Thousands of western nationals serve in Israel’s army amid Gaza genocide: Report
The Israeli military has published official data for the first time detailing how many of its soldiers hold foreign citizenship alongside Israeli nationality, revealing a large presence of dual-national personnel within its ranks.
Figures obtained by Declassified through a freedom of information request made in March 2025 and filed by the NGO Hatzlacha show that 50,632 serving soldiers hold at least one additional citizenship.
Personnel carrying passports from the United States, France, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ukraine form the largest groups, accounting for most of the total.
The data indicate that 12,135 soldiers hold US citizenship, making Americans the largest single category.
More than 6,100 soldiers hold French nationality, while over 5,000 carry Russian citizenship. The figures also identify at least 2,069 soldiers who hold British nationality.
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Until now, debate in Britain largely focused on a small number of “lone soldiers” - volunteers without Israeli citizenship previously estimated at around 54 individuals.
The newly released data significantly expands the known scale of British involvement.
Thousands of additional soldiers listed in the figures hold passports from Romania, Poland, Ethiopia, Canada, Hungary, Italy and several Latin American states.
The data also show a smaller number of personnel holding citizenship from Arab countries, including Yemen, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria and Algeria.
The report states that 4,440 soldiers hold two foreign citizenships in addition to Israeli nationality, while 162 soldiers possess three or more foreign passports.
Soldiers accused of war crimes
Since the outbreak of Israel’s genocide in Gaza on 7 October 2023, Israeli forces have relied on tens of thousands of dual and multi-national soldiers in military operations across the besieged enclave.
The scale of foreign participation has drawn increasing international legal scrutiny under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national courts to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes regardless of where the acts occurred.
Major rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have called for independent investigations and urged governments to examine the conduct of their nationals serving in the Israeli military.
Legal initiatives have already begun in several countries. Authorities in Canada have reportedly opened probes into suspected war crimes that may involve dual-national reservists, while rights groups in Belgium and the United Kingdom have filed complaints with international and domestic legal bodies targeting hundreds of individuals holding European citizenship.
Legal experts say some foreign nationals - including Britons - could face exposure under domestic legislation, which restricts participation in foreign military forces under certain circumstances.
The International Court of Justice’s January 2024 warning of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza has intensified calls for states to investigate whether their citizens took part in violations of international law.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has continued for two years, has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded over 171,000, while Israeli bombardment and ground assaults have destroyed roughly 90 percent of civilian infrastructure across the territory.
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