The General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces or General Headquarters (), abbreviated Matkal (מטכ"ל), is the supreme command of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. It is based in the Kirya compound (Rabin Camp) in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Members

Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Honor Guard at IDF Headquarters for Outgoing Chief of Staff Lt

The majority of members in the General Staff Forum are officers ranked as

Aluf ( or "first/leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. In addition to the ''aluf'' rank, fo ...

and heads of the following military and civilian bodies:

Chief

* Chief of the General Staff –

Rav Aluf ( or "first/leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. In addition to the ''aluf'' rank, ...

Eyal Zamir Eyal Zamir (; born 26 January 1966) is the current Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken office on 5 March 2025. Zamir previously served as the Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (2023–2025), a ...

* Deputy Chief of the General Staff –

Tamir Yadai

Arms

* Commander of the

Ground Forces An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

– Aluf Nadav Lotan * Commander of the Air Force – Aluf

Tomer Bar Tomer Bar (; born 1969) is an Israeli general currently commanding the Israeli Air Force. Before his selection to succeed Amikam Norkin as commander of the IAF, Bar served as head of the IDF Force Design Directorate, a reorganized version of wh ...

* Commander of the Navy – Aluf

David Saar Salama David Saar Salama (; Born March 4 1969) is an Israeli Vice Admiral (Aluf) who currently serves as the commander-in-chief of the Israeli Navy. Previously he served as chief of the navy staff, deputy commander of the Depth Corps, commander of the ...

Directorates

*Head of the

Operations Directorate The Israeli Operations Directorate (, ''Agaf HaMivtza'im'', abbreviated as ( ''Agam'') is the Operations (military staff), operations branch in the Israeli General Staff, General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. It was established in 1999, al ...

– Aluf Oded Basyuk *Head of the

Intelligence Directorate Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...

– Aluf

Shlomi Binder Shlomi Binder (; February 1975) is an IDF officer at the rank of Aluf (equivalent to major general), who serves as the Head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate (Aman). Previously, he served, among other positions, as the Head of the in the ...

*Head of the Technological and Logistics Directorate – Aluf Michel Yanko *Head of the Personnel Directorate – Aluf David Bar Kalifa *Head of the Planning and Multi-Domain Force Design Directorate – Aluf

Eyal Harel Eyal Harel (; born April 27, 1974) is an IDF officer with the rank of Vice Admiral, serving as Head of the Planning and Force Build-up Directorate. Previously he served as Head of the Planning Division, Commander of the Naval Headquarters and as ...

*Head of the Computer Service Directorate – Aluf Aviad Dagan *Head of the Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate – Aluf Eliezer Toledano

Commands

*Commander of the Northern Command – Aluf Ori Gordin *Commander of the Central Command – Aluf Avi Bluth *Commander of the Southern Command – Aluf Yaniv Asor *Commander of the

Home Front Command The Home Front Command (HFC; , ''Pikud HaOref'', also referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym ''Pakar'') is an Israel Defense Forces military district command responsible for civil protection. It was created in February 1992 in response t ...

– Aluf Rafi Milo

Other

Military Secretary to the Prime Minister The military secretary to the Prime Minister (, ''HaMazkir HaTzva'i Shel Rosh'' ''HaMemshala''), is the senior military adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel on military and national security issues. As a member of the Staff (military), Militar ...

– Aluf

Roman Gofman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

*Military Secretary to the

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

–Tat-Aluf Guy Markizano *Military Secretary to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

– Tat-Aluf

Na'ama Rosen Grimberg Na'ama () is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav shitufi in the West Bank.Na'omi
Bik'at HaYarden Regional Counc ...

* Commander of the Depth Corps and of the Military Colleges – Aluf Nimrod Aloni * Commander of the Northern Corps and Head of Maneuver Array – Aluf Dan Goldfuss * Commander of the General Staff Corps and the Education and Training Command – Aluf

David Zini David Zini (; born 9 January 1974) is an Israel Defense Forces major general, currently serving as head of Training Command and the commander of the General Staff Corps. Previously, he held positions such as the commander of Malach, the commande ...

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT; ) is a unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense tasked with overseeing civilian policy in the West Bank, as well as facilitating logistical coordination between Israel and the ...

– Aluf

Ghassan Alian Ghassan Alian (, ; born 21 March 1972) is an Israeli-Druze officer in the IDF and the current head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. Aluf by rank (equivalent to Major General), he has previously served as Centra ...

of the

Military Court of Appeals The Israeli Military Court of Appeals is the supreme military court of the Israel Defense Forces. It considers and judges over appeals submitted by the Military Advocate General which challenge decisions rendered by the district military tribunals ...

– Aluf

Orli Markman Orly Markman (; born 1969) is an IDF officer with the rank of Aluf (Major General), currently serving as the President of the Military Court of Appeals. In February 2022, she was promoted to the rank of Aluf, becoming the third woman in IDF histor ...

Military Advocate General The Military Advocate General (MAG Corps') (, ''HaPraklitut HaTzva'it'') is responsible for implementing the rule of law within the Israel Defense Forces. The unit's objectives include integrating the rule of law amongst IDF commanders and soldie ...

– Aluf Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi *

IDF Spokesperson The IDF Spokesperson's Unit (, ''Dover Tzahal'', abbr. Dotz) is the unit in the IDF Operations Directorate, responsible for information policy and media relations. The unit is led by the IDF Spokesperson, a brigadier general and member of the ...

– Tat-Aluf

Effie Defrin Ephraim "Effi" Defrin is an Israel Defense Forces officer and the current IDF spokesperson since 27 March 2025, having succeeded Daniel Hagari. His previous position was head of the Tevel Division. He has also served as deputy commander of Ga'a ...

*The

Financial Advisor to the Chief of Staff Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency, assets and liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business Administration wich study the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of an o ...

– Tat-Aluf Gil Pinchas *Assistant to the Chief of Staff –Aluf-Mishne

Chaim Ben Moyal Haim can be a first name or surname originating in Hebrew or derived from the Old German name Haimo. Etymology Hebrew Chayyim ( ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim, Hayim, Chayim'', or ''Chaim'' (English pronunciati ...

Civilian

Director-general A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

Ministry of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

– Aluf (Res.)

Amir Baram Amir Baram (; born 22 July 1969) is an Israel Defense Forces major general (Aluf) who currently serves as the Deputy Chief of General Staff (IDF), Deputy Chief of General Staff. He previously served as the commander of the Northern Command (Isr ...

* Defense Establishment Comptroller – Tat-Aluf (Res.) Yair Volansky *IDF Internal Comptroller – Tat-Aluf (Res.)

Ofer Sarig Ofer () is a moshav in northern Israel. Located south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The moshav was founded in 1950 by immigrants from India (mainly Cochin) and I ...

*Head of

Administration for the Development of Weapons and the Technological Industry The Directorate of Defense, Research, & Development (IMOD DDR&D or DDR&D) (Hebrew: מינהל למחקר, פיתוח אמצעי לחימה ותשתית טכנולוגית), abbreviated Maf'at (מפא"ת), is a joint administrative body of the Isr ...

– Tat-Aluf (Res.) Daniel (Danny) Gold

References

"The General Staff," official list
Staff (military) Military units and formations of Israel {{Israel-mil-stub