ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his government is considering extending mandatory military service as the army faces a growing personnel shortage amid its ongoing conflict with Iran and military offensive in Lebanon.

Speaking to the security cabinet, Netanyahu addressed warnings from military chief Eyal Zamir, who reportedly cautioned that the military is “on the verge of collapse."

The Israeli military is currently short about 15,000 troops, including 8,000 combat soldiers, army spokesman Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing Thursday, stressing that “more combat soldiers are needed” across multiple fronts, particularly in Lebanon.

Defrin added that the government plans to revise conscription laws and extend service periods after the Jewish Passover holiday. Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs said officials would examine both extending mandatory service and advancing new draft legislation immediately after the holiday.

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid on Thursday accused the government of driving the country toward a "security disaster" due to a shortage of combat soldiers, echoing a warning reportedly delivered a day earlier to the security cabinet by Zamir.

He asserted that "the Chief of Staff is warning of the collapse of the IDF — and the government is ignoring it," while further arguing that the administration "is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers."

Lapid also called for drafting men from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, who have largely been exempt from military service since Israel’s self-proclamation in 1948. While service is mandatory in Israel, men who devote themselves full-time to religious study have historically received exemptions under arrangements established when the ultra-Orthodox population was much smaller.

Now overextended across multiple fronts, Israel lacks the capacity to sustain operations everywhere at once, including ongoing campaigns in a devastated Gaza, strikes against Iran and Lebanon, and security details for illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli officials are warning that the troop levels are declining as military actions increase.

The issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews has sparked a political crisis, with Netanyahu’s Haredi coalition partners boycotting parliamentary votes over proposed changes to the law.

Under current rules, Israeli men serve 32 months of mandatory military service and women serve 24 months. Proposals under discussion would extend service to 36 months.

The debate comes as Israel expands its ground operations in southern Lebanon, pushing north of the Litani River while intensifying its airstrikes and ground offensive.

The current escalation was triggered when Hezbollah launched a wave of rockets and drones into Israel, including a strike on a military site near Haifa. The Lebanese Shiite group characterized the attack as retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and previous Israeli bombardments across Lebanon.

Israel is now planning a significant expansion of its operations, aiming to seize control of the region south of the Litani River and dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. If realized, this would mark the largest Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 2006 and could potentially evolve into a long-term occupation of the country's southern territory.