The newspaper based its report on data released by the Israeli army in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the non-governmental organization "Hatzlaha," which is concerned with transparency and freedom of information.
The occupation army stated in its response that 12,135 of its members hold American citizenship, which is the highest percentage by a large margin compared to the rest of the nationalities, followed by French citizenship with 6,127 soldiers, then Russian citizenship with 5,067.
The list includes more than 3,000 military personnel holding German citizenship, a similar number holding Ukrainian citizenship, in addition to more than 1,000 military personnel each of British, Romanian, Polish, Ethiopian and Canadian nationalities, while the rest of the number is distributed among other nationalities.
According to the published data, 4,440 soldiers hold two foreign nationalities in addition to Israeli nationality, while 162 military personnel hold three foreign nationalities.
Yedioth Ahronoth noted that the Freedom of Information request was submitted in March 2025, and this marks the first time the Israeli army has disclosed in detail the distribution of foreign nationalities among its personnel, without specifying whether they are in the regular or reserve forces, or their distribution according to military ranks. There was no immediate comment from the countries concerned regarding the newspaper's report.
According to estimates circulated by Hebrew media, the number of Israeli occupation army personnel in regular service is about 170,000 soldiers, in addition to between 400,000 and 460,000 personnel registered within the reserve system.
