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Extraordinary need


Damage caused by an Iranian missile in Bat Yam, Israel, on June 15, 2025
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For the last two years, LEMA’AN ZION has aided the needy beyond our normal level of assistance. Rocket attacks by Iran, Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis, and the general wartime situation, have created a new category of people in need.

ˑ Just during the brief 12-day war with Iran in June, 30 Israeli civilians were killed and 3,500 were wounded due to rocket attacks aimed directly at civilian areas. Some 15,000 people were evacuated because their homes were destroyed or damaged. Here is one example: In Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, a single rocket impact site left 1,500 residents homeless. That’s one percent of the city’s population. Twenty buildings had to be torn down completely, condemned because they were in danger of collapsing.

ˑ Additionally, there are the families of the fallen soldiers. According to the Israel Defense Forces, 900 have fallen since October 7, 2023. Conscripts under age 21: 374. Reservists between 20 and 39: 415. Reservists over 40: 101. Among them are fathers and mothers who left orphans or spouses behind. We helped sponsor a summer camp for about 200 children, all of them orphans due to war or terror attacks.

ˑ Others have been affected economically. Reservists have been called up, some serving for as much as a year. Many families barely managed without their regular income. The economic effects of the situation ripple throughout society. We have distributed food vouchers directly to numerous such financially distressed families.

ˑ One food pantry in central Israel we sponsor said that recent requests for aid, including from those affected in Bat Yam mentioned above, increased by 600 percent. A soup kitchen we sponsor for Holocaust survivors said the people who usually eat there were too afraid to come due to the rocket attacks. We provided funding for food-package deliveries directly to their homes.

All these in addition to our regular aid recipients and other activities on behalf of Israel.

You have responded with extraordinary generosity. May God bless you abundantly too.