'War ghost towns': Businesses in Israeli settlements 'shuttered' without regime's compensation

Israeli businesses recount feeling the heat from Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements’ retaliatory operations amid the Gaza war and the aftermath of last October's strikes in the occupied territories.

Israeli businessmen told Hebrew news websites that they had been suffering huge losses since the October operation, and bemoaning the Israeli regime’s refusal to bail them out.

Codenamed al-Aqsa Storm, the October 7 operation saw the Gaza Strip’s resistance fighters storming the occupied territories and taking hundreds captive.

The regime responded with a genocidal war that has claimed the lives of at least 38,584 Palestinians so far.

Reacting to the Palestinians’ plight, regional resistance groups hailing from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq have staged hundreds of pro-Palestinian operations against the northern part of the occupied territories.

Davar Hayom approached several businessmen, who described how they had been piling up losses as a result of the operation, the developments that ensued it, and Tel Aviv’s rejection of their pleas for compensation.

The reports said, "The grim security reality in Shlomi, which has been abandoned for more than nine months, was revealed during a tour conducted on Sunday by the 'Fighting for the North' headquarters for members of the Knesset in the city." 

Israeli economy plunges almost 20% as Gaza war takes heavy toll

Israel

The interviewees included Yossi Atias, owner of an outdoor camping complex in Nahariya, which was closed following the October operation.

He said, on a hot July day a year ago, about 3,000 people visited his beach accommodation complex, the caravans, the entertainment hall and the restaurant, and everything was frozen in place on October 7. The loss so far is estimated in the millions. 

“Not one person will come here in the summer,” he said.

"I didn't ask for 100% compensation. Bring 70% , that's fine too. But since January, we haven't received a shekel," Atias added.

Bakery owners Shaf Avraham and Tomer Suisa echoed his remarks.

Avraham noted how his business used to provide for 40 employees and attract thousands of tourists.

Now, however, "most of the time, what we do is roll over debts," he said.

“My goal is to be in control of my destiny. We are not saying we will not open again, but we are also not saying we will," he added, and regretted likewise that Tel Aviv had refused to help buoy up his business.

“When we ask to enter the special compensation track, we receive a refusal."

Hotel owner Aryeh Aharonovich chimed in, saying how his eight-million-shekel ($2 million) investment in his business had “evaporated” following the war.

"In the summer, the income was supposed to be about half a million shekels a month, but instead I end this war with two million shekels in debt just for the loans and interest," he said.

Reporting earlier this month, Israeli company CofaceBdi, which specializes in business information for credit risk management, announced that around 46,000 businesses had shut down throughout the occupied territories since the beginning of the war.

Israel facing ‘collapse’ as 46,000 businesses forced to close due to Gaza war: Report

Israel is on the brink of ‘collapse’, with 46,000 businesses forced to close as a result of the Tel Aviv regime’s war on Gaza.

More closures were anticipated, deteriorating the economic crisis in the occupying entity, the company added.

Back in February, a trade association of major receptive tour operator companies and suppliers said the ongoing military onslaught against Gaza has plunged Israel’s tourism industry into a serious crisis, and many airlines are reluctant to fly to the occupied territories after the outbreak of the war.

“Before the crisis, there were 250 airline companies operating in Israel, and now only 45 companies are operating,” Director General of the Chamber of Inbound Tourism Organizers Yossi Fattal told the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Maariv.

‘Gaza onslaught takes heavy toll on Israel tourism industry’

A trade association of major receptive tour operator companies and suppliers says the ongoing military onslaught against Gaza has plunged Israel’s tourism industry into a serious crisis.

“Israel is currently completely isolated from the world. Eighty percent of flights today are operated by aircraft from Israel belonging to the [Israeli] El Al company.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk