Can I open a debt collection case in Israel without the debtor's ID number or address?

The identity requirement flows from how the system is built. Under the Execution Law 5727-1967, opening an enforcement file requires positively identifying the debtor, which for an individual means the teudat zehut number and for a company means the registered number. Litigation has a parallel gate: the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018 require proper service of the claim, so the court needs an address at which the defendant can be served. Companies are the easy case, because the registered number and registered office are public and searchable for free at the Companies Registrar. Individuals are harder, because there is no public directory of identity numbers, and a name alone is rarely enough to open a file.

For a foreign creditor, the realistic path is to assemble whatever identifying detail you already hold and let a lawyer build from it. A signed contract, an invoice, a bank transfer, or a copy of the debtor's ID from the original deal often carries the number you need, and a bank account the debtor used can be traced to the holder through a court application. Where the address is unknown, you can ask the court for substituted service (hamtzaa mchalifa) or, in limited cases, service by publication, so a missing address is not always fatal. What you cannot do is open an Execution Office file against a person you cannot name and number, so identification is the first task, not an afterthought. Our guide to debt collection in Israel walks through the full sequence.

From the full guide: Debt Collection in Israel: A Guide

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