Israel to invest NIS 3.2 billion for post-war rehabilitation in the south

The package, which includes NIS 1.4 billion for Ashkelon and NIS 1.8 billion for other regional councils, is separate from the budget for Gaza border towns

By Zev Stub

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5 August 2025, 5:41 pm

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

View of a construction site in Ashkelon, July 19, 2022. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Israel’s government announced a comprehensive NIS 3.2 billion ($927 million) aid package Monday for southern Israel as part of its plans to rehabilitate the area in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The package includes a NIS 1.4 billion ($405 million) plan to develop the city of Ashkelon, and NIS 1.8 billion (about $520 million) for the six regional councils in the area.

The new package is separate from the NIS 17.5 billion ($5.25 billion) budget set aside for the rebuilding of the 47 settlements within seven kilometers of Israel’s border with Gaza, a spokesperson for the Tekuma administration noted.

“We have a deep commitment to the residents of the south, who have demonstrated extraordinary resilience and perseverance throughout the months of war,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the announcement. “Together, we will rebuild our communities and work toward their prosperity and development as never before.”

In Ashkelon, a coastal city located some 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the northern edge of Gaza, NIS 1.4 billion will be invested to strengthen several key areas, including the education system, local businesses, infrastructure, public institutions, culture and sport, and security.

The other NIS 1.8 billion will be put towards development in the regional councils of Ofakim, Netivot, Merhavim, Eshkol, Sha’ar HaNegev and Sdot Negev. The funds are earmarked for 24 municipalities that sustained damage during the war but are not included in the budget for the western Negev Tekuma region.

The aftermath of a direct rocket hit in a residential home in Netivot, Israel, pictured on November 9, 2023. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)

The funds are targeted for investments in education, infrastructure, public institutions, and regional growth. Specific projects include an agriculture technology complex in Netivot, a biogas renewable energy facility in the Merhavim Regional Council, and the development of new industrial zones.

A Paralympic village for rehabilitation in the Negev is also planned, the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Ministry said, without providing more details.

“This plan, in our assessment, has the potential to double the population in these parts of the country, and that is the real victory,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said.

In the aftermath of the Hamas attack and subsequent war, Israel is looking to increase investment in the southern region, once ignored by policymakers, to upgrade its economic development, education, agriculture, culture, and other aspects of life.

Last month, the government announced that it would subsidize the construction of 2,350 new homes throughout the Gaza border region, taking up to NIS 280,000 ($84,000) off the price of land for building a new home.

Israel has also earmarked NIS 15 billion ($4.1 billion) for rehabilitating and revitalizing the northern part of the country, where many towns were evacuated after October 7, 2023, in the face of of military conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.