A year after the Israeli and U.S. strike on Iran known as Operation "Am KeLavi," the home front damage from Iranian ballistic missile fire is still being felt across Israel. The operation lasted 12 days, yet officials say the destruction in Israel was more severe than in the longer Operation "Shagat Haari." Many buildings are still under repair, some are being rebuilt from scratch, and the process is expected to take years.
According to Tax Authority data provided to Calcalist, 39,715 building-damage claims have been filed with the compensation fund, including about 2,800 long-term rehabilitation cases. Tel Aviv tops the list with 10,160 claims, followed by Ramat Gan with 6,654, Rehovot with 3,969, Bat Yam with 3,254, and Petah Tikva with 3,055. The city of Tel Aviv says 336 apartments now receive property-tax exemptions because they are unfit for habitation, compared with 193 after "Shagat Haari." In 3,329 cases, substitute rent has already been paid, totaling 187.2 million shekels. For direct damage, mainly to apartment contents, 50,174 claims have been submitted, and 3.7 billion shekels has been paid so far.
Tel Aviv was the hardest-hit city overall. The municipality says 56 buildings were declared dangerous, and 24 of those orders remain in force. Two preserved buildings on Pines Street, numbers 4 and 6, were marked for demolition and permit applications have already been filed. The damaged Davinci Tower is considered one of the most complex cases in the country, alongside Ramat Gan’s Orit Tower. The tower, occupied for only about a year and a half before the strike, requires replacement of its expensive curtain walls. A person involved in the rehabilitation said it took a long time to determine the work method, and reoccupation is now expected only in 2028. Tax officials recently estimated repairs to Davinci and Orit at about 1 billion shekels, roughly 500 million shekels each.
In Ramat Gan, five buildings on Tirza Street were demolished after demolition orders, and new construction plans are now moving through approval. Six additional buildings received orders to repair blast damage. Efrati Medafis was chosen to manage the rehabilitation of Orit Tower, and company owner Yoni Efrati said work is already underway with Delya Group in coordination with the Tax Authority. He said the project will take about two years and that the main challenge is replacing the tower’s external aluminum cladding. He added that the final cost will likely be lower than the Tax Authority’s estimate.
Bat Yam has 481 families still out of their homes, the highest number among the affected cities. After the strikes, 52 buildings were declared dangerous, three of those orders were later canceled, and 11 buildings have been designated for demolition, including two already torn down by the city. In Petah Tikva, the major case is the Asirei Tzion Street complex, where four towers and a shared community building were hit. Two inner towers, 17 and 19, were directly struck and 160 families remain in temporary housing, while the outer towers have already been repaired and residents returned. Officials expect the work there to finish within about six months. In Beersheba, where four missile impact sites were recorded, 111 buildings were damaged and seven were declared dangerous; one building on Yohanna Street 17 has been demolished. Most repair work is already under way or completed, and all work is expected to end by the end of 2026, though about 95 residents are still displaced, 59 of whom are expected to return within two weeks and 36 only in about three years.
