In short
Your Israeli home policy almost certainly does not cover war damage, and that is by design rather than by oversight. The state covers it instead, through the Compensation Fund inside the Tax Authority. The practical consequences are deadlines that run from the day of the damage, a claim route that has nothing to do with your insurer, and a rule that lets a renter claim for their own belongings.
If you arrived from the US, the UK, Canada or Australia, you are used to one bundled homeowners policy that covers more or less everything that can happen to the building and what is in it. Israel does not work that way twice over. It splits the cover into ביטוח מבנה (bituach mivne) and ביטוח תכולה (bituach tochol), and then it carves war and hostile-action damage out of both.
Why your policy excludes it
Israeli home policies are built on a standard policy fixed in regulations, and that standard policy does not include cover for war damage or hostile-action damage. The regulator states it plainly: home insurance in Israel is based on a פוליסה תקנית (polisa tiknit) set in regulations which does not include war or hostile-action cover. Motor policies are the same. Insurers are also under no obligation to sell war cover at all.
This matters for a newcomer in a specific way: there is no better policy to shop for. Reading your exclusions more carefully, or paying more, does not generally solve this. The cover you are looking for is not sold by the insurance market at all.
What replaces it
The Property Tax and Compensation Fund Law of 1961 created a state scheme, run by the Compensation Fund inside the Israel Tax Authority. Its statutory definition of war damage is damage to the body of an asset caused by war operations of an enemy's regular forces, by other hostile action against Israel, or by IDF war operations.
Household items are handled on a separate track from buildings, because the Law's definition of an asset does not include them. A later amendment empowers the Finance Minister, with Knesset Finance Committee approval, to set compensation for household items in a person's home. That is why the building route and the contents route behave differently, and why the free household-items cover is framed by residence rather than by buying anything: the household items of every resident, in their home, are covered against war damage with no premium.
The two deadlines, and what they run from
Both clocks start on the day of the damage
Notice of damage: within two weeks. Claim for compensation: within three months. Both are counted from the day the damage occurred, not from the day you returned home, noticed it, or got through to someone on the phone.
These sit in section 36א of the Law, and both the Tax Authority's English and Hebrew guidance state them the same way. In practice, treat three months as an outer limit rather than a target. Evidence decays, and an appraiser has to be able to see what happened.
What not to do first
The instinct after damage is to clear up and start repairing. Here that can cost you the claim. The Fund's guidance is to avoid moving equipment, inventory or objects out of the home or business without first coordinating with a Fund appraiser, and not to repair before an appraiser has inspected. Cracked glass is the stated exception and may be cleared before the teams arrive.
Who can actually claim
The claim service is for citizens or residents of Israel whose property was damaged by hostilities or war, and for companies. The statutory test for who counts as the damaged party is broader than "the person on the deed": it is the property owner, or a person who proves they bear the expenses of restoring the property, or the owner of damaged contents, including a tenant.
That last clause is the single most useful line here for a recent arrival, because a large share of olim rent for the first several years. Your landlord's position on the building does not determine yours on your own belongings.
One thing this page will not tell you
Whether a particular immigration status on its own establishes eligibility is not something the published guidance addresses, and we are not going to infer it. The tests that are published are citizenship or residency, bearing restoration costs, and ownership of the damaged contents. If your status is unusual, that is a question for the Fund directly rather than for an article.
What is not covered: loss of use
Indirect damage, meaning lost or prevented profit, is defined in the statute as arising from war damage within a frontline locality, or from being unable to use assets located within one. The geographic limit is inside the definition itself. So for most households outside those areas there is no general benefit for being unable to live in your home, even though the physical damage itself may well be compensable.
If the answer is no
Decisions of the Compensation Fund on both direct and indirect damage carry an objection route. If you are told your claim is rejected or valued lower than you expected, that is a decision you can contest, not the end of the matter. Note the date you were notified, because appeal routes in Israeli administrative practice are usually time-bound.
What to do this week
- Check whether your home policy carries any war or hostile-action extension at all. Most do not, and knowing that now is better than discovering it later.
- Note the two deadlines somewhere you will find them under stress: two weeks to notify, three months to claim, both from the day of the damage.
- If you rent, understand that your contents claim is yours to make, and does not depend on your landlord acting.
- Photograph valuable contents now, while nothing has happened. An appraiser assesses what is in front of them; your own before-evidence is what fills the gap.
Frequently asked questions
Israeli home and motor policies are built on a standard policy set in regulations, and that standard policy excludes war and hostile-action damage. The state Compensation Fund inside the Israel Tax Authority covers it instead, under the Property Tax and Compensation Fund Law of 1961. Notice of damage is due within two weeks of the day it occurred and the claim within three months, and a tenant may claim for their own contents.
Generally no, and this is the part newcomers most often get wrong. The exclusion is written into the standard policy fixed in regulations rather than chosen by an individual insurer, and the regulator states explicitly that insurance companies are not obliged to sell cover for war and hostile-action damage. Shopping for a better policy does not solve this, because the cover is not a normal market product. The state scheme is the answer the system intends you to use.
You can claim for your own contents. The statutory definition of the damaged party is the property owner, or a person who proves they bear the expenses of restoring the property, or the owner of damaged contents, explicitly including a tenant. Your claim for your belongings does not depend on your landlord doing anything about the building. That is a meaningful point for olim specifically, since many rent for their first several years in Israel.
Notice of damage is due within two weeks, and the claim for compensation within three months. Both run from the day the damage occurred, not from the day you got home, noticed it, or reached someone by phone. Treat three months as an outer limit rather than a target: evidence decays and an appraiser has to be able to see what happened.
Not without coordinating first. The Fund asks that you avoid moving equipment, inventory or objects out of the home or business without prior coordination with its appraiser, and that you do not repair before an appraiser has inspected. Cracked glass is the stated exception and may be cleared before the teams arrive. Repairing first is one of the few ways to weaken an otherwise valid claim.
Usually not. Indirect damage, meaning lost or prevented profit, is defined in the statute as arising from war damage within a frontline locality, or from being unable to use assets located within one. The geographic limit sits inside the definition itself, so for most households elsewhere there is no general loss-of-use benefit, even where the physical damage is compensable.
The basic cover for household items is framed by residence rather than by purchase: the household items of every resident, in their home, are covered against war damage with no premium. There is also a separate voluntary route for insuring household items above the basic level, which is a deliberate choice you make rather than something that happens automatically.
That is a decision you can contest rather than the end of the matter. The Tax Authority publishes an objection route for Compensation Fund decisions on both direct and indirect damage. Note the date you were notified, because appeal routes in Israeli administrative practice are generally time-bound, and a missed window is harder to argue than a disputed valuation.