At least 2,000 British nationals have served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) during the war in Gaza, research has found.
A Freedom of Information request obtained by Declassified UK found that 1,686 British-Israelis and 383 people with British, Israeli and another nationality were serving in the IDF as of March 2025.
The figure is significantly higher than previous reports, which suggested that around 50 Britons had fought for Israel during the conflict.
According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2024. Israeli officials said earlier this year that they accepted the overall death toll.
The IDF comprises Israel’s army, air force and navy. Military service is compulsory for most Israeli men and women after high school.
via REUTERS
IDF personnel are deployed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and areas near Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria. In the West Bank, violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians has escalated in recent years.
The report does not specify where the British-Israeli IDF personnel were stationed.
According to the Freedom of Information response, the British nationals were among nearly 50,000 IDF personnel who hold dual nationality alongside Israeli citizenship.
The most common additional nationalities among dual-national IDF personnel are American, Russian, Ukrainian, French and German, the data shows.
In 2024, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “The UK recognises the right of British nationals with more than one nationality to serve in the legitimately recognised armed forces of their additional nationalities. We are aware of reports of UK citizens travelling to fight for the Israel Defence Force (IDF), but the Government does not estimate the numbers of those who have done so.”
Under Section 4 of the Foreign Enlistment Act, it is an offence for British nationals to take part in the military or naval service of a foreign state that is at war with a state at peace with the UK. After the UK recognised Palestine in 2025, some legal commentators suggested that dual nationals serving in the IDF could face prosecution.
A number of international organisations and human rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a charge the Israeli government strongly denies.
Some MPs, including Independent MP Ayoub Khan, have called on the British government to hold dual-national soldiers to account.
He told the Middle East Eye: “If UK dual nationals choose to enlist in the IDF during a conflict that international bodies and courts have described in terms of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, plausible genocide, then they must be held to the same standard as others who have joined foreign forces accused of such crimes.”
