Two weeks ago, the Finance Committee held a fraught discussion about compensating owners of restaurants and hospitality businesses in Sderot and the western Negev. Some representatives of the business community there presented the committee with data that indicated a general collapse if they did not receive compensation for the business they lost during recent escalations of violence.

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"Everyone is fussing and pretending as if they're doing something, but actually nothing is happening, and you can see for yourself how empty my restaurant is," said Elraz Azran, 42, the owner of the Tovale café in Sderot.

"Last Friday, there were rocket barrages. I opened up on Saturday night. My workers came in, and for hours the café was empty except for one person. It's tremendous, ongoing financial damage. I'm not complaining about the residents. They're afraid to leave their homes, with good reason. And afraid for their kids. It's not only the Color Red alerts that scare them, it's also the Iron Dome interceptions," Azran said.

Yehuda Hazan, 56, who has owned Shawarma Hazan for over 20 years, discussed his current difficulties: "It's hard to run a restaurant in a situation like this. The people of Sderot like to go out to eat. But they're afraid, with good reason."

Yair Elbaz, 46, who owns a local pizzeria, is also suffering.

"I've seen my sales drop by over 50%. Even if the [Knesset] committee approves compensation, there will be more rockets tomorrow. We don't want money, we want a permanent solution, once and for all," he said.

The owner of an event venue claimed that he had lost hundreds of thousands of shekels because of cancellations.

One business owner who preferred to remain anonymous said, "There is this impression that we, the owners of restaurants and cafes and hospitality businesses, need the government to take pity on us. Not at all."

"We live in an area of war, we're attacked every day by rockets, and our living – especially our health – isn't in a good state. So it would be appropriate for the government to do one of two things: either find a solution to the problem, politically or militarily, or compensate all the business that are failing because of the rocket attacks," he said.

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Chairman of the RCA Eran Siv explained Monday that buildings in the south of the country are inherently more vulnerable than buildings in central Israel.

"Most of the homes in the [southern] area have tiled roofs, so the damage in the case of a direct hit, or even a rocket falling nearby, is much bigger than to a building that has a concrete roof," Siv told Israel Hayom.

"A tile roof doesn't prevent or stop a rocket from entering, so the damage caused to the structure and the inside of an apartment is much greater," he explained.

The recent round of violence saw about 35 rockets and mortars land in populated areas. In some cases, the strikes caused massive damage to the surrounding buildings.

According to Siv, renovations assessed at 43,000 shekels or less can be completed by any contractor, whereas more expensive repairs require property owners to hire a contractor registered with the Construction and Housing Ministry. In cases where a rocket strike caused a fire, the renovation is more costly.

Siv laid out the options for property owners whose assets were damaged by the violence: "The first step is for a property tax adjuster to assess the damage. Then, it is repaired. In cases of relatively minor damage, the owner can hire a contractor and then file a request for reimbursement with the property tax authorities, but for large-scale work, the construction companies do all the work without 'civilians' having to lay out a penny."

Siv also argues that the government must allow any property owner whose home was damaged in the attacks to rebuild to a higher safety standard and that the government must shoulder all the costs.

"I'm calling on the prime minister and the cabinet to consider the families' difficult situation and allow them to go back to a stronger, better-defended home and not have to make do with an approval for the minimum renovation necessary to restore the building to its former state," he said.

As of Monday afternoon, the Israel Tax Authority – whose property tax division handles requests for compensation for damage caused by war – had received 291 requests to cover the cost of repairs to buildings in southern Israel. The largest number of requests were for buildings in Ashkelon (142), followed by Ashdod (79), Sderot (24) and Kiryat Gat (20).

In addition, 137 requests were filed for compensation for damages to vehicles and seven requests were filed for compensation for damage to farm crops. The ITA approved 70% of the requests for compensation and expects the total number of requests to reach 600.

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