Jerusalem, 10 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Despite large budgets and the establishment of a dedicated rehabilitation authority, delays, uneven execution, and weak coordination have slowed recovery and reduced the effectiveness of government efforts to rebuild southern Israeli communities still suffering the effects of two years of war, Israel’s State Comptroller said in a report released Tuesday.
“The prolonged delay in approving and implementing the updated development budgets harmed rehabilitation activities and the advancement of regional development projects, including infrastructure, services, and the creation of employment sources essential for the region’s growth,” said the report, authored by State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman. The State Comptroller regularly reviews Israel’s preparedness and the effectiveness of government policies.
The report examined the government’s handling of rehabilitation and development in the Western Negev, officially designated the Tekuma, or Revival, Region. The area includes the city of Sderot and dozens of rural communities within seven kilometers of the Gaza border, where 64,000 people lived on the eve of Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. According to the report, the attack left 269 residents of the region dead, hundreds of buildings damaged beyond repair, and tens of thousands of residents displaced for extended periods.
Following the attack, the government committed to a multi-year recovery effort. In October 2023, it established the Tekuma Administration to lead rehabilitation and development. In April 2024, the government approved a five-year plan with a budget of about NIS 19 billion ($6.16 billion), later revised to NIS 17.5 billion ($5.68 billion) after budget cuts. In April 2025, the Tekuma Region was defined as a national priority area, mandating accelerated rehabilitation across housing, infrastructure, education, welfare, employment, and community services.
However, the report faulted the government for lagging in its commitments. A central finding concerned the delay in finalizing the updated five-year plan after significant cuts were made to development budgets. Although the revised plan was supposed to be completed by April 2025, it was published only in October 2025. According to Englman, this delay hindered rehabilitation work and postponed regional development projects.
The comptroller criticized the lack of transparency in the revised plan. While funding levels for several sectors changed substantially, the updated document did not specify which programs were reduced or how priorities were reordered. For example, the welfare budget was reduced by about NIS 100 million ($32.4 million) compared with the original plan, but it was not possible to determine which services were affected.
Education also features prominently in the findings. Although education received the largest share of the budget — about NIS 1.7 billion ($550 million), the report noted that the education plan was drafted without adequate consultation with the Eshkol Regional Council, whose communities were among the most severely affected.
Beyond education, the comptroller found delays in efforts to strengthen local government capacity. Nearly NIS 190 million ($61.6 million) were allocated to improve municipal management and staffing, but the funds were not used for more than a year after responsibility shifted from the Interior Ministry to the Tekuma Administration.
Despite the criticisms, the report acknowledged that progress has been made. By May 2025, about 92 percent of residents of the Tekuma Region had returned to their homes, including residents of four of the ten most severely damaged communities where essential repairs had been completed.
“It is recommended that the prime minister’s Office, the minister in the Ministry of Finance, and the Tekuma Administration act without delay to correct the findings set out in this report, including identifying and removing the obstacles to advancing the rehabilitation of the region, its residents, and its communities,” it added.
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