The IDF announced that it is moving to trim excess reserve deployments after the government directed the military to limit how many reservists may be on active duty this year, while pledging that the benefits provided to those who do serve will remain intact, Times of Israel reports.
During the height of the war, roughly 300,000 reservists were mobilized. Prior to the latest budget decisions, the military had anticipated calling up about 60,000 reservists in 2026 for routine assignments. In December, however, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed as part of the state budget to restrict the daily number of active reservists in 2026 to 40,000, a step they say will save billions of shekels.
According to the IDF, the reductions will focus on positions it considers nonessential, including full-time reservists assigned to bolster civil defense teams in border communities, along with certain roles at headquarters.
The military also said it will shorten the length of routine reserve duty — excluding emergency call-ups — reducing the requirement from 72 days to 55. In addition, several practices adopted after the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, will be discontinued.
At the same time, the IDF emphasized that benefits for reservists who serve extended periods will not be cut. Under the revised framework, many benefits will now be provided after 45 days of reserve duty, which the military says is meant to discourage unnecessary extensions of service beyond that point and encourage reservists to return to their civilian employment.
Extended and repeated reserve mobilizations during the war drew sharp criticism from the Finance Ministry, which argued that the approach reflected inefficiency and significant waste of funds within the military.
As part of efforts to prevent the use of surplus reservists, the IDF said units will no longer be allowed to recruit reserve soldiers through social media advertisements, a method that became common during the war. In many cases, reservists would finish an assignment in one unit and then join another to continue serving.
Under new army rules, reservist recruitment will be permitted only through an official military website, a change intended to stop reservists from moving between units without proper oversight.
The military is also ending the practice known as “hybrid service,” in which reservists fulfill their military duties while simultaneously maintaining their civilian jobs, sometimes on a week-on, week-off schedule.
Beyond financial considerations, the IDF said the week-on, week-off model has undermined unit cohesion, as some soldiers never actually serve alongside those designated as their teammates.
The overall direct cost of the war has been estimated at approximately NIS 220 billion ($67 billion), with roughly NIS 50–70 billion of that total spent on mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists for lengthy periods.
{Matzav.com}
