Only 28,000 evacuees still living in state-funded digs, Knesset hears

Only 28,000 Israeli evacuees, most of them from Israel’s north, remain in state-funded temporary accommodations, the Tourism Ministry says.

The figure represents a 40% decrease in the number of evacuees from two months ago and a 77% drop from the 125,000 evacuees in first weeks of the war with Hamas following the October 7 onslaught in Israel’s south, ministry official Michael Itzhakov tells the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee.

So far, the state has spent NIS 4.8 billion ($1.36 billion) on accommodations and other payments to evacuees, Itzhakov, Tourism Minister Haim Katz’s chief of staff, tells the committee.

Of the 28,000 evacuees, about half are staying in hotels and the other half occupy apartments under a short-term lease. Most evacuees prefer to stay in apartments but can’t find one because the ministry has delayed paying landlords, says Avihay Shtern, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona. His northern city, which Hezbollah has been targeting regularly since October 7, accounts for most of the remaining evacuees.

Payments to hundreds of landlords are on pause pending an investigation into suspected fraud. ISTRA, the association that represents the landlords, says this is creating uncertainty that is preventing many landlords from opening their assets to hosting evacuees.

Committee chair David Bitan notes that having evacuees stay at hotels is roughly twice as expensive for the state as housing them in short-term apartments and urges the Tourism Ministry to resolve the issue without delay.