Sorry to come to the party late.
I have one of these rifles. I have been told that FN built 1000 (numbers 0001 to 1000?) for the Belgian Congo from 'liberated rifles' and then made from new another 1000 (numbers 1001 to 2000?) for the Israelis. This is the blurb I got when I purchased mine:
.22 K98icon - FN HERSTAL BELGIUM was contracted by the Israelis to build them roughly 1000 of these dedicated .22 LR Mauser K98 training rifles. These were not built from existing K98 actions, but manufactured from new in .22 using brand new single shot actions & .22 solid barrels. The bolt is a shortened K98 bolt modified into a two piece assembly specially designed for the .22 cartridge. These are full size Mauser K98 rifles and at first glance indistinguishable from the full bore versions, the only clue is the modified bolt and the receiver is not cut for a charger clip. The example has matching numbers with a mint bore, and retains the original IDF sling evident Israeli Military Marks. The receiver bears the Israeli Defence Force "Haganah" crest. IDF - Israel Defense Forces (Tzahal - "Tzva Hagana L’yisrael") a very rare rifle.
Tzva Haganah L'yisrael - Israel Defense Army (צה"ל) lit. Army of Defence for Israel
It is a lovely rifle and shoots very well, it goes to the range weekly and sometimes more often.
The serial number is 1385. A list of numbers and their stories would be great, there wasn't that many to start with and I'm sure a few have been lost over time so even a complete list wouldn't be too long.