New survey reveals 20% of displaced Israelis have lost their jobs since Oct 7 terror attack

One in five Israelis who were displaced from their homes after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, have lost their jobs, the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) reported on Tuesday. The institute published a comprehensive survey outlining the economic impact of the October attack and subsequent multi-front war in which the country has been embroiled for almost a year and a half.

The survey also revealed considerable regional differences within Israel. Some 44% of the evacuated Israelis from the war-torn northern and southern communities reported that their current incomes are lower than before the Oct. 7 attack. In comparison, the national average for declining income levels was 35% according to the report. 

This gap is largely because Israel’s central region with its metropolis, Tel Aviv, has been far less affected by the war than the northern and southern regions. Tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from their homes in southern communities following the Hamas-led attack.

An additional 60,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes in northern Israel after the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, attacked Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. 

In September 2024, the Israeli Security Cabinet officially pledged that the “return of northern residents to their homes” would be a central goal in the ongoing war against the Iranian-backed terrorist proxies. While the Israeli military succeeded in severely degrading the military capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, many evacuated Israelis are still reluctant to return home until the threat is completely eliminated. 

The IDI survey revealed that just 39% of evacuated Israelis had returned to their homes, despite the ceasefires with Hezbollah and Hamas. Many of the war-torn areas in the north are still deserted. 

The authors of the IDI report, Daphna Aviram-Nitzan and Omer Cohen, said the findings show an urgent need to address the serious economic challenges many Israelis are facing.

“The fact that around 15 months since the outbreak of the war, a majority of self-employed/freelance evacuees are still reporting a decrease in the scale of their business activity due to the war highlights the urgent need to create a clear and ordered mechanism that will provide an immediate response to this population group during emergency situations, such as wars, pandemics, and other extreme events that are beyond their control,” the authors explained. 

They said the mechanisms should be “similar to the existing mechanisms for assisting salaried workers, who in times of crisis are entitled to a security buffer, whether by means of [providing] unpaid leave or receiving unemployment benefits.”

In addition to the large number of Israeli fatalities and casualties, the Gaza War has also become the most expensive conflict in modern Israeli history.

Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron estimated last summer that the Gaza War would cost some $67 billion in military and civilian expenses for the period 2023 to 2025.

While around half of this amount is earmarked for military expenses, approximately $10 billion was supposed to be used for civilian expenses, including the rehabilitation of evacuated Israeli families.