The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Tzva HaHagana LeYisra'el (help·info), lit. Defense Army for Israel), commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal (צה"ל), are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel; the current Chief of Staff, since 2007, is Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi.

At the order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948, the Israel Defense Forces were officially formed as a conscript army out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. It served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's wars—the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the 1956 Sinai War, the 1967 Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 1982 Lebanon War, and the 2006 Lebanon War. While originally the IDF was operational on three fronts—against Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan and Iraq in the east, and Egypt in the south—after the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty, its activities have mainly been concentrated in southern Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, including the First and Second Intifada.

The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, including the conscription of women, and the structure, with close relations between the ground forces, air force and navy. Since its founding, the IDF has striven to be a unique army fitting Israel's specific requirements. The IDF uses several technologies developed in Israel, many of them made specifically to match the IDF's needs, such as the Merkava main battle tank, advanced Hi-Tech weapons systems, Uzi submachine gun, the Desert Eagle and the Galil and Tavor assault rifles. It also has close military relations with the United States, including development cooperation, such as on the F-15I jet, THEL laser defense system, and the Arrow missile defense system.