The Jewish Agency will be offering loans of up to 100,000 shekels ($28,000) to businesses in Gaza-vicinity communities that have suffered a financial blow over the past few months of rocket attacks and arson terrorism emanating from the Gaza Strip, Israel Hayom has learned.
The assistance, earmarked for small and medium-sized businesses whose activity has been significantly hampered by terrorism from Gaza, is being disbursed through the Jewish Agency's Loan Funds Initiative.
The money comes from a special donation by the Ness Fund, which supports the development of the Negev Desert. The Ness Fund is a project of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
The loans are designed to be provided on favorable terms and processed quickly.
In related news, a three-day expo of businesses from the parts of southern Israel that border Gaza opened at Tel Aviv Port on Tuesday under the slogan "Otef BeKef" ("Fun in the Periphery").
Sponsored by the Economy and Industry Ministry, the expo is hosting some 60 Gaza-adjacent businesses that will be selling fresh produce and arts and crafts, with a background of live music and art activities.
This is not the first time that an expo of this type has been put on to bring customers to businesses from southern Israel and the western Negev at times when violence from Gaza is particularly heavy. Similar events were held in 2008, 2009, and during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
The Economy and Industry Ministry decided to hold this week's event in response to an Israel Hayom article that ran two weeks ago in which business owners in Gaza-adjacent communities discussed the financial havoc the past few months of violence on the Gaza border had wreaked on their livelihoods.
