For more than two and a half years, Israel has been living in a state of war. This is no longer a temporary escalation, but an ongoing emergency routine. Sirens, missiles, and direct hits in city centers have become part of daily life. The public adapts, institutions adapt – but one population cannot adapt and often has nowhere to run, nor the physical ability to do so: senior citizens.
During the most recent missile attack in June, Israel received early warning. There was time to prepare for the next campaign against Iran, time to think, time to act. Yet more than half a million senior citizens still live in apartments without protected spaces, without safe rooms, without accessible shelters, and without any realistic ability to reach safety in time.
The Welfare Ministry oversees seniors in institutional settings. But who is responsible for the hundreds of thousands living in old buildings, on upper floors without elevators and without basic protection?
We saw the consequences in Bat Yam, Holon, and Beersheba this past summer. Missiles struck populated neighborhoods where many elderly residents live. Hundreds were injured or evacuated and lost their most basic sense of security: their home. For someone in their eighties or nineties, such displacement is not only traumatic but deeply destabilizing, and often far harder to recover from.
Aviv for the Elderly, a nonprofit organization that helps older adults realize their rights free of charge, assisted approximately 600 seniors whose homes were damaged in the June attack. Many elderly evacuees were required to navigate digital property tax systems, online portals, passwords, and document uploads. Many of them don’t own a smartphone or computer, and many who do are unfamiliar with these tools. Human assistance was largely unavailable.
Beyond bureaucracy, families had to arrange caregivers, find accessible temporary housing suitable for wheelchairs or walkers, and deal with National Insurance, municipalities, and insurance companies. Some families asked in despair whether it was worth rebuilding life for someone in their ninth or 10th decade. And the state did not adequately compensate seniors forced into institutional care after their homes were damaged.
Lack of a national plan to protect seniors
Through our work, we helped secure approximately NIS 850,000 ($274,000) in rights and benefits. But a nonprofit cannot replace the state. The issue is not only financial; it is moral. How can there be no dedicated national plan to protect seniors living without safe rooms? Why is there no proactive identification and assistance mechanism? Why does the burden fall on 85-year-olds?
Security is not only the Iron Dome. Security is knowing there is somewhere safe to go and that your country sees you not as a burden, but as a responsibility. The generation that built this state deserves to grow old in it with safety and dignity.
The author is CEO of Aviv for the Elderly.