Religious Zionist women serve in IDF combat roles through the same broad range of voluntary pathways available to other women, including mixed-gender border battalions. In November 2024, the IDF also began an all-female combat-intelligence platoon designed for religious soldiers, with an all-female command structure and a female spiritual adviser. Its arrangements provide a route for women who want combat training while maintaining religious observance.
A dedicated combat-intelligence platoon
The platoon was formed within the Combat Intelligence Collection Array and the Border Defense Corps. Its soldiers train for duties comparable to those in mixed-gender battalions that guard the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. The program's spiritual adviser, Rabbanit Hila Naor, supports religious practice and provides guidance on questions that arise during service. The Times of Israel's report on the unit describes its November 26, 2024 induction cohort and Naor's role.
The report says the first cohort included 40 women. It also says the platoon was intended for border defense and intelligence work, not for raids or ground campaigns. The distinction is practical: the unit offered a combat track with a defined mission and religious support, rather than a promise that soldiers would enter every kind of combat deployment.
Enlistment figures and what they measure
Ohr Torah Stone, the organization connected with the seminary that helped develop the program, reported that about 3,500 graduates of national-religious girls' high schools enlisted in the IDF in 2024 and that about 350 chose combat units. The report attributes these figures to the organization, which said they were based on IDF data. They describe one school-system cohort, not all religious women or all female enlistment.
Women also volunteer for mixed-gender units such as Caracal, where they serve under the unit's standard framework. Some choose preparatory study before enlistment; others enter through recruitment and selection processes. Religious observance is maintained through the soldier's own practice and available military arrangements, while the dedicated platoon adds a peer group and female spiritual adviser.
More than one route to service
The dedicated platoon complements rather than replaces other service options. Its gender-separated structure addresses specific concerns for observant recruits; it does not define the experience of every religious woman in uniform. For context on the range of IDF combat roles, see how women's combat opportunities developed and how Caracal operates.