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Friday, March 6, 2026
Just 37 of 11,776 Israeli public shelters are located in Arab towns — coexistence group
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A Bedouin shines his flashlight into the makeshift shelter he shares with some 100 in his community to protect them from incoming Iranian fire, a drainage culvert near Arad, southern Israel, June 17, 2025. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)
Just 37 of the 11,776 public bomb shelters in all of Israel are located in Arab towns, according to figures from the Abraham Initiatives coexistence group.
Mixed Jewish-Arab towns such as Lod are not included in the 37.
The 37 shelters in Arab towns include eight that have been deemed unfit for public use.
In the Jewish town of Ofakim, there are roughly 150 public shelters, compared to the nearby Arab town of Rahat, which has eight. Ofakim’s population is roughly 35,000, compared to Rahat’s, which is estimated at over 75,000.
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