World
In first, female IDF combat soldier completes training for elite Sayeret Matkal unit
For the first time, a female combat soldier completed training in the Israeli military’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday.
The pilot program for women to serve in Sayeret Matkal began in December 2024 as part of the IDF’s efforts to open more roles for female fighters.
One servicewoman passed preliminary screenings and “met the required criteria,” completing on Thursday a “training track specifically designed for her, which lasted more than a year and a half,” the IDF said in a statement.
The soldier would soon be integrated into the unit’s operational activities, in accordance with “operational needs” and subject to the IDF’s protocols on men and women serving together, the military said.
The IDF said it “congratulates the soldier on her significant and groundbreaking achievement.”
The army has insisted that it is allowing more women to serve in combat positions out of practical considerations, not due to a progressive social agenda.
“At this time, maximizing the service potential of male and female soldiers from all sectors and populations is an imperative, and the IDF will continue to work toward this goal,” the military added.
Sayeret Matkal, known in English as the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, is one of the IDF’s elite commando units. It operates under the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Special Operations Division. Much of the unit’s activities remain a secret.
Women already serve in a variety of combat roles in the IDF, in many cases alongside male counterparts.
In December, the IDF deemed a pilot program integrating female recruits into the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit a success, paving the way for women combat engineers to become a permanent role in the military.
The military is also in the midst of running a pilot program for female troops to serve in the Israeli Air Force’s elite search and rescue Unit 669, but has delayed a planned pilot program for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps.
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.
Detractors note that some requirements for female combat soldiers have been lowered — which they say is a sign that effectiveness is being sacrificed — and that servicewomen suffer stress injuries at a higher rate.
Women soldiers were directly involved in battles to defend against Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, including an all-female tank company that fought for hours, killing dozens of terrorists along the border and in communities attacked by the terror group.
The heroic and effective conduct of female combat soldiers during the attacks seems to have significantly boosted the argument for further integration into combat roles, as well as high turnout among female draftees.
According to IDF data from 2025, some 8,500 female soldiers served in combat roles during their mandatory service, an increase of nearly 240 percent compared to 2015. In 2025, women made up 21.2% of mandatory service combat troops.
The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.
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.
