If a home or its contents are damaged by war or a recognised hostile act in Israel, report the damage promptly to the Tax Authority’s Compensation Fund, known as Mas Rechush. Preserve the evidence and coordinate inspection and repair before disposing of damaged items. Emergency safety and evacuation instructions take priority over entering a damaged building to collect documents or photographs.
A claim for physical damage is separate from a business-loss claim, temporary-housing assistance, a landlord’s lost-rent claim and private insurance. Identify what happened, what property was damaged, who owns it and who is responsible for restoration. A claim number acknowledges a file; it does not establish the approved amount or payment.
Source review date: 1 November 2026. Current official filing guidance was checked alongside dated announcements and retained source material. Obtain the applicable statutory contents schedule and current claim instructions before relying on a compensation estimate. This is general information, not legal or tax advice; confirm with a licensed professional.
A historical evacuation payment is not a damage award. See accommodation and hotel-exit grants for the separate programme dates, household declarations and child-payment rules.
Report the damage and protect the evidence
The Tax Authority’s civilian damage guide distinguishes notifying damage within 14 days from submitting the compensation claim within 3 months of the event. Report promptly rather than waiting for those limits. Ask the Authority about any applicable extension or late claim; do not assume a visiting team or telephone enquiry completed the formal claim.
Section 36A of the Property Tax and Compensation Fund Law sets both limits from the date the damage occurred: two weeks to give notice of the damage and three months to submit the claim. The Tax Authority’s service page for landlords claiming lost rent after Operation Roaring Lion, updated on 19 May 2026, also allows a claim up to three months after the damage occurred, and only for damage from 1 March 2026 to 30 April 2026. Limits can be extended in some cases, and a request for more time should be made before the limit ends.
The Compensation Fund’s official service lists *4954. Use the official direct-damage claim page to reach the filing system. Keep the event date, exact property address, claimant details, proof of ownership or restoration responsibility, photographs and repair estimates together.
Do not clear equipment, stock, debris or household items, or start non-emergency repairs, without coordinating with the Fund’s appraiser. For a damaged vehicle, obtain the required police documentation and approval for the repair process. If something must be done immediately for safety or to prevent further damage, follow the competent authority’s directions, document what was required and seek the Fund’s instructions. Never enter an unsafe site for a claim photograph.
Choose the right claim for the right loss
| Loss or need | What to establish | What it does not automatically cover |
|---|---|---|
| Damage to the building | The owner’s or restoration payer’s rights, inspected damage and approved restoration scope | Every proposed improvement or redevelopment cost |
| Damaged contents | Ownership of the items, condition, evidence and applicable contents rules | The building owner’s contents if a tenant owns the damaged goods |
| Business equipment or stock | The business’s ownership and valuation records | All lost turnover while the business is closed |
| A home that cannot be occupied | Evacuation, temporary-housing approval and its conditions | An unrestricted choice of hotel or replacement rent at any price |
| Lost rent or other indirect loss | The separate legal route, period and evidence | A payment simply because the direct-damage claim exists |
The ordinary direct-damage system covers several property categories. The narrower fast-track instructions concern building and contents damage, with eligibility and declarations of their own. Do not put vehicle damage into that narrower route merely because it arose in the same event.
Ordinary filing and tracking
The current official service describes regular, fast and non-digital-identification routes. Use the instructions suitable for the claimant, including an overseas owner or representative; the available identity route does not itself determine legal eligibility. Do not treat a claim form’s citizen/resident description as a complete ruling on every foreign owner’s rights.
Supply the required details and the injured party’s bank account, preserve the SMS claim number and check the file’s progress. The service explains that a regular claim can remain marked new before an appraiser’s visit, then move to processing. Upload requested supporting material and keep all decisions and requests for additional documents.
If an appraiser or engineer is required, the Authority arranges the visit. Obtain itemised repair estimates where safe and appropriate, identify hidden-damage concerns and preserve evidence of the property’s earlier condition. An estimate from a contractor is not the Fund’s approval to carry out every listed item.
What the assessment should distinguish
Separate structural repair, contents, professional work, urgent mitigation and any betterment or improvement you propose beyond restoring the damage. Ask for the valuation basis and approved scope. The applicable rules can differ between a building, personal household goods, business equipment and stock.
For household goods, compensation is subject to statutory categories and ceilings tied to household composition. It is not an unlimited replacement guarantee. The source material lists exclusions such as cash, jewellery, art and antiques; verify the precise applicable category with the Fund instead of assuming that everything kept inside the flat is covered.
Use the Authority’s schedule applicable to the event date, household and item category, and check any decision against it. Furniture and electronics do not necessarily have the same cap or additions for another household member.
For business property, retain invoices, asset and stock records and the evidence of pre-damage condition. Separate the physical-property valuation from VAT treatment and lost income. Do not submit an unsupported replacement-new value for every used business item.
Fast-track claims: check availability and restrictions first
The Tax Authority’s 1 March 2026 announcement reopened a fast track for qualifying building-and-contents claims of up to ILS 30,000, describing approval without waiting for an appraiser, up to seven days after a complete application. That is a dated scheme description, not a guaranteed present payment time.
Some retained secondary guidance gives 28 April 2026 as a closing date, while the current official service still describes the fast route without resolving that date in the displayed instructions. Confirm current availability for your event with the Authority. This guide does not certify either that every new claim can use it today or that the route has permanently disappeared.
The official instructions require digital identification, matching repair quotations and true declarations. After entering the claim details, the claimant receives an SMS link: the required photographs must then be taken and uploaded from the damaged location through that process. Earlier photographs do not replace those specific submission steps. General evidence should still be preserved, subject to safety directions.
The published scheme limits submissions by family unit and event and replaces, rather than adds to, an ordinary claim for the same loss. A change of route must be made through the proper process. Confirm all affected property and losses before electing a narrower route; do not create duplicate claims in an attempt to increase recovery.
The announcement requires a matching invoice within 30 days of payment and warns that missing invoices or false declarations can lead to recovery of money and legal action. Keep the approval and its exact evidence requirements. The source material also describes different challenge rights for the fast route, so obtain advice before choosing it if valuation or hidden damage is disputed.
If your rented home cannot be lived in
Contact the local authority or Compensation Fund representatives about evacuation and temporary accommodation. The 10 March 2026 Housing Ministry announcement described coordination to find longer-term temporary rentals near affected families’ home areas, depending on need and restoration time. It did not guarantee an available replacement flat of every size or price.
For a tenant, the Tax Authority’s alternative-housing guide for Operation Roaring Lion, last updated on 15 July 2026, says that, as a rule, funding for a hotel stay or replacement rent remains valid as long as the tenant keeps paying rent to the landlord of the evacuated home for the evacuation period set. It also says that staying on in a hotel or guest apartment needs the Compensation Fund’s approval, coordinated with the local authority. After Operation Rising Lion in 2025, the Tax Authority allowed hotel stays until 1 August 2025 at the latest, with exceptions decided by committees. That date was set for that earlier operation and should not be assumed for any other evacuation.
A tenant’s damaged contents and the owner’s building damage are different claims. The effect on rent, cancellation and the deposit depends on the lease and applicable law. Temporary-housing assistance can also have conditions connected to the continuing tenancy and rent. Obtain case-specific advice before cancelling or stopping rent if you intend to rely on that assistance.
For the tenancy question, see war evacuation and lease rights and a tenant’s position after missile damage. A landlord’s possible lost-rent claim needs its own scheme, dates and proof; it is not established by the tenant’s hotel referral.
Owners who lived in the damaged home have a separate self-evacuation payment. The Tax Authority’s Roaring Lion guide, published on 1 March 2026 and updated on 15 July 2026, lists ILS 4,000 for up to two weeks as the short-term payment. For the longer term it lists ILS 4,000 a month for a single adult and ILS 5,000 a month for a couple or a single parent, plus ILS 500 a month for each child up to age 18 and ILS 1,000 for each additional adult living with the parents or single parent. The total cannot exceed 80% of the rent paid for a similar home in the same area and size. Tenants and owners who did not live in the home are covered by separate sections of the guide. Amounts can change, so check the guide before relying on them.
Dated emergency aid is separate from the repair award
A joint government announcement of 1 March 2026 described ILS 2,000 per affected resident for initial local-authority assistance: ILS 1,500 for the authority’s immediate response and ILS 500 to be passed directly to the resident, subject to the stated uninhabitable-home conditions. It did not promise ILS 2,000 cash directly to each person.
Keep the municipality’s approval and any payment record. This dated announcement does not certify that the same new entitlement applies to every later incident, or that the recipient has actually been paid.
Northern evacuation neglect grant: a different choice
The National Insurance neglect-damage grant page describes a one-off family-composition payment of ILS 10,000 per adult and ILS 5,000 per child under its age definitions. It is separate from a fresh missile-damage claim.
The listed conditions include Israeli residence; an occupancy or adjustment grant, or a hotel stay, for at least a day in December 2024 or February 2025; the specified restriction on maximum household-property compensation; and waiver of the assessment-based Property Tax route. A link to the evacuated locality must be declared, with a current lease for tenants. State-funded lodging does not itself exclude eligibility. Use the official application and required declarations. Check the age definition at application, especially around a person’s eighteenth birthday.
A waiver can affect the alternative claim route. Check which loss and household it covers before submitting, and retain the declaration and payment decision. Do not assume you may collect both incompatible benefits for the same damage.
Contacting the Compensation Fund
For direct-damage claims, the Tax Authority’s official claim service lists *4954, Sunday to Thursday, 8:15 to 17:45. You can also use its direct-damage inquiry system or check the Compensation Fund office directory for office contact details. Check the official pages for current service hours. An inquiry to the Fund does not replace a formal appeal.
Appeals and disputed decisions
Keep the final decision, its reasons, valuation and the date it reached you. Ask promptly about the correct appeal body, deadline and required documents for that particular route. The retained material describes a distinction between complete rejection and partial approval in the fast track. Do not assume that the ordinary route’s challenge rights apply unchanged.
If an assessment misses an item, first identify it precisely with ownership evidence, photographs and the relevant estimate. A complaint to a general service centre is not proof that a formal appeal was filed on time. For an appeal against a final direct-damage decision, the Tax Authority’s Compensation Fund appeal service directs written appeals to Ararim@taxes.gov.il. Include your claim number, reasons for the appeal, the challenged decision, supporting evidence, contact details and the amount claimed. Check the deadline stated in the decision and the requirements for your claim route. The service’s suggested form is optional.
Optional additional household-contents cover
The Tax Authority offers paid additional cover above the statutory household-contents compensation levels. Its published premium is 0.3 % of the additional declared value, with a maximum additional value of ILS 1,037,100. This is not a promise that every item or claimed value will be accepted.
The service says cover starts after premium payment and ends at the end of that calendar year. It excludes art, jewellery, antiques and cash, and distinguishes items attached to the building from this optional contents route. Keep the declaration and payment confirmation and check the current terms before relying on cover. An application after a loss does not establish retroactive insurance. This government route is separate from the terms of any private building or contents policy.
Safety assessment is separate from compensation
The Housing Ministry’s 15 March 2026 announcement described engineers assisting municipalities with stability checks and classification of missile-damaged buildings. That dated deployment was for safety and decisions about use; it was not an individual compensation award.
Follow the responsible authorities’ current access and safety instructions. Keep the engineering finding, restriction and repair evidence with the claim, but do not treat a damage valuer’s visit as permission to re-enter or an engineering assessment as approval of every repair expense.
Before treating the claim as complete
- Check that the file covers the right event, property, claimant and damage categories without duplication.
- Keep the inspection, approved scope, valuation and decision.
- Preserve repair approvals, invoices and any deadline for supplying them.
- Read back the actual payment and reconcile any further conditions or outstanding sum.
- If rebuilding involves a declared rehabilitation area, check that separate process and agreements too.
See the war-damaged-building rehabilitation guide for the distinction between a compensation claim and a declared redevelopment process. Private home insurance is another contract: disclose other recoveries and ask the insurer and Fund how overlap is coordinated. No claim should assume double recovery for the same loss.
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