Deal on funds for Ofakim, Netivot paves way for approval of post-Oct. 7 revival law
NIS 5 billion out of NIS 19 billion in state funds to rehabilitate, develop, communities within 7 kilometers of Gaza was frozen, as towns farther away lobbied for funds
After a marathon of heated debates, lawmakers on Sunday struck a deal to enable the so-called Tekuma Bill to go to second and third readings in the Knesset plenum, and become law.
The bill anchors the responsibilities of the Tekuma Directorate, set up to rehabilitate the Gaza border area overrun on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists, who slaughtered some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages.
The legislation recognizes the Gaza border area as a region of national focus.
It will also commit the state to provide NIS 18 billion ($4.9 billion) in financial support through 2028.
The bill’s progress was delayed because the government failed to review decisions dating back to 2004, which allocated special aid only to communities whose houses are within seven kilometers (4.35 miles) of the Gaza border.
The seven-kilometer cut-off point was based initially on the range of the types of missiles being fired from Gaza.
But even before October 7, projectiles were reaching beyond that artificial line.
October 7 saw Hamas terrorists kill 47 people in Ofakim, 21 kilometers (13 miles) from the Gaza border, and approach Netivot (11 kilometers, or seven miles away), where a trained civilian force stopped them at the city gates.
Under pressure from Ofakim and Netivot, both Likud-leaning cities, the government froze NIS 5 billion ($1.35 billion) of an original NIS 19 billion ($5.1 billion) earmarked for the so-called Tekuma belt of communities, until a solution could be found.
On Sunday, the Knesset Economics Committee agreed that $1 billion ($270 million) of that NIS $5 billion would be reserved for deserving communities hit on October 7 that were beyond the seven-kilometer line. The Finance Ministry agreed to top the NIS 1 billion up with an additional NIS 600 million ($162.5 million) over two years. In addition, the Tekuma belt will be exempt from across-the-board cuts planned in the pending 2025 budget.
The committee agreed to leave the list of recipients to the government to decide within 14 days of the bill’s passing into law.
While Ofakim and Netivot are sure to be on the list, the fate of four moshavim located just a hair over seven kilometers from the Gaza border remains unclear.
Moshav Mavki’im, whose residents were evacuated after October 7, and which the government initially included for Tekuma aid and then removed, will be reinstated.
The new head of the Tekuma Directorate, Aviad Friedman, said in a statement, “There is much work ahead of us, and our intention is not just to restore the situation to the way it was before, but to make this area of the country better, prosperous, flourishing, and leading with development of all aspects of life.”
Ze’ev Elkin, the minister within the Treasury responsible for the development of the south, said in a statement that the bill will “dramatically expand support for the Tekuma region, promote many projects that were frozen until now, and establish the state’s commitment to the rehabilitation and development of the Tekuma region.”
During the invasion, over 5,000 attackers roamed murderously through the region, butchering those they found. In border communities, terrorists ran from building to building, massacring families and setting premises alight.
Aside from the disputes over communities just beyond the belt, there is a continuing spat over the fate of Kibbutz Nir Oz, which abuts the border fence and was one of the hardest hit communities in the Hamas attack.
Friedman met Sunday with members of Nir Oz to try to find a way around a shortfall in state funds for post-October 7 rehabilitation, the directorate said in a statement.
The kibbutz was largely destroyed on October 7, 2023 — terrorists entered all but six of some 100 homes in the small community — and Nir Oz says that the extreme damage wrought means that it has significant needs, including in mental health and education.
However, due to a funding shortfall of NIS 200 million ($53.8 million) between what the kibbutz says it needs and what the Tekuma Directorate says it can provide, Nir Oz is the only community not to have an approved rehabilitation plan.
In the meantime, it has been funding its rehabilitation itself.
Much of the kibbutz remains destroyed, and surviving members of Nir Oz are currently living in Kiryat Gat.
Residents have pointed to the findings of an army probe that said there were “massive failures” by the Israel Defense Forces in protecting the kibbutz as evidence of the community’s exceptional needs, Haaretz reported.
The kibbutz said in a statement that 44 percent of residential buildings must be demolished, and a further 136 require renovation. In addition, 12 public buildings must be pulled down, and 58 require repairs.
Over a quarter of the kibbutz residents, 117 people, among them 13 children, were murdered during the attack or taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Of those, 14 adults remain in captivity.
