The Knesset Economic Committee held a special meeting on Monday to deal with the difficulties faced by residents of the south and north who were evacuated to hotels throughout the country.
"As of now, the government has decided to evacuate by the end of the year - on December 31, the War Cabinet will convene and decide on the continuation," Tourism Minister Haim Katz said during the discussion in response to a question about the government's expectation of the residents' return.
At the same time, the minister expressed optimism about the possibility of the evacuees returning to their homes in the south of the country, but admitted that he does not believe that residents of the north will soon be able to return to their homes: "The way I see the south coming back - I don't see the north coming back, that's my hypothesis." The minister added that in the event of an escalation on the northern front, the evacuation plan would become meaningless in light of Hezbollah's military capabilities: "If the war breaks out in the north, there will be no value in evacuating. It's a different movie. In such a situation, everyone will be able to return home."
The minister addressed residents' complaints about the hotels to which they were evacuated, saying that during a visit to one of the hotels, "the food was on the face, not edible." He added that he intends to deal with the matter and that "it can't be that hotels define themselves as five-star stars and we pay according to that and that's not what you get."
During the discussion, the minister said that there were cases in which hotels made false statements and asked to be paid for evacuees who did not even contact them. The minister said he had approached the hotel association about the issue.
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