More than one-quarter of households in Israel are now experiencing food insecurity, driven by the economic and social fallout of the two-year genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli organization found Monday.
Latet, a humanitarian organization founded in 1996 to combat poverty and food insecurity, said in its annual report that 26.9% of Israeli families (about 867,256 households) face food insecurity, marking an unprecedented 27.5% increase compared with last year.
The report said that 37.5% of Israeli children, roughly 1.18 million, also face food insecurity, highlighting what it called a severe and growing crisis inside Israeli society.
Latet said one-quarter of aid recipients are what it described as the "new poor" -- people who only became dependent on food assistance in the past two years following the start of the Gaza war.
"The ongoing war and the wave of rising prices have created a social emergency," the report said, noting a deep erosion in both food and economic security for hundreds of thousands of households.
The sharp rise in hunger, with 10% of families now experiencing severe food insecurity, is primarily driven by the deteriorating conditions of these newly affected households, meaning hardship is expanding and reaching the lower middle class, the report added.
The crisis is also reflected in a surge in requests for assistance from civil organizations, coupled with a drop in donations as resources are redirected to war-related needs, the report said.
According to Latet, the minimum cost of living rose this year by 5.5% per individual and 5.6% per family compared with 2024.
The minimum income needed for a person to live with dignity in Israel is now 5,589 shekels ($1,733) per month and 14,139 shekels ($4,384) for a family of four, it said.
Annual spending increased by an average of 3,500 shekels ($1,085) per person and 9,000 shekels ($2,791) per family.
The report said 59.6% of aid recipients reported a deterioration in their financial situation over the past year, compared with 36.5% of the general population.
About 33.1% of aid recipients had their bank accounts frozen or seized, a rate three times higher than the general population.
Aid recipients spend an average of 12,734 shekels ($3,949) per month - nearly double their average net monthly income of 6,593 shekels ($2,045), according to the report.
Latet added that about 60% of government aid beneficiaries said their financial situation worsened this year, noting that their monthly expenses have nearly doubled compared with previous periods.
The report also found that 67% of these families were unable to provide basic school supplies for their children, including textbooks, while 84% said they had to prevent their children from participating in school activities and trips due to cost.
Beyond economic strain, 61.9% of aid recipients described their psychological state as "not good," and 42.4% said their mental health deteriorated since Oct. 8, 2023, the report said.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10, halting two years of Israeli attacks that have killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 171,000 others since October 2023.
