October 16, 2023

ITC Update: Operation Iron Swords

The Northern Front: On Sunday, the Hezbollah terror group launched six anti-tank guided missiles at an Israeli town and military positions on the Lebanon border, killing one civilian and one soldier. Another nine rockets were also launched from Lebanon at northern towns, causing no damage or injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces and Defense Ministry announced Monday that they were planning to evacuate civilians who live in towns up to two kilometers (1.25 miles) from the Lebanese border. The ministry’s National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) said the residents would be evacuated to state-funded hotels. The 28 communities included in the plan are: Ghajar, Dishon, Kfar Yuval, Margaliot, Metula, Avivim, Dovev, Ma’ayan Baruch, Bar’am, Manara, Yiftah, Malkia, Misgav Am, Yir’on, Dafna, Arab al-Aramshe, Shlomi, Netu’a, Ya’ara, Shtula, Matat, Zar’it, Shomera, Betzet, Adamit, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita and Kfar Giladi.

Southern Communities: Within days of the outbreak of hostilities, the Israel Defense Forces evacuated nearly all 13,000 residents of the 25 agricultural communities within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of the border. Sderot, southern parts of Ashkelon, and 32 communities located between four and seven kilometers from Gaza — so close that they only have fifteen to thirty seconds to run to shelter following an air raid siren — have received what the military calls a “rejuvenation” incentive.

The National Emergency Management Authority, which coordinates housing those displaced by the war, said on a Sunday that this second group will be funded for hotel stays in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Eilat for a week, renewable by military decision. The government budgeted NIS 134 million ($33 million) for relocating and aiding the evacuees. For those receiving “rejuvenation,” the government has set aside another NIS 70 million ($17 million).

ITC on the Ground

ITC provides support to First Responder teams, ZAKA, firefighters, and their families.

In hospitals nationwide, ITC trained resilience trustees are working around the clock to provide emotional first aid, support, and self-care to their colleagues. We are also reaching out to additional hospitals, with ways to extend this program.

The Bedouin community, especially those living in unrecognized villages with no system of alert, are particularly vulnerable. We are talking about tens of thousands of people – many of whom don’t have shelters. In an unrecognized village, a family of four was directly hit by a Hamas rocket and died instantly. Today ITC provided four therapy groups for children who were exposed to the shooting. The number of Bedouins killed during the war stands at 20, of which at least five were from Rahat.

ITC and the Bedouin Resilience Center are working to train therapist and teachers in psychosocial care and support working in schools and providing on-line and telephone support. Guidelines in Arabic, culturally adapted for the Bedouin community have been distributed to all the communities.

Across the board, there is a desperate need to provide training, support, and self-care tools to teams. Ukrainian therapists who made Aliyah within the last 5 yrs. are being trained by ITC to provide psychosocial services to Ukrainian and Russian speakers in Israel.
Besides the feelings of shock and horror at the senseless brutality, Arab Israelis are also wary of a repeat of the events of May 2021, when during the IDF’s Guardian of the Walls operation against Gaza, violent clashes broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities in several parts of the country, with lynchings taking place in several mixed cities against members of both groups.
The following post was sent on the weekend, by the Mayor of Lod, Yair Revivo:

“All residents of Lod, Jews and Arabs, please read this important post to the end. It will relieve many worries and tensions. I have consoled our resident, whose father, Khaled Abu Farhan, was brutally murdered on Saturday in the city of Sderot, while he was working there as a security guard.

His pleas in Arabic to the terrorists were of no avail and they brutally murdered him and abused his body.
Najia, a health fund employee, told me that she did national service, and her brothers are IDF fighters, who are currently fighting the murderous Hamas. She asked me to convey the following message to you: There is no struggle between Jews and Arabs here. There is a war between Israelis, Jews, and non-Jews, who seek peace and goodness, and the bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists, who desire the destruction of the State of Israel.

To the Jewish public, I want to say: You may be Nejia’s neighbors, and when you saw her this morning in the elevator or in the supermarket, you immediately thought that she was someone “from Hamas who wants to harm us” and not the representative of an entire family that contributes to the State of Israel and wants to destroy Hamas just like us. Believe me, the vast majority of Lod Arabs are anxious about the war, call me endlessly about problems in the shelters and understand that Hamas does not distinguish between Jews and Arabs. There have been many calls and offers of help. We are all in the same boat.

I would like to say to the Arab public: in recent days, Hamas has been spreading calls to the Arabs of Israel including to the Arabs of Lod to go to demonstrations in support of Hamas and start riots here. These messages cause serious concerns among the Jewish public. And rightly so. We were already in this tragedy two and a half years ago in Operation Guardian of the Walls. I am talking to many of you, and you have no intention of taking part in any demonstrations or working against the state. The wonderful country, which Hamas wants to destroy, provides us all with security, education, welfare, and many other good things, even if it is incumbent upon us as a country to reduce the gaps in Arab society. And so, we do.

I ask you, also in this post, to register your disgust for the terrible massacre that happened on Saturday, that you do not intend to participate in any solidarity with Hamas. And understand how brazenly they ask you to sympathize while they fire missiles, which have already killed and injured many in the Arab society.

I would like to thank all of us: for a week now, all of us, Jews, and Arabs, have been behaving with great responsibility, with sadness, with pain, and with a great effort to maintain the common fabric of life.
The coming weeks will be another test for all of us. Along with the highest preparedness of the police and the municipality, I would like to wish that the exemplary silence so far will be maintained. With God’s help and inshallah!”

With God’s help and Inshallah!