November 1, 2023

ITC update: Operation Iron Swords

Day 26

Wednesday 1.11.23

Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel, now totaling over 8,500 launches. 

Israeli missile boats were deployed in the Red Sea on Wednesday as reinforcements, following long-range missile and drone attacks claimed by Yemen’s Houthis. There have now been four waves of attack from Yemen. Houthi missiles and drones have been intercepted either by the US navy or Israel, and in one incident by Saudi Arabia. One missile landed inside Egypt in Taba, others in the sea. 

Yemen is 1600km from Israel, so there is time to track their missiles and intercept them.

Northern Front: Hezbollah has continued low intensity attacks along the Lebanese border, whilst the IDF continues to strike at cells and the sources of fire.  Late Tuesday night, the IDF intercepted a surface-to-air missile that was launched from Lebanese territory.

ITC on the Ground

As we begin a new month, there is a gradual attempt to return to normalcy in large parts of the country, in accordance with instructions from the Home Front Command.

Residents of the south who have been evacuated to different parts of the country are beginning to process their experiences and begin the recovery process and so we see a rise in requests for therapy. Residents of local authorities who are not eligible for evacuation receive services through their respective authorities.

ITC continues to open branches of the existing Resilience centers to cater for the needs of the various evacuee populations who have been spread out over several locations, their local municipalities, and the needs of the reception locales that is not possible to provide in the hotels in Eilat, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv, and the Arava.  For this we will need to recruit additional therapists.

The resilience centers are expanding their core teams, enabling a broader range of services to be provided including non-verbal therapy and animal assisted therapy.

In the regional councils – ITC is focused on work with local leadership (community managers, emergency teams etc.). Helping the local authorities strengthen and position themselves as the critical unit that leads, operates, and manages services for its residents by transferring responsibilities back to the local teams (resilience centers, health insurance funds).

There have already been over 1,000 downloads of a digital game aimed at building resilience within Bedouin society since its launch a couple of days ago.

Nearly 3,000 inquiries were received by the Resilience Center hot-lines last week.

The current war is difficult for all Israelis, but new immigrants who have difficulty with Hebrew and have never experienced war are having an even harder time coping. Since the outbreak of the war, ITC partner, Selah has helped new immigrants, comforted families who have lost loved ones, visited the wounded and their families in hospitals, purchased food and necessities for families evacuated from the south and provided emotional support for those suffering anxiety and trauma.

There have been 2,200 new immigrants relocated. Most of them are new olim from Ethiopia, Ukraine, and Russia. The psychological impact of running for shelter from rockets is felt by many. In the Shaar Ha Negev Regional Council, 630 immigrants, many from Ethiopia, who lived at the Ibin Immigrant Absorption Center near Sderot were evacuated from conflict zones and were rescued under fire.