A senior Israel Defense Forces officer made it clear on Sunday that there is no plan to increase the number of female combat soldiers in the IDF.
Briefing military reporters, the officer said there are more soldiers in the military despite a shorter period of compulsory service, adding that only 51 percent of the population enlisted. He said 26 percent are defined as legitimate religious students, 10 percent do not enlist for medical reasons, and there are other reasons why in the past year the IDF has not met its goals for enlisting haredi-religious Jews. The quota was 3,200 haredi soldiers and the number inducted was 2,850.