Unprecedented legal action occurred over the weekend when military police forces raided the 7th District neighborhood in Ashdod, the main haredi community in the city, searching for several yeshiva students who failed to report to the recruitment office.
According to local reports, the military police arrived in civilian vehicles but were dressed in official uniforms, creating tension in the community in the hours leading up to Shabbat.
The MPs knocked on doors in the community in an effort to locate Yeshiva students who had ignored repeated summons to report for duty.
One of the search targets was the home of a student from the Gur Hasidic sect, who reportedly received several notifications in recent months but chose to ignore them.
Witnesses reported that some of the students fled upon spotting the MPs, while others were simply not at home at that time.
This unusual operation reflects an escalation in the IDF's policy towards non-compliance with service, and comes against the backdrop of increasing tensions surrounding the issue of haredi military service.