The American M4 Sherman tank has seen battle with the IDF in four major conflicts, from the War of Independence (1948) to Yom Kippur War (1973).

The Sherman has been used in battle more than any other tank, it had also been modified and more sub-variants of it were produced more than any other tank in IDF service - from a main battle tank to engineer vehicle, self propelled gun and anti-radar missile launchers.

After the end of the Second World War, thousands of M-4 Sherman tanks were taken out of service by the Allied armies. This made these tanks almost the only ones available to the young state of Israel - with its economic struggles and the embargo on weapon sold to it by most countries.

The first Sherman tanks were bought during the 1948 War of Independence, from an Italian junkyard where they were being sold as scrap metal. The IDF eventually bought 35 of these, but only 14 were operational by the end of the war. Since these tanks had sabotaged guns, some were re-gunned with the Krup 75mm field gun.

During the early 1950s, more M4s were purchased from various sources, and the Sherman became the standard tank in Israeli armored units. In collaboration with France, the tanks were re-gunned with the M50 75mm gun (M-50) and, later, with a 105mm gun (M-51). Some "Super Sherman" tanks, armed with a 76.2mm (M-1) gun were also purchased.

The Sherman saw action in the 1956 "Kadesh" operation in the Sinai Peninsula, against the Egyptian army (who employed its own version of the M-4, re-turreted with AMX-13 turret). In Six Day War (1967), Sherman brigades were still the mainstay of the Israeli armored forces, though more modern MBTs were in service at the time. In the Yom Kippur War (1973), Sherman tanks fought, as always, in the front lines. Fighting against Syrian and Egyptian T-55 and T-62 MBTs with a WW2 vintage weapon, the Sherman crewmen embodied the motto of the IDF's armor corps: "Man is the steel".

No other vehicle in IDF use was modified and had so many variants based upon as the Sherman. Besides its use as a tank, there were engineer variants, mine plows, rescue vehicles, live fire moving targets, self propelled guns, mortars and MLRs, ambulance and many more. The M-50/155 Howizter is another conversion of the M-4 Sherman. The M-50 155mm is an Israeli indigenous self propelled gun - a French 155mm howitzer was fitted on a Sherman chassis.