The payment of one-time assistance to residents of settlements located on the border with Lebanon has begun. On April 26, the first SMS messages were sent to recipients’ mobile phones with a link to the digital wallet of the credit company CAL.
The size of the payment depends on the composition of the family: single people will receive one thousand shekels, a married couple without children – two thousand, a family with a child or a single parent – two and a half thousand.
According to Mako, the total budget of the program is 44 million shekels. About 17 thousand households are entitled to assistance.
You can spend funds only in shops and businesses located no further than two kilometers from the northern border, since one of the goals of the program is to support local entrepreneurs.
The digital wallet will be available for use for two years. The list of recipients of this payment was compiled based on data received from local authorities.
The Kan Bet radio station reported that thousands of residents of settlements located more than two kilometers from the border are outraged by the government’s decision, as they also suffer from rocket attacks and drone attacks. Residents of Kiryat Shmona are also outraged, recalling that they were promised monthly assistance. However, the Ministry of Finance said that regular payments were initially provided only for new residents, and not for those who remained in the conflict zone.
To attract new residents to affected cities such as Kiryat Shmona, Shlomi and Metula, the government has allocated a separate budget of 30 million shekels. Reservists and their families who moved to these settlements will be able to receive a monthly allowance for a year: one thousand shekels for a single person and two thousand for a family.