Cabinet to Discuss Plan to Boost Assistance to Residents of the South in the
Wake of Operation Pillar of Defense

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

The Cabinet, at its weekly meeting tomorrow (Sunday, 23 December 2012), will
discuss approval of a plan to boost assistance to residents of the south in
the wake of Operation Pillar of Defense.

The plan, in which NIS 9.5 million is expected to be invested, includes –
inter alia – solutions for the needs of special populations, the elderly and
immigrants. This is in addition to current social budgets for residents of
the south.

The assistance program was formulated by the team of director-generals that
was appointed at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately
after the Operation in order to provide an effective and rapid response to
the needs of the residents of the south. The plan was formulated by the
aforesaid team chaired by Prime Minister's Office Director-General Harel
Locker, with the participation of the director-generals of the Social
Welfare and Social Services, Education, Health, Immigrant Absorption, Negev
and Galilee Development and Finance ministries.