Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > Nearly half a million Israelis internally displaced

Nearly half a million Israelis internally displaced

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Nearly half a million Israelis have been internally displaced since the brutal surprise attack on civilians in southern Israel by the Hamas Palestinian terror group on October 7, i24News reports. The size of the state of New Jersey in the US, Israel has a population of under 10 million people, including 2.1 million Arab Israelis.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it has evacuated civilians not only from communities close to the border with Gaza in the south, including the city of Sderot and the kibbutz communities destroyed by the Hamas terrorists, but also citizens living near the border with Lebanon in the north, i24News reports. While Hamas attacks Israel from Gaza in the south, the Iran-back Hezbollah terror group has been threatening Israel from the north in Lebanon.

“There are about half a million internally displaced Israelis at the time,” Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an online briefing to reporters.

“We don’t want civilians near the combat zone. We want to protect civilians, first and foremost ours, against the horrible effects of war,” Conricus said.

While many Israelis evacuated themselves and on their own merit, the residents of Sderot and the kibbutz communities that are up to 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) from the Gaza border are being housed by the government in hotels and lodging across the country, including in the Dead Sea area, northern Tel Aviv suburbs, and Tiberias, next to the Sea of Galilee, i24News said.