Palestinians in Israel left scrambling for safety during war with Iran

Iranian strikes exposed gaps in a system that prioritises protection of Israeli-majority communities

People take shelter in an underground parking lot under a mall in Tel Aviv, on June 21, 2025. AFP

The Iran strikes have exposed serious gaps in Israel’s shelter system, leaving many Palestinian citizens and even foreigners struggling to find protection from incoming Iranian missiles.

Activists and rights groups have said the Israeli government has not done enough to keep vulnerable communities and minorities safe by building enough safe spaces for them or ensuring that they are not being discriminatorily kept out in existing ones.

Israel attacked Iran on June 13, prompting its retaliation. Hundreds of people were killed in Iran and dozens in Israel until a ceasefire was reached on Tuesday. But with Iran and Israel's unprecedented exchange of blows, the path has been paved for future wars, with what appears to be less protection for Palestinian citizens of Israel.

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Israeli media had reported instances of denied entry to shelters in Israeli-majority communities. Some journalists accused the police of not taking action against people who have been accused of closing the doors on Palestinians, despite it being considered illegal under Israeli law, which penalises offenders with a one-year prison sentence.

Following this and other reports, Member of Knesset Ofer Cassif said he contacted the Home Front Command, responsible for the defence of civilians, to inform them of these breaches.

"This is an unacceptable, illegal, dangerous and racist phenomenon that mainly affects Arabs, foreigners and disadvantaged groups who already suffer from gaps in access and protection," he wrote on X.

"This racism must be stopped immediately and the perpetrators brought to justice."

Beyond anecdotal evidence, groups like Bimkom Planning and Human Rights said 46 per cent of Arab-Israeli households lack access to protective shelters, such as a reinforced room or communal shelter, citing figures from the Israeli State Comptroller.

In 60 per cent of Arab municipalities, there are "no public shelters whatsoever", said CEO of the Arab-Jewish Centre for Empowerment, Equality and Co-operation (AJEEC) Ilan Amit.

No shelters

Israel mandated building bomb shelters in buildings as part of its Civil Defence law of 1951. Since then, all homes, apartments and industrial buildings in areas governed by Israel have been required to have a safe room, space or shelter for people to seek safety from bombardment.

Additionally, shelters can be found in public spaces, including theatres, schools, underground parking lots, malls and hospitals. There are also community shelters to accommodate people living in different neighbourhoods.

Children sit inside a makeshift tunnel made from a truck cargo trailer buried under dirt, where they hide when a rocket siren alert sounds for a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in southern Al Naqab, Israel on June 18, 2025. Reuters

But Bimkom said building restrictions, like not issuing permits for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the government's minimal investment in urban planning and public work, have led to severe shortages in protective areas.

"The lack of protective infrastructure in Arab localities directly results from the Israeli state's long-standing discriminatory policies in urban planning and spatial development," the group said.

The National has reached out to Israeli authorities for a comment.

Palestinian civilians struggled to find a place for shelter and safety in several areas.

In Tamra, an Arab-majority town, four people were killed in Iranian strikes. Residents there had to rely on their own efforts to build shelters. The town's mayor Musa Abu Rumi said Tamra has no shelters put in place by the government. Instead, he had opened schools to people who did not feel safe sleeping at home.

The threat of bombardment has been felt before by the town's civilians – namely, last year when Hezbollah fired rockets, wounding at least two people. The lack of government action remains "unaddressed", even after the town was hit, the Israeli Democracy Institute research centre said in a report.

In fact, swathes of Arab-majority areas like Rahat – the largest Arab local authority in Israel – and home to more than 80,000 residents does not have a single public shelter, whereas the Israeli community of Ofakim nearby which has half of that population, has "several dozen" public shelters, the IDI report said.

Palestinian Bedouin

Mr Amit also called for the integration of Arab localities into the government's emergency plans, particularly in places like Al Naqab (The Negev), where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin live, many in makeshift homes and unrecognised villages.

Israeli Comptroller figures state that not all schools in Al Naqab have protective areas, and the ones that are available cannot fit all the students.

Fairuz, a Bedouin who lives in the village of Wadi Khazzan alongside approximately 100 members of her family in various makeshift homes, said the risks are very high.

For the first few days of the Iranian strikes, Fairuz said some people went to the nearest Jewish Israeli town. "They tried to merge among the people – but eventually, many of them were kicked out."

She and her family discovered a school nearby – a 10-minute drive from where she lives.

"But with getting everybody out of the house and into the school, the whole process takes about 30 minutes. If there was a strike, it would have landed by then."

Days later, she and her family devised a system.

A map showing the time needed for Fairuz, a resident of the Negev, to get to the closest shelter which is the Al Kalm Comprehensive School.

Every day after Isha (nightly) prayers, the last ones of the day, they would pack up their belongings including blankets, nappies for the babies, supplies for the women, clothes, food and other items, and head to the school for the night, when the strikes are usually fired, until the next morning.

But even that shelter has got overcrowded the more people have discovered it.

It is for this reason that Mr Amit called for the government to take more action towards all of its civilians, equally.

In an editorial published by The Times of Israel, he called on the government of Israel to see the disparity in protection "not as a Bedouin issue, or even an Arab issue, but as an Israeli issue. As a human issue."