-segregated tank crews, in large part due to issues of modesty, as in some cases, crew members must use the bathroom and perform other bodily functions within the confined space of the tank.

Women already serve in a variety of combat roles in the IDF, in many cases alongside male counterparts.

Women soldiers were directly involved in battles to defend against Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, including in the all-female tank company that fought for hours, killing dozens of terrorists along the border and in communities attacked by the terror group.

According to IDF data from 2025, some 8,500 female soldiers served in combat roles, an increase of nearly 240 percent compared to 2015. In 2025, women made up 21.2% of combat troops.

Critics of gender integration in the military often decry it as a dangerous experiment with potential ramifications for national security, while defenders hail it as a long-needed measure that puts Israel on par with other Western countries.

Amid the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, female soldiers have been on the frontlines. In September 2024, Staff Sgt. Agam Naim, 20, a paramedic with the 401st Armored Brigade, was killed in an explosion in Rafah.

The heroic and effective conduct of female combat soldiers during the October 7 onslaught and the ensuing war seems to have significantly boosted the argument for further integration into combat roles, as well as high turnout among female draftees.

The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits — mostly combat troops — due to the strain caused by the war.

Legislation being laid out in the Knesset would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students — some 80,000 of whom are currently eligible for military service — while ostensibly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.

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