Tech bosses and workers are joining up to fight in Israel and say it's their 'duty to protect our country'

• Israel's tech CEOs and workers are volunteering and being conscripted for military service.
• They've said it's their duty to "protect our country" after the "bloodiest day in Israel's history."

Tech CEOs and workers are finding themselves on the frontline as Israel seeks to respond to brutal attacks by Hamas.

The Israeli government has called up a record 300,000 reservists as it prepares for an offensive against Gaza, after a series of incursions by the militant group left hundreds of civilians and military personnel dead.

"I want to be part of the people who are protecting our country," Israeli startup CodiumAI CEO Itamar Friedman, who has reported for reservist duty, told The Wall Street Journal.

He said that he has had to prepare his company, which recently raised $11 million in funding from the likes of OpenAI, to be without him for an extended period.

"I asked the team to be as independent as they could," he said.

Tel Aviv-based venture capital founder Shmuel Chafets, meanwhile, told Bloomberg TV that he felt it was his "duty to come and protect our country."

"We're in a war — Saturday was the bloodiest day in Israel's history," said the Target Global chairman, who volunteered shortly after the attacks.

"We are seeing hundreds of thousands of people getting out of their lives, getting into uniform. People have been rushing into military service," he added.

The Information reported that at least 10% of Israel-based employees at cybersecurity firms Pentera and Armis had already been drafted and deployed by the military.

"We have someone who, last Friday, was working in an office as a sales manager, and is today putting on a uniform and having to serve at the border of Gaza," Pentera CEO Amitai Ratzon told The Information.

Israel has compulsory military service, with all male citizens over the age of 18 required to serve 32 months in the armed forces. The Israeli airline E-Al is running flights to bring in reservists from abroad.

Israel said it had secured the border with Gaza on Tuesday morning, but Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages in Gaza itself, according to the country's ambassador to the UK.

The Israeli military has launched airstrikes against the enclave that have killed nearly 700 Palestinians.