Sharp gaps in IDF reserve service as Modi’in leads nation, Tel Aviv falls to bottom

New data obtained through a Freedom of Information petition reveal sharp disparities in reserve service across Israel’s cities and show significant shifts as the war stretched into its second year and public consensus eroded.

(Photo: Shalev Shalom, IDF)

The figures, covering 2024 and released for the first time, show Tel Aviv residents performed the highest number of reserve-duty days last year: 2.75 million. Jerusalem residents performed 1.781 million days and Beersheba residents 1.041 million.

Because the IDF did not supply the number of eligible residents, the analysis relies on Central Bureau of Statistics data for the 19–45 age group, a common approximation for reserve-eligible Israelis. The estimate is imperfect because some in that age group are in mandatory service, some are exempt, some serve in the career military, and some reservists are older than 45, but the disparities remain clear.

Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut once again ranked as Israel’s most mobilized city among the 50 largest, with the highest number of reserve days per eligible resident. Twenty-eight soldiers from the city were killed during the war, including five reservists.

The next most mobilized cities were Givatayim, Ness Ziona, Beersheba, Rosh Haayin, Kiryat Ono, Hod Hasharon, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and Ramat Hasharon. Other relatively large communities high on the list included Shoham, Gedera, Sderot and Givat Shmuel.

Several settlements in the West Bank also logged high mobilization rates, both in reserve service and in local emergency squads. These included Ariel, Efrat, Karnei Shomron, Shiloh, Beit El and Maale Adumim, each of which passed significant numbers of reserve-duty days relative to their smaller populations.

Jerusalem ranked near the bottom. Haredi cities ranked even lower. An eligible resident of Modi’in performed 24 times more reserve-duty days on average than a resident of Modi’in Illit, 19 times more than a resident of Bnei Brak and 11 times more than someone from Beitar Illit. A Tel Aviv resident performed 16 times more reserve-duty days than a resident of Modi’in Illit.

Last year, residents of Bnei Brak performed 72,262 reserve-duty days. In Beit El, a West Bank settlement with just 6,500 residents, the total was nearly identical at 72,663. Bnei Brak has 234,000 residents.

Residents of Modi’in Illit, a predominantly ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement, performed 20,798 reserve days in 2024. Yonatan, a religious settlement in the Golan Heights, performed slightly more at 21,527. Yonatan has about 850 residents, compared with 91,000 in Modi’in Illit. On average, a resident of Yonatan performed 115 times more reserve-duty days.

The IDF, unlike last year, also provided data on the percentage of eligible residents who were actively serving in the reserves, excluding most Haredi and Arab citizens, who generally do not serve in the regular army.

In January 2024, Tel Aviv had the highest share of eligible residents in active reserve duty at 12.5 percent. Givatayim followed at 12.2 percent, then Ramat Hasharon and Ramat Gan at 12 percent each, and the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Most of the 50 cities with the highest number of reserve days fell between 10 and 11 percent.

In February, the settlement of Efrat rose to first place with 10.3 percent, ahead of Tel Aviv at 10.2 percent, followed by Givatayim and Ramat Gan. As the war continued, active-service rates dropped. By March and May, Tel Aviv had fallen to fifth place. In June, it dropped into the lower half.

The shift followed Netanyahu’s May order for the IDF to enter Rafah despite warnings from the Biden administration and pleas from families of hostages to avoid such an operation. Consensus weakened further as the war stretched on. The decline accelerated in early September after the collapse of negotiations, the killing of six hostages in a Hamas tunnel and mass protests.

From September through the end of 2024, Tel Aviv ranked in the bottom three of the 50 cities, placing last in October and November. Several cities in the Dan region that had been top contributors early in the war also fell sharply.

In December 2024, the five cities with the lowest percentage of eligible residents in active reserve service were Kfar Saba, Rosh Haayin, Tel Aviv, Givatayim and Ramat Gan in last place at 6.9 percent.

The highest rates came from Israel’s periphery. Netivot led with 8.5 percent, followed by Dimona, Ashdod, Gedera, Nahariya, Efrat, Beersheba, Maale Adumim, Kiryat Gat and Ashkelon.

Attorney Ya’ara Winkler-Shalit of the Movement for Freedom of Information said the IDF withheld key public data for an extended period. “It is upsetting that only a year after the request was filed and only after a court order this information was released,” she said. “The changes over the past two years, evident in the mobilization data, are significant and justify publishing the figures regularly as a warning sign for policymakers.”

The Freedom of Information request was filed by Shai Lerner of the Reichman University practicum.