In recent days, the defense establishment has asked the Ministry of Finance to recognize residents who were evacuated from their homes but do not meet the criteria for evacuation defined by the state as evacuees.
At the request of the defense establishment, the evacuees will be recognized retroactively until November 22, and like the other evacuees, they will receive compensation of NIS 200 per day for an adult and NIS 100 for a child. As of this writing, the Finance Ministry has expressed opposition to the move on the grounds that there was no security need for the evacuations, but the defense establishment is expected to raise the issue for discussion in the political-economic cabinet.
As is well known, there is a distinction between communities evacuated by a government decision based on the IDF's recommendation due to operational necessity and civilians who were evacuated at the initiative of local authorities or regional councils without a government decision being made on their behalf. The main localities in which the security establishment deals are Netivot and Ofakim, as well as the regional councils of Merhavim, Sha'ar Hanegev, Hof Ashkelon, Sdot Negev and Eshkol, some of whose residents live more than 7 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. In northern Israel, the defense establishment wishes to recognize the evacuated communities located beyond 3 kilometers from the Lebanese border, which are located in the Upper Galilee, Ma'ale Yosef, Mateh Asher, Mevoot Hermon and Merom Galilee Regional Councils.
A house in Ofakim after the fighting in the south (archive), photo: Ilya Yegorov
Most of these authorities initiated the evacuation of the population from their territory when the fighting began, and financed the evacuation for their residents themselves.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant advocates an expansive approach to dealing with those evacuees, and asked to raise the issue with the socioeconomic cabinet in order to create a one-time and retroactive budget for those authorities and those evacuees, due to the fact that this is an exceptional and unprecedented event.
The Ministry of Finance's response will be published when received.
While riding a motorcycle: Elimination of terrorists who stole a car at the Netivot junction, last month // Photo: Israel Police Spokesperson's Office
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