Evacuees okayed for two more months of government-funded housing

The government says it is extending funding to house nearly 70,000 Israelis displaced by fighting in the north and south until February 28, more than 90 days after fighting ended in Lebanon.

According to the government, some 13,580 internally displaced persons are housed in hotels and other accommodations funded by the state while a further 54,555 are staying in “self-arranged housing “and receiving an allowance to help them pay for it.

The vast majority of the evacuees are from northern Israel who were forced from their homes over a year ago by incessant rocket fire from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The area has remained calm since a ceasefire was signed late last month, though many homes and other buildings struck by rockets, drones or other weapons will need to be repaired or rebuilt before they are again inhabitable. Fighting is ongoing in the south, but the intensity of rocket fire from Gaza has fallen off sharply in the last several months.

The government has spent more than NIS 9 billion ($2.4 billion) on the evacuation of Israelis since the October 7 attack, with some NIS 6 billion ($1.6 billion) going to payments to hotels and property owners, the government says.

Evacuees who choose not to stay in hotels are given a housing allowance of NIS 200 ($54) per adult and NIS 100 ($27) per child per day.