וְאַחֲרָ֛ו אֶלְעָזָ֥ר בֶּן־דֹּד֖וֹ בֶּן־אֲחֹחִ֑י בִּשְׁלֹשָׁ֨ה הַגִּבֹּרִ֜ים עִם־דָּוִ֗ד בְּחָרְפָ֤ם בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים֙ נֶאֶסְפוּ־שָׁ֣ם לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodo son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors with David when they defied the Philistines gathered there for battle. Those on Israel’s side retreated,
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the אִישׁ terms, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in “Notes on Gender in Translation,” pp. 11–16.)
In the context of war, the use of singular אִישׁ profiles the Israelite militia as a constitutive party to the conflict. Its members are construed as a unit while being situated as one of the two sides.
A “collective” construal of אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל is evident grammatically from the plural governing verb. On the meaning and extent of this conventional usage in the context of hostilities, see further my comment at Josh 10:24.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘The Israelite soldiers’ misses the situational nuance. On properly rendering the collective usage of אִישׁ into idiomatic English, see my comment at Josh 10:24. Meanwhile, the fact that women are not in view is self-evident from the military context.