During the Israeli war on Gaza, Israeli media published the names of Arab recruits killed in the Gaza battles, as the occupation army claims that Arab and Muslim recruits serve in its ranks.

Israeli media says that the number of Muslim soldiers in the occupation army increased significantly in 2020, adding that the number of Muslim soldiers who left service early decreased by 7% in 2020, compared to 30% in 2019.

606 Arab Muslim soldiers joined the Israeli occupation army in 2020, compared to 489 in 2019 and 436 in 2018, with more than half of them recruited into combat units, according to the Hebrew Jerusalem Post newspaper.

• Bedouin population

The occupation army believes that the significant increase in the number of Muslim recruits (primarily among the Bedouin population) is linked to a large recruitment campaign and personal calls made to 4,000 young men to enlist in the army, about 1,200 of whom expressed interest, contacted the Israeli occupation army, and 250 of them were recruited, according to the newspaper.

Many Bedouins choose to join the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion of the occupation army near the Kerem Abu Salem crossing, according to the Jerusalem Post, and this battalion is responsible for defending the area near the meeting point of the Zionist entity’s borders with Egypt and Gaza, and defending nearby settlements.

Although it is known as the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion, about 40% of it consists of Arab Muslims, Christians, and Circassians who are not Bedouins.

The occupation state is witnessing an increasing trend among unemployed young Israeli Arabs, and a State Comptroller report issued earlier in 2023 found that nearly a third of Arabs in the Zionist entity aged 18-24 are unemployed, double the rate in the OECD, according to the British Telegraph newspaper.

• Gadsar unit

The Gadsar unit is considered the first Arab unit in the occupation army, operating in the occupied West Bank, home to 1.7 million of its Palestinian Arab citizens.

At a checkpoint between two Israeli settlements, Mohammed Al-Ayashi, a Muslim soldier, inspects some Palestinian cars, according to the Telegraph.

Mohammed says: "Sometimes it’s difficult because I am an Arab like them and they look at me with disdain, but in the end, I am doing my job and I must do this."

The Muslim recruits in the Gadsar base pledge allegiance to the occupation state and swear on the Quran over their personal rifles.