Due to developments in the Gaza war, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has instructed the Personnel Directorate to immediately provide a plan to “expand and maximize” the number of draft orders sent to members of the ultra-Orthodox community, the military said Tuesday.

Zamir also instructed the Personnel Directorate to figure out how to better integrate recruits from the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community, it said.

No further details were provided.

Ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition were reportedly furious at the move, which was aimed at providing the army with up to 80,000 potential conscripts, according to Hebrew media reports.

It came amid coalition-busting tensions between the Haredi members of the government and the rest of the coalition over the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox young men. Earlier this week, the coalition’s two Haredi parties said they would boycott votes on coalition legislation on Wednesday, in protest of the government’s failure to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

The army has recently issued tens of thousands of call-up orders for IDF reservists ahead of a planned major offensive in the Gaza Strip. Many reservists have already served over 300 days since the war began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 abducted as hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Zamir issued the draft plan order without coordinating with either........

© The Times of Israel