With plunging temperatures and the winter’s first snow in various parts of the country, a new report shows that nearly a third of Israel’s elderly are being forced to forgo basic needs in order to pay their electric bills.
The findings came from a survey commissioned by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ, or ‘The Fellowship’) and which interviewed 400 people aged 75 and older.
The report also found that 44 percent of those surveyed said the 16-month-long Iron Swords War has intensified their feelings of loneliness, as compared with the previous winter.
“The data from this year’s survey is particularly worrying,” said Yael Eckstein, President of IFCJ. “With the war dragging on, this winter is particularly harsh and lonely for our elderly citizens.”
Alongside the release of the report, The Fellowship announced that it would increase its annual support for Israel’s elderly and distribute NIS 26.6 million to fund projects benefitting about 73,000 people. The allocation is 2.5 times the amount distributed just last year.
In recent days, as the forecast began calling for particularly harsh temperatures, IFCJ representatives around the country were dispatched to visit elderly residents and distribute food, blankets, and safe heating units.
The 2025 survey saw the number of seniors suffering from serious financial challenges double since last year, from 14 percent to 28 percent, with respondents reporting an inability to pay for basic food supplies or cover their heating and electricity expenses.
Since the start of the war on October 7th, 2023, the IFCJ has been working closely with elderly Israelis evacuated from their homes. Among those the organization has helped is 93-year-old Ella Lopatin, a Holocaust survivor who lived in Kiryat Shemona with her daughter before being evacuated to Jerusalem.
“The situation in the north remains very difficult as our home feels like a ghost town that has been taken over by rats and vermin,” Lopatin said.
“It’s nice to have been able to be in Jerusalem, but this isn’t our home, and we aren’t able to afford many of the costs associated with living in a different and larger space … Staying warm in Jerusalem is very different than up north because in addition to the cold outside, I live with the sense of being away from home and the loneliness that comes with it.”
Lopatin, like many other evacuees, is receiving monetary support for food, supplies, and heating appliances from the organization.
The Fellowship provides assistance for more than two million people annually across Israel and the Diaspora; since October 7, 2023, the organization has contributed more $157 million dollars towards civil defense and security initiatives.
