- Joined
- Aug 20, 2022
- Messages
- 26,976
- Points
- 113
Singapore citizens may have served in Israeli military during Gaza war: IDF data
Two Singapore citizens may have fought for the Israeli military during the Gaza war.
PHOTO: Unsplash
PUBLISHED ONFebruary 19, 2026 11:57 AM
BYKhoo Yi-Hang
Two Singaporeans are purportedly among the more than 50,000 soldiers enlisted in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) as of March 2025 — 17 months into the Gaza war — who held at least one other citizenship.
This is according to information obtained by Israeli non-governmental organisation Hatzlacha through the country's Freedom of Information Law.
The data obtained by Hatzlacha was first reported by British investigative news portal Declassified UK on Feb 11.
Isreali news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported on the data on Feb 14, followed by Qatari media outlet Al Jazeera on Feb 15.
According to the data, one Israeli soldier was listed as a dual Israeli-Singapore national, while another soldier was listed to have multiple nationalities — having at least one other passport alongside his or her Singaporean and Israeli ones.
Singapore does not allow dual citizenship, but minors can hold two passports until they turn 21, when they have to decide whether to renounce Singapore citizenship. The Government may reject the application if a male citizen is subject to the Enlistment Act and has not done his National Service.
Under the Constitution, the Government may also revoke the Singapore citizenship of anyone above 18 who applies for the issue or renewal of a foreign passport, or uses a foreign passport for travel.
In a Facebook post on Feb 18, former Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin noted that under Singapore law, citizens and permanent residents also cannot take up arms overseas.
"I'm confident our authorities will handle this thoroughly and fairly. If the report isn't accurate, I hope that will be clarified. Either way, transparent findings are key to maintaining public confidence in Singapore's fairness and integrity."
AsiaOne has contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs for comment.
The IDF data obtained by Hatzlacha showed that at least 12,135 soldiers in the Israeli military held US passports, topping the list by a huge margin. Additionally, 1,207 other soldiers have another passport alongside their US and Israeli ones.
Second on the list were dual French-Israeli nationals — there were at least 6,127 Israeli soldiers holding French passports. Another 337 soldiers held other nationalities alongside French and Israeli.
The Israeli military noted that soldiers holding multiple citizenships are counted more than once in the breakdown.
https://paid.outbrain.com/network/r...JHEpqK4rainjg1dxMfZ2cuZGbaa41A&c=c572b698&v=4
And there were at least 5,067 Russians, 3,901 Germans, 3,210 Ukrainians and 1,686 British nationals enlisted in the Israeli military as of March 2025.
