The Knesset promotes: the return grants to evacuees will be paid before Passover

The plan to transfer the return grants to the residents of the Gaza Strip reached the Labor and Welfare Committee of the Knesset, after an agreement between the Ministries of Finance and Justice and the Takuma Administration. The proposal includes two grants – a return grant for residents who returned to their homes from January 1 to February 29, and a one-time grant for residents who returned from March to June. The National Insurance Institute is expected to implement the funds transfer mechanism.

The chairman of the committee MK Israel Eichler (Torah Judaism) stated that the goal of the committee that met this morning (Sunday) is to quickly advance the legislation that will allow the creation of the grants mechanism, so that the Shivs can receive the grants even before Passover Eve. “The National Insurance has proven in recent months that it knows how to provide a quick and efficient response to the government’s decisions and the needs of the citizens,” Eichler said at the committee’s hearing. The official status of the bill is consultation, and the vote on its approval is expected to happen in the coming days.

Treasury and National Insurance representatives pledged to make an effort to transfer the one-time grant before the holiday, if the government succeeds in enacting the law that would enable the mechanism. If this is not possible, the National Insurance promised that advances will be made to the residents based on the information they have, and then the total grant will be transferred.

On the other hand, transferring the return grants to those who returned by February will require more work, since the size of the grant is determined by an individual calculation of each day of return (as opposed to the one-time grant that is paid according to a date scale), due to the complexity of creating the mechanism. The National Insurance asked not to commit to a date: “It might be after the holiday.”

According to the draft document submitted to the committee, which confirms the numbers published earlier this month, residents who returned by February 29 are entitled to NIS 200 per adult and NIS 100 per child for each day of return. As of today, the payment mechanism for returnees until February 29 will be completed in early May, and the funds will be transferred retroactively until the return date. A resident who chooses to take the grant will not be able to return to stay at the hotel, but an exceptions committee is expected to be set up on the issue.

Residents who managed to return by March 17 will receive a grant of NIS 15,360 for an adult and NIS 7,680 for a child. From March 18, the grant will be cut exactly in half, to NIS 7,680 for an adult and NIS 3,480 for a child. On April 2, it will drop to NIS 3,480 for an adult and NIS 1,920 for a child, and from May 1 to June 1 to NIS 1,920 for an adult and NIS 960 for a child. The return date will be determined according to the day the evacuees requested to stop staying at the hotel or to receive an occupancy grant.

Residents whose settlements have not been declared safe to return will be able to continue staying in hotels or receive self-occupancy grants at least until July. Residents of settlements that have been declared safe to return will also be allowed to stay in hotels, but the amount of the grant will decrease as time passes.