With fragile ceasefires in place, Israelis head toward Independence Day with a strained sense of hope. After more than a month of missiles raining down across the country, we are ready for the next chapter, but we don’t fully grasp the extent of the healing that’s needed and what rebuilding will require.  

This state of shock is similar to the experience following a rocket attack. From the outside, the world sees images of rubble, collapsed buildings, blown-out windows, people mourning and rescue crews working against the clock. The dead and injured come in the form of data points. People scroll on to the next story. 

JDC

JDC's Israeli Emergency Team, led by Yossi Heymann (pictured right shaking hand with the local first responder) at the site of a missile strike in Beit Shemesh.

For those of us at the heart of what comes next, we see families realizing they have no home to return to, wives losing husbands, children unable to shake the sounds of the sirens and municipalities coming to terms with its obligation to tens of thousands of residents whose lives have been upended in an instant. In many places around Israel, especially those in the North, emergency response and social service systems are stretched to the breaking point after more than two years of war. 

The reality is that the needs are simply too large, layered and dynamic to be solved by a silver bullet, as if one ever existed, or one group. And as I have learned from my previous experience running the Jerusalem municipality and now emergency response at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Israel runs on bureaucracy. While we Israelis possess a knack for bucking those systems, today we need to use those systems to our advantage to heal and rebuild.

That is why we must invest in municipalities. After all, when all of Israel is a frontline, city hall is the key to solving the challenges on this scale. It is where social services, emergency response, housing, volunteers, logistics and national agencies converge — and where procurement rules, staffing limits and an urgent public need for quick answers and solutions now meet. 

I recently spent time with 82-year-old Batya from Beit Shemesh. She’s been evacuated from her home for over a month after the terrible attack devastated her city. She had been out shopping that day and returned home just as a missile hit her building. Batya narrowly escaped death, protected by a falling screen door. 

While she struggled to make ends meet before the attack, she was a happy person, always eager to smile. Now she manages severe trauma, loss of appetite and anxiety. Batya desperately longs to get back to the home she loves, back to the life she knows.

And she is not alone. In the first 24-72 hours, Israelis like Batya face multiple challenges at once, and their municipality is forced to run numerous operations to address them all simultaneously. 

First, they have to deal with immediate displacement at scale. Families escape with almost nothing. They need basic essentials and humane, temporary housing quickly, especially when children, older adults and people with disabilities are involved. 

Second, welfare systems are overloaded overnight. Municipal welfare departments suddenly become ground zero for trauma response, evacuation support and ongoing case management–often without the proper number of professionals or funding to meet those needs. 

Third, residents are faced with a flood of bureaucracy at the worst possible time, including. insurance, compensation, documentation, housing assessments and medical approvals. These processes are hard in peacetime and become an overwhelming source of anxiety and frustration after a rocket has done its damage. 

And then there is the “quiet crisis” among the most vulnerable residents, especially the poor already struggling with needs – from food to employment to housing – that many of us cannot imagine. Add to that older adults and people with disabilities who can deteriorate rapidly when their routines collapse. They suffer interrupted care, isolation, temporary housing that is not accessible and loss of informal support networks they rely on every day. 

To address all of this, we need a model that takes the system and booster-charges it to cut through the red tape, inefficient processes and long waits which are literal plagues when people lose everything and need immediate comfort, care and a path forward.

During the previous war with Iran, my organization developed and refined two complementary models designed for aiding the hardest-hit Israelis, grounded in how cities actually function: one stabilizes the municipality fast, and the other works to ensure the most vulnerable households do not have to navigate recovery alone. We should begin deploying them at scale to immediately set a path for healing, recovery and rebuilding. 

Immediate needs, seen and unseen  

In the previous Iranian war, our Humanitarian Assistance Package was deployed in Tamra, Bat Yam, Bnei Brak and Beersheva, responding to massive humanitarian needs among vulnerable populations after major attacks on those cities. During the latest war with Iran, it expanded to Beit Shemesh, Zarzir, Dimona and Arad. The initiative consists of four pillars that work together to meet people and their cities where they are the minute after a rocket hits.

To start, we deliver immediate material assistance for residents whose homes were damaged, including clothing, toiletries, children’s items and other basics. We then provide a flexible emergency budget for urgent, on-the-ground needs that cannot wait for slow approvals: accessibility solutions, transport, short-term staffing, translation, rapid procurement and other emerging necessities. 

We follow this with the deployment of emergency and medical equipment and training for local first responder teams operating in places that have prolonged, high-pressure conditions. And then we install community caseworkers to aid older adults and people with disabilities, strengthening the local social service system to deal with the surge in needs. 

These are not “nice to have” options, but essential to ensure that essential infrastructure is operating beyond capacity. When it falters, recovery slows and the most vulnerable pay the price. 

To add extra value to those municipalities whose social infrastructure is stretched and overwhelmed by growing numbers of people in need, we have also expanded our Machar program to 11 northern municipalities. This initiative increased emergency social service staff and ensured upgraded human services to those under fire or recovering from the impact of the recent war. 

Back home, back to life

Our Ad HaBayit (All the Way Home) program, which offers guided recovery and housing support, has been transformative for those vulnerable people in Ramat Gan, Bat Yam and Beersheva who lost their homes in the last war with Iran and it continues to expand for those who lost homes in recent attacks. The key to its effectiveness is that it sits at the heart of people’s recovery. 

First, we work with them to access and utilize their government benefits to support the most optimal possible outcomes. We help them navigate the forms, appointments, documentation and bureaucratic coordination across agencies to ensure they never fall through the cracks, connecting them to municipal welfare support, health agencies and community resources. In the literal home stretch, we work with them to find appropriate housing solutions — not under any just roof, but matched to accessibility needs, caregiving realities, medical requirements and people’s financial situations.

This work is less visible than distributing supplies or ambulances at the scene, yet it can determine whether a family stabilizes or spirals into further ruin. 

Now is the time for the coalition of partners who have aided Israelis under fire for more than two years to further invest in this new frontier of Israel’s recovery. We know that when working together, philanthropy — including the Jewish federations, the social sector and business sector — and government can help Israelis heal and build a strong future. Through those efforts, my organization has already aided 1.3 million of the hardest-hit Israelis. Many more continue to need our help. 

For these Israelis, we need the backbone of daily life in Israel, our municipalities, to be the force multiplier. We must help them act faster, stay stronger and ensure that together, we leave no one behind. In doing so, we carry forward the legacy of our founders to build an Israeli society fortified by mutual responsibility and focused on a future of opportunity and strength.

Yossi Heymann leads the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Israel-based emergency response efforts and its division supporting older adults in Israel.