Many families who left their homes under the threat of rockets and arrived in Eilat and hotels across the country fear Saturday morning that they will be asked to leave their hotels tomorrow morning or will be required to pay large sums. Many chains have given a 50% discount, but these are still prices that can easily reach NIS 1,000 per night per room. In some cases, this is a family that needs 2-3 rooms and agreements can reach thousands of shekels per night.
Currently, only those who lived within four kilometers of the Gaza Strip are entitled to stay in a state-subsidized hotel. In the coming days, a government decision is expected to be passed that will also include those living 7-4 kilometers from the Gaza Strip into the plan, which is supposed to include tens of thousands more residents. The expected decision will increase the demand for hotel rooms and may even cause a certain part of the evacuees to be transferred to guest houses, hostels, etc.
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Residents threaten to refuse to leave the hotel, claiming they have nowhere else to go. "We paid from the best of our money, money we don't have, 800 NIS a night after a 50 percent discount and 1,000 NIS a night for a room for a couple with two children. We ran out of money, ran away with nothing. We had to buy everything or receive donated products from Eilat residents. The Israeli government doesn't understand that we have nothing to lose, nowhere else to go, no more money for food. We will not evacuate. If the hotel wants to call the police for us and forcibly evict us. That the government will see police in the media evacuating ultra-Orthodox residents because they have no money to live and nowhere to return to."
Running out of money
At the beginning of the week, they evacuated their homes and went down to Eilat, fleeing the terror of rockets and terrorists. They paid thousands of shekels, and now the residents of southern Israel and the envelope have run out of money. Just before they find themselves on the street, they call on the state to come to their aid.
"The Israeli government needs to wake up. We have nowhere to sleep and no money to buy food. Eilat residents opened their homes and pockets and donated groceries and hot food, baby products and clothes, but that, too, is running out. We have nowhere else to go. The hotels want more money for the hotel's continued stay, but we have nothing to give already," says Avi from Ashkelon.
Burnt car in Sderot. Residents left after a week of fierce fighting, Photo: Getty Images
Guy from Moshav Yesha in the Gaza Strip went down with his family to Eilat on Sunday, a day after the war broke out. He pays 800 shekels for a night at the hotel, and that's also the price after a 50 percent discount. The money has already run out. Some have already begun asking for help in finding work in Eilat.
"We are looking for an apartment for 6 people before we are kicked out of the hotel," read a message sent on social media. "We are from Netivot and I have a mother who is a Holocaust survivor after a stroke and a 9-year-old girl who suffers from anxiety and we have nowhere else to go."
Sderot residents are expected to evacuate tomorrow by the Sderot municipality, the decision is backed by a special budget given to evacuate the city's residents, and some of them are already in hotels across the country at their own expense.
In conversations with families who fled the Sderot and Ofakim area, they say that they were asked to pay large sums and that their basic needs, such as food and clothes, were not met. The person handling the issue of transferring evacuees to hotels is the National Emergency Authority, which manages coordination with the local authorities, to whom the evacuees are asked to contact in order to receive a proper response.
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