3 min readNew DelhiJul 10, 2025 02:49 PM IST
First published on: Jul 10, 2025 at 02:21 PM IST
Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 wounded during an operation in northern Gaza, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday. Four of the deceased belonged to the Netzah Yehuda battalion.
Battalion of Haredis
Formerly known as Nahal Haredi, the Netzah Yehuda (“Judah’s Victory”) battalion was raised in 1999 for young Jews who dropped out of ultra-Orthodox or Haredi religious schools. This was to accommodate the community’s stringent religious practices, such as avoiding interaction with women who are also required to serve in the Israeli military.
The battalion is a part of the Kfir Brigade, the largest infantry brigade in the Israel Defense Forces. Most of the recruits come from underprivileged backgrounds, or are settlers who have been born and raised in Israel-occupied Palestinian territories.
The motto of the battalion is “And your camp must be holy,” a line taken from Torah, the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Allegations against unit
Carlo Aldrovandi, assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, wrote in The Conversation that the members of the Netzah Yehuda battalion take their motto literally, believing that they are indeed on a “holy mission”. “This contributes to a culture that encourages unrestrained violence against non-Jewish populations,” he wrote.
Over the years, the battalion has been accused of a number of human rights violations, such as abusing, killing, shooting dead, sexually assaulting, and torturing Palestinian civilians. In January 2022, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American died after being detained by Netzah Yehuda soldiers in the occupied West Bank. The autopsy revealed that he died of a heart attack after the soldiers left him tied up and gagged.
In April 2024, an opinion piece by The Haaretz described the battalion as “a kind of an independent militia that doesn’t obey the army’s rules”.
Role in Gaza
The Netzah Yehuda battalion has been in combat across Gaza since October 7, 2023. In July 2024, an investigation by CNN revealed that former commanders of the battalion had been promoted to senior positions in the IDF, and were training Israeli ground troops and running operations in Gaza.
A whistleblower told CNN that the battalion’s soldiers “pretty much get a carte blanche, where they can do more or less whatever they want” in the Strip. He also said that these soldiers got two weeks off as compensation for killing a “terrorist” which was “quite an attractive reward for someone that’s spending a lot of time in the military”.
In April 2024, the United States sought to sanction members of the battalion for abuses committed in the West Bank. These sanctions, however, never went through.
A rabbi of the Netzah Yehuda Haredi battalion encourages soldiers during a swearing-in ceremony, 2013. (The New York Times) 
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