On 22nd October, the spokesperson of the Israeli government informed that more than 200,000 Israelis have been internally displaced because of the Hamas terror attack and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war. During a media briefing, the spokesperson of the Israeli government, Eylon Levy, said that half of them were ordered to evacuate from 105 communities near the Gaza and Lebanon borders. Levy added that another half left areas close to the front of their own volition.
According to the information received, the Israelis displaced or evacuated mostly hail from communities that are adjacent to Gaza or are from the north of Israel bordering Lebanon, where Hezobollah has opened another front of the war. These include residents of Sderot and Ofakim near Gaza and Kiryat Shmona near Lebanon.
The population who have shifted include two categories, those who have been fully evacuated from their homes, and those who are eligible “to rest and refresh themselves” at state-subsidized guesthouses temporarily. People living in 25 communities up to four kilometres from the Gaza Strip and people living in 28 towns up to two kilometres from the Lebanon border have been evacuated, as these border areas have been turned into full-fledged war zones. The areas near the Gaza border have become a military zone closed to civilians, while the Lebanon border is a restricted area now.
The government will be responsible for these people until the military allows them to return to their homes. People living from 4 to 7 km from the Gaza border are not required to evacuate, but they are eligible to go and “rest and refresh themselves” for a week at state-subsidized guesthouses.
The horrific Hamas terror attack on 7 October was concentrated in the towns near the Gaza border, where entire families were shot dead by the terrorists. Now the towns have become completely deserted, and surviving people in many towns may never return. The communities that witnessed massacres by Hamas include Be’eri, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv HaAsara and many others. The worst massacre took place at a music festival held near Re’im.
Following these developments, the Education Ministry announced that new schools will be established in the coming days for students who have had to leave their homes due to the security situation.
These new schools will be located in Eilat, the Arava, and near the Dead Sea. These are the areas where large numbers of citizens have been transferred. Under the wartime rules drawn up by the Home Front Command, in-person learning is permitted in these new schools. Beyond these areas, many Israelis have evacuated their homes near the northern and southern borders, even though they were not asked to do so.
In Eilat, Education Minister Yoav Kisch asserted that the school system has essentially doubled in size due to the influx of students. Kisch added that the schools are currently working in shifts, with morning and afternoon learning, in order to accommodate the influx of students.
The Ministry emphasised that in areas where security conditions permit, 40% of schools will resume in-person activities.
During the 2020-21 COVID lockdowns, distance learning gained prominence, and back then, Israel implemented it in most areas. Now, in order to facilitate distance learning, the ministry has distributed nearly 5,000 laptop computers to evacuee families. Now, they plan to double this number and provide a total of 10,000 laptops.
It is important to note that the walls of the Western media have been plastered with the stories of hardships being faced by Palestinians in Gaza because of the Israeli airstrikes on Hamas sites, which inevitably cause civilian hardships and casualties. Isreal has ordered people in north Gaza to move to south Gaza, ahead of a ground operation to wipe out Hamas, which has created a massive humanitarian crisis, and this has been adequately covered by media.
On the other hand, Israelis have also evacuated their homes near the northern and southern borders. However, the harrowing stories of innocent Israelis have been rugged under the carpet both during the 7th October terrorist attack and those currently faced in the aftermath of terrorist attacks and a consequent Israel-Hamas war.
In the meanwhile, Israeli media has reported that the Israeli security agencies Mossad and Shin Bet have established a new unit to track down and eliminate perpetrators of the 7th October attack by Hamas.
The new unit will be named after the World War I-era Jewish underground organisation “Nili”. It is an acronym for a Hebrew phrase that translates as “the Eternal One of Israel will not lie”. Nili will have the dedicated task of hunting down and eliminating every Hamas terrorist who was involved in the terrorist attacks and ground invasion in Southern Israel, two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, on Sunday (22nd October), the sixth flight under India’s ‘Operation Ajay’ brought back as many as 143 passengers. These includes two Nepalese citizens and four infants departed from Israel’s Tel Aviv.
