The African asylum seekers fighting for Israel in Gaza

Israel has been recruiting African asylum seekers to take part in military operations in Gaza in exchange for permanent residency, according to off-the-record briefings by Israeli defence officials.

Recruitment is being conducted in an "organised manner" with the "guidance of defence establishment legal advisers", said an exclusive report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Military sources confirmed that the defence establishment has made use of asylum seekers in "various operations", said Middle East Eye. The "manner in which the Israeli army deploys the asylum seekers is barred from publication", Haaretz said, but to date "no asylum seekers who contributed to the war effort have been granted official status".

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A way out of limbo

Approximately 30,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, currently reside in Israel, said France 24. Shira Abbo, director of public policy at Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Israel's leading refugee advocacy organisation, said that fewer than 1% of asylum claims are ultimately approved.

Many of those whose applications are still being processed have been granted "temporary status". While this provides asylum seekers with many of the rights afforded to Israeli citizens, it must be renewed periodically with the Interior Ministry and does not guarantee permanent status, leaving them in a legal limbo that can last for years.

Some asylum seekers have already sought to voluntarily enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said Haaretz, seeing it "as the best way to integrate into Israel society".

The Hamas attacks on 7 October last year – in which three asylum seekers were among the 1,200 killed – set off a "wave of volunteerism" across Israel, said France 24. Asylum seekers "desperate to solidify their legal status" were among those offering their help with civil defence and agricultural work.

One man, identified as A., told Haaretz how he had been approached in the first months of the war by someone claiming to be a police officer who said they "were looking for special people to join the army" to take part in a "life-or-death war for Israel". A., who ultimately declined the offer, was promised a salary similar to what he was earning in his current job, and documents from the State of Israel.

Filling the ranks

The recruitment practice has been "met with criticism for creating a quid pro quo when asylum should be decided on the basis of merit", said France 24. "Asylum status is granted due to persecution, not as part of a deal," said Julia Grignon, from the Institute for Strategic Research. "Enlisting in the military should never be a condition for obtaining refugee status."

In an editorial, Haaretz said the practice was a "despicable new low" for the IDF and accused Israel of "creating its own version of Russia's Wagner Group", which has recruited prison inmates for dangerous military service in exchange for commuting their sentences.

However, the defence establishment maintains that its actions are legal. In the past, the government has allowed the children of foreign workers to serve in the IDF in exchange for granting status to their immediate family members. The Interior Ministry has also explored the possibility of drafting the children of asylum seekers into the IDF if they have been educated in Israeli schools.

This reflects the reality that Israel has a shortage of soldiers as it continues its operation in Gaza and faces the threat of a second front against Hezbollah in Lebanon. In June, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that ultra-Orthodox Jews, historically exempt from conscription, would now be required to serve. And the retirement age of army reservists has been temporarily extended to boost troop numbers.