Israeli Government Unprepared to Coordinate Massive Volunteer and Donation Efforts During October 7 Conflict

The State Comptroller's report reveals a significant failure in Israel's preparedness to coordinate with volunteer organizations and donors during the October 7 conflict. Despite over 15 billion shekels worth of donations and volunteer efforts flowing into the country, the government lacked a central coordinating body responsible for managing these contributions in emergencies. Half of the 15 government ministries that engaged with donors and volunteers during the war had no designated official to maintain these crucial contacts.

The report highlights that more than 1,000 civilian initiatives, mostly new, operated independently in the first three months of the conflict, assisting over two million people with aid valued at more than 250 million shekels. Volunteer numbers surged by 41% in the initial two weeks and remained 31% above normal in subsequent months. Donations from the Jewish diaspora reached 3.39 billion shekels between October and December 2023, with total foreign donations in October nine times higher than the previous year's monthly average. Israeli households contributed approximately 2.2 billion shekels during the same period.

The financial value of volunteer work and donations in the first three months is estimated at nearly 14.8 billion shekels, including 8.56 billion shekels attributed to volunteer hours and 6.22 billion shekels in cash and in-kind donations. However, the government was ill-equipped to absorb and coordinate this influx. Two-thirds of the ministries had not mapped out their key areas needing volunteer support or identified relevant organizations before the war.

Since 2018, no government entity has been tasked with leading coordination between the government and volunteer or donor organizations during emergencies. The National Emergency Authority's resilience division, which previously held this role, was disbanded in 2018 without transferring responsibilities. Attempts to establish a multi-sector coordination framework after the war began failed. The Prime Minister's Office's multi-sector cooperation unit, created in 2008, remained under-resourced with only one or two staff members and did not conduct essential mapping or develop a digital system to facilitate efficient collaboration.

The report underscores the mismatch between the unit's minimal staffing and the vast scope of volunteer and donation activities in Israel, both in routine times and emergencies. As of July 2025, nearly two years after the conflict began, the unit still had not consolidated knowledge about the activities of donor and volunteer organizations during the war to prepare for future emergencies.