An Ultra Orthodox Jewish man walks past Israeli military vehicles gathered near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, at an undisclosed location in southern Israel, 09 May 2024. On 07 May, Israel said that its troops began an operation targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah, taking operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. The United States on 08 May confirmed the decision to pause a shipment of 'high payload munitions' to Israel. More than 34,900 Palestinians and over 1,455 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. EPA-EFE/ABIR SULTAN 
Netanyahu's coalition relies for its survival on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard longstanding conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative customs.
The ultra-Orthodox conscription waiver has become especially charged as Israel's armed forces, made up mostly of teenaged conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, are overstretched by a multi-front war, in Gaza and Lebanon.
"At the height of a difficult war, the burden of inequality is more than ever acute," the court's unanimous ruling said.
Most Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military, whereas ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have been largely exempt for decades.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Ari Rabinovitch and Edmund Blair)