Eshkol Council head to Knesset: 'We are as stuck as if we are on October 8'

The state does not want to rehabilitate the Gaza border area, charged Eshkol Regional Council head Gadi Yarkoni at a Knesset Finance subcommittee meeting on Sunday.

The meeting discussed the allocation of NIS 5 billion ($1.32 b.) in funding for the rehabilitation of the region, funds that have been frozen. “We are fed up already,” Yarkoni said, adding that there have been many committee meetings without progress.

“We are as stuck as if we are on October 8,” he said.

The Eshkol Regional Council was one of the areas devastated on October 7; many of its communities were overrun by Hamas terrorists. Kibbutzim Nir Or and Be’eri are both within the council’s jurisdiction, as is the area where the Nova music festival took place.

“We keep talking, and talking, and talking, and nothing changes. I hear that we need to wait only two or three more days for the NIS 5 billion and that everything is running smoothly and moving forward, but I have been hearing that for nine or 10 months – and there is nothing new,” he said.

“I also heard about the projects [to rehabilitate the area] that have started up, and that there are no problems and everything is moving, but nothing is reaching us.”

Funding frozen

The funding is frozen because the Prime Minister’s Office is waiting for a second opinion regarding what the national priority area is, said PMO Deputy Director-General Hadas Shon Levy.

There is a proposed solution that would end the freeze, but the office wants to first present this to the heads of local municipalities in the area, she said, adding that the funding is slotted for use in 2025 and that a decision will be reached by then.

The freeze drew criticism from committee participants, some of whom said it was because of political considerations.

 “They are afraid of people,” Yarkoni said. “It is very clear what the Tkuma [rebirth] area is, who the people in the Gaza border area are, and what happened in Eshkol.” He added that the government is afraid to say no to towns that will not be included in the area to which the funding is allocated.

Subcommittee chair MK Alon Schuster (National Unity) summed up the meeting by saying the subcommittee regretted that a decision has not yet been made regarding the area of the border region that will be included, thus holding up the funding.

“The subcommittee sees great importance in creating confidence that the funding will be available for use in 2025, and will meet again to further monitor the situation,” said Shuster.

The subcommittee also called on the government to nominate a head for the Tkuma Authority quickly.