Data of the National Insurance marking one year of Iron Swords War

885 civilian casualties, including 53 children under 18 and more than 70,000 hostile actions casualties

Since its beginning, the war has claimed 923 orphans, 232 widows and widowers, 1,086 bereaved parents who lost one child and 121 bereaved parents who were left without children at all.

Hostile actions casualties

A year since the October 7th massacre and the beginning of the war, the National Insurance Institute reports that 885 civilian casualties (not including security forces and on-call classes handled by the Ministry of Defense) were added to the count of hostile actions casualties this year. Among them, 581 men and 304 women.

This year's 855 victims of terror include:

• 72 - Foreign citizens who have been murdered
• 53- Children and adolescents up to the age of 18 when: 4 children were murdered when they were aged 0 to 3, 2 children aged 3-5, 3 children aged 5-8, 9 children aged 8-12, 8 children aged 12-14 and 27 children aged 14-18.
•  Of all the fatal casualties - 803 were murdered in the south of the country, 29 in the north of the country and 33 in the center.

Bereaved families

• Since the beginning of the war, there have been 923 orphans, 480  men and 443 women, of whom 293 are orphaned children under the age of 18.
• 232 were widowed from the current war, of which: 50 widowers 182 widows.
• 1,086 bereaved parents lost one child, of whom: 585 mothers, 502 fathers. Of these, 121 bereaved parents were left without any children at all.
• 1,887 civilians were left without siblings, of which: 1,000 men, 887 women.
• 12 families who have experienced more than one loss (e.g., father and son or two parents, not including entire families who have been murdered).

Hostages, returned hostages and assistance to the families of hostages:

• Following the disaster of October 7, 217 civilians were abducted to Gaza (not including security forces and on-call classes), 143 civilians were returned,
   of whom 116 civilian hostages who were released (92 Israeli citizens and 24 foreigners) and 27 civilian hostages (26 Israeli citizens and another foreign citizen) who were deemed fatal casualties and buried in Israel.
  
  Among them - 116 civilian hostages were released (92 citizens of Israel and 24 foreigners) and 27 civilian hostages (26 citizens of Israel and another foreign citizen) who were deemed casualties and buried in Israel.
• As mentioned, there are 116 hostages who were released (redeemed hostages) who receive benefits in addition to the assistance under the law passed this year for redeemed hostages and for whom a total of over NIS 5 million have been paid to date.
• It should be noted that the hostages who returned from Hamas captivity were offered a response in the National Insurance's framework with initial assistance. Upon their arrival in Israel, already in the hospital, they were given a prepaid card with a sum of 10 thousand NIS, benefits for the coming months, mental treatment in addition to the accompaniment of a rehabilitation worker from the National Insurance Institute. At the same time, following a legislative change, they automatically receive 50% disability percentage entitling to a hostile actions allowance and a basket of services, as well as an extensive response in both mental and economic aspects.
• In the past year, the National Insurance has transferred quarterly grants to the families of hostages in the amount of approximately NIS 77 million.
  In addition, the families receive for the hostages a 'wage replacement benefit' as an additional means of assistance and response given to the families and, so far, more than NIS 8 million has been transferred as part of this assistance from the National Insurance Institute.

Hostile actions casualties

• Since October 7 and during the war, the National Insurance Institute takes care of more than 70,000 victims of hostiles actions, 12 of them amputees. Furthermore, among all civilian victims of hostile actions this year, 647 are foreign nationals injured on 7/10.
  
• Of all the recognized victims of terrorism who received assistance under the medical treatment benefit and mental response in resilience centers, 12,728 submitted claims for permanent disability in hostile actions, 11,760 thousand of them on mental grounds, 527 on physical injury and 441 on both physical and mental injuries.  
• The National Insurance Institute expects that in the coming months already, thousands more will be added to the disability program and the comprehensive assistance accompanying this program, including both mental health and economic aspects. 

Payments to bereaved families and victims of hostile actions

• In the past year (from last year's October until today), the National Insurance Institute has paid more than NIS 2.4 billion in allowances, benefits and rehabilitation activities to bereaved families and civilian victims of terrorism as follows:
• Over 550 million NIS were paid to bereaved families.
• Over NIS 370 million for recognized victims with a percentage of disability in hostile actions.
• Over NIS 1.2 billion in medical treatment benefit for victims of hostile actions.
• Over 250 million NIS on rehabilitation expenses, such as healing and medical care expenses, living expenses, tuition fees and more.

National Insurance payments for grants ("Occupancy", "Return", "Replacement of unemployment", "Incentive", etc.)

In parallel with the current functions of the National Insurance Institute, during the war the government passed a decision to transfer grants to residents of the North and South who were financially harmed due to the security situation, and the National Insurance was asked to help develop related computer systems and their ongoing payment:  

'Occupancy' grants and 'return' grants:

• The occupancy grant is intended for residents of the north and south who evacuated on their own to a place of accommodation that is not financed by the state and during the war a total of NIS 200 per day was paid for each adult aged 18 and over and NIS 100 per day for each child (under 18)
• So far, the National Insurance has transferred as part of the occupancy grants a total of NIS 3.5 billion to more than 130,000 residents over 18+ and more than 50,000 children.
• As is known, until November, the State defined the residents of Ashkelon who do not have a protected room at home as part of the communities entitled to receive an occupancy grant, and a total of NIS 326 million was paid to Ashkelon residents for 51,805 citizens over 18 and 16,631 children.
• By geographical distribution: 
  In the south, occupancy grants in the amount of NIS 892 million were paid for 39,969 citizens over 18 and 20,958 children.
  In the north, occupancy grants totaling about NIS 2.3 million were paid for 42,679 citizens over 18, and 15,935 children.

Payment of occupancy grants by monetary distribution and by months of the war:

It should be noted that, as of the writing of these lines, the government legislation on occupancy grant has not been extended beyond the month of September, which will be paid in early October.  As mentioned, in order to make payments properly and on time, the legislation needs to be completed and extended, within a reasonable time, in order to let us prepare in terms of logistics, computing and service.

'Return' grants:

Since the government's decision to allow southern communities to return to their homes, the National Insurance has paid NIS 697 million in returns grants to about 36,000 citizens over 18 and about 20,000 children.

Unemployment replacement grants:

• The 'Unemployment replacement' grants are transferred to the evacuated residents of north and south who have exhausted their unemployment days due to them by law and receive this grant instead.
• As part of the legislation, there are 12 settlements in the southern region that currently receive this grant, including: Nahal Oz, Netiv Ha'Asara, Beeri, Hulit, Kisufim, Ein HaShlosha and more, and 43 settlements in the north, including: Metula, Shlomi, Kfar HaYovel, Rosh HaNikra, Kiryat Shmona, Betzet, Hanita, Zarit and more.
• So far, 22,442 thousand citizens (874 of them aged 67+, who lost their jobs due to the fighting and passed the working age) have received a sum of approximately NIS 98 million.
• An unemployment replacement grant was recently extended until the end of December 2024 , subject to the government's decision to maintain the evacuation of residents due to the security situation.

'Return- to-work promotion' grant

• The 'return-to-work promotion' grant was intended for those living in an evacuated settlement or who worked in an evacuated settlement and returned to work in the same workplace with the same employer, and who may be eligible for a grant of NIS 3,000 per month. In recent days, it has been decided that the grant will be paid until the end of September 2024.
• During the war, the National Insurance transferred payment for this grant  to 68,364 citizens, including 20,836 civilians in the north and 47,528 citizens in the south.  
• In total, the grant was paid to eligible residents of the North and South in an amount exceeding NIS 700 million.

'Agriculture and construction work' incentive grants:

• For those who had to work in the agricultural or construction sectors in the period from 7.10.23 to 31.12.23, and did not work in these sectors in July, August and September 2023 (in parallel with additional conditions) and for whom a grant can be received for a maximum of 3 months of work, between 1.11.23 to 31.3.24.
• If the workplace is located in a settlement that is not evacuated, the employee can receive NIS 3,000 for the first and second month of consecutive work and NIS 4,000 for the third month of consecutive work.
• If the workplace is located in an evacuated settlement, the employee can receive for the first and second month NIS 6,000 and for the third month of continuous work NIS 8,000.
• To date, the National Insurance has transferred NIS 27,672,00 million (22,662,000 for agriculture and 4,249,000 for construction) to 3,064  citizens (among them 2,482 in agriculture and 1,382 in construction), distributed by the following areas:   
  
   

National Insurance payments for reserve service benefits:

For the first time in the history of the State of Israel, in light of the prolonged war and the extensive recruitment of reservists, the National Insurance Institute, together with the Ministry of Defense and the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance, has advanced the monthly benefit for period of reserve services at the beginning of each calendar month and not at the end of the service period, as was usually done until the "Iron Swords" war.

So far, the National Insurance has paid to reservists more than NIS 21.6 billion in reserve service benefits.

Grant for spouses of reservists who went on unpaid leave:

So far, the National Insurance paid grants to 623 reservist's spouses as well as those who have a child with a reservist who went on unpaid leave, which amounted to approximately NIS 5 million.
It should be noted that after the holidays, a maternity grant will be paid to women, who did not accrue the required qualifying period and were pregnant during the reserve duty.
At this stage, this grant stands at the signing phase between professional entities and prior to execution which is expected to concern about 30 women at most.

Minister of Labor, Yoav Ben Tzur: "We have had a difficult year as a people and as individuals since the seventh of October until today and the war is still in full swing. We feel every day the pain of the lives cruelly taken by a merciless enemy and anxiously support the victims of the hostile actions who found themselves in a gruesome reality and are coping daily with difficult challenges.
As Minister of Labor and as a member of the government, I promise that we will continue to turn every stone to help, assist, support and do everything to bring all the hostages back home and I will not rest until we do so."

Zvika Cohen, Acting Director General of the National Insurance Institute: "The employees of the National Insurance are working nights and days to provide an ongoing response to bereaved families, victims of hostile action, families of hostages and those who returned from Gaza, to evacuees, in parallel with our ongoing work on all the allowances, such as: long-term care, general disability, unemployment, old age and more. The unfathomable reality in which people were celebrating life and encountered the worst will accompany us for many years to come. As an organization that meets the public every day, hears its distresses, accompanies all the populations and brings to the decision makers the reality observed on the field, we see our work as a public mission of the highest order and we will continue to carry it out with deep respect towards the public, to the best of our ability."

During these complex days and over the month of October, the National Insurance provides funding to Natal's helpline: 1-800-36-33-63, which will be available by phone at any time (except Yom Kippur) for support and mental assistance. This support can either involve a one-time event or a longer series of treatments.