The Israeli military has recruited thousands of soldiers with criminal records, enabling them to request that their records be expunged,�a report says.

A total of 3.8 percent of male and 0.3 percent of female soldiers conscripted last year by the Israeli army had criminal records, Haaretz�reported on Tuesday, adding that the number of such recruits is rising.

The crimes committed by the newly-recruited soldiers ranged from drug offenses and theft to more serious crimes, including sex offenses, according to the report.

The report cited the case of a soldier�at the�Hatzerim�air base who was not discharged from the army despite having a criminal history for raping two female soldiers.

According to the report, the military also provides a soldier with a criminal record with the opportunity to file a request for an official recommendation to the president that his record be expunged. Such requests are usually agreed to.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Israeli soldiers stand at a road next to their armored personal carriers during a training exercise near the Gazan border on June 7, 2015. (� AFP)[/caption]

The revelation comes as Israeli military officials have recently reported a sharp rise in sex crimes among army soldiers over the past few years.

The Israeli military�Bamahane�weekly, quoting an Israeli military prosecutor, said late in April that sex crime allegations in the military have doubled since 2012.

�This is a very troublesome phenomenon, and soldiers don�t understand how grave it is,� chief military prosecutor, Udi Ben-Eliezer, said.

The journal added that �infringement of privacy� offenses, some involving the collection and sharing of �compromising photographs� using messaging applications, make up 35 percent of the cases.

Last year, prosecutors said there had been 37 indictments issued against soldiers and officers for sex offenses, showing a 40-percent rise from the previous year.

By Press TV