Palestinian citizens of Israel face stark shelter shortages, legal group warns
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Thu, 04/02/2026 - 08:25
Adalah calls on the Israeli government to close life-threatening gaps in provision of shelters for Palestinians
Residents survey the damage to a house following a projectile strike in the Palestinian-populated city of Kfar Qassem, Israel, on 26 March 2026 (Ilia Yefimovich/AFP)
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A leading legal rights organisation has warned of severe disparities in access to bomb shelters between Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel, raising concerns of discrimination as the country faces ongoing missile threats amidst its war on Iran and Lebanon.
In a letter to the Israeli government, Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel – said Palestinian citizens are disproportionately exposed to danger due to a lack of basic protective infrastructure.
The warning follows a government decision in March to allocate 81 million shekels (£17m) for the deployment of hundreds of mobile shelters across Israel to address what it described as “significant protection gaps”.
However, Adalah said the areas most in need – Israeli towns and villages with a Palestinian population – have historically been overlooked.
According to data cited in the letter, only 37 out of 11,775 public shelters in Israel are situated in Palestinian localities, representing just 0.3 percent of the total. A recent state comptroller’s report found that “the level of protection in the public space of Arab localities is effectively non-existent”.
The disparity is particularly stark in northern Israel. While around 56,000 residents in Jewish communities have access to 128 public shelters, a similarly sized population in nearby Palestinian-populated towns has access to just two.
The gaps extend beyond public shelters. A survey by civil society groups found that around 41 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel have no access to any protected space at all. Half lack a reinforced room in their homes, and only about nine percent live in buildings with a shared shelter.
Adalah said the consequences have been deadly. Palestinian citizens of Israel – who account for around 20 percent of its population – account for around 60 percent of civilian deaths from missile strikes in the war in northern Israel, and around 41 percent of all fatalities nationwide, the centre added.
The situation is even more acute for nomadic communities in the Negev desert. Around 165,000 people living in villages the government deems “unrecognised” have no access to shelters or basic infrastructure, leaving them fully exposed to incoming fire.
“Most of this population remains exposed to rocket threats”, the letter said, noting that only a limited number of mobile shelters have been deployed despite the scale of need.
Shelters for illegal settlements
Adalah warned that current plans risk deepening existing inequalities. Reports indicate that hundreds of the newly approved shelters could be placed in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, rather than in underserved Palestinian communities inside Israel.
The organisation urged the government to prioritise Arab localities in any allocation of protective measures and to develop a comprehensive plan to address longstanding gaps.
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It also pointed to legal obligations under Israeli and international law to ensure equal protection of life.
“The state bears a supreme obligation to protect the lives and physical integrity of its citizens,” stated a previous Israeli Supreme Court ruling, cited in the letter.
Adalah said failure to act could amount to discrimination, warning of “serious concern” that Palestinian citizens are being denied equal protection at a time of heightened risk.
Palestinian citizens of Israel are descendants of Arab residents of historic Palestine who remained in their homeland after the 1948 Nakba, during which Zionist gangs expelled around 750,000 Palestinians to create the state of Israel.
Today, this community numbers around two million people out of a total Israeli population of nearly 10 million.
Despite holding Israeli citizenship, they have faced discriminatory laws and practices for decades, including a period of military rule from 1948 to 1966.
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