(haipo) - As the war with Iran progresses and continues, a grim picture is becoming clearer: Haifa is in the line of fire. The municipality and the state are having difficulty protecting all of its residents. Missiles are falling on the city, alarms are sounding every day, and tens of thousands of residents find themselves exposed, without shelter or medical assistance. This reality is not only physically dangerous, but also creates a sense of abandonment, fear, and deep frustration.
Missiles are falling in the city and there is no response for any resident.
Haifa is a direct target of Iran, and the missiles landing in the city cause enormous damage to people and property. The Home Front Command repeatedly emphasizes the importance of entering a protected area during an alarm, but what are tens of thousands of residents in the city who do not have a military base or an available shelter supposed to do?
Marcel in a complaint about the shelter in the Bat Galim neighborhood (Photo: Aki Flexer)
Basic right: to life and security
Anyone who remembers citizenship classes will surely remember the most basic right of every person: the right to life and security. This is a natural right of every citizen, according to which the state has a duty to protect it. The state, through the government and local authorities, is the only body that can offer effective protection to residents in times of emergency. When there is no protected space, the state and the municipality have a duty to provide a solution – this article examines whether this is indeed the case.
Haifa Municipality is responding, but the gaps on the ground are large
There is no doubt that there are dedicated city workers working hard, day and night, to operate and maintain the public shelters, but it is a nearly impossible task. The city is not built for this kind of war, and many parts of it consist of old, unprotected buildings. Many residents are forced to deal with this reality alone.
The Unprotected Space: Yulia Schwartz from New Rome
"I live at the entrance to the new Romma, and there are no protected spaces on my entire street," says Yulia Schwatz. "The apartments here are more than 70 years old, there are no shelters or evacuation centers. Only those who have nowhere to go are left. Everyone else fled to places with protection." Schwatz tells of a shocking experience when she tried to use a shelter at a nearby school: "The toilets didn't work, there was an unbearable smell, the place was filthy. They told me to bring water and a mattress and prepare the place myself. How can you do that with five minutes' notice?"
Locked shelter in the sports hall: When the municipality disappears at the moment of truth
When she realized that the school shelter was irrelevant, Schwartz tried to get to the nearby sports hall: "There are protected spaces there, but they are locked. It doesn't make sense for me to pay property taxes and in an emergency I have nowhere to find shelter."
The municipality's response to inquiries from residents in Romema
The Haifa Municipality said it has mapped all the shelters in the city and published a map for the benefit of residents. The shelters provide shelter only, and residents are asked to bring basic equipment for their stay. "Please maintain order and cleanliness - they are for your benefit," they added.
An absurd reality in the Hadar neighborhood: Daria Ruth fights for asylum
Daria Ruth, who immigrated from Russia about three years ago, describes a difficult reality on Yosef Street: "We don't have any shelter in the building. At first, there was half an hour between the warning and the alarm, and then I ran to the Carmelit station on Masada Street, but it's far away. I tried to get to the shelter on Yosef Street, but the place was packed to the brim. I stood outside the shelter, the door to the shelter couldn't be closed because of the number of residents who come there, with dozens of other people - and I burst into tears."
Madatech: Is a protected space dependent on the guard's decision?
The alternative solution – the Science and Technology Museum – is across the street, but it is a private building. Daria and her neighbors run there every time there is an alarm, but they encounter guards who refuse to let them in. "Some guards let us in, and some guards don't. It's roulette. No one from the municipality comes to see what it looks like, I pay taxes and property taxes – so at least in a war give me basic protection."
Daria explains that in order to get to Madatech, she and her neighbors have to run and cross the road. "It's not an easy task, because as soon as there's an alert, whoever is in the car steps on the gas and doesn't look, because they also know they have 5 minutes to find a protected space until the alarms go off. We really take a risk when we cross the road, and then discover a guard who won't let us enter Madatech. At the same time, my complaints are directed at the municipality, Madatech is a private place, and they really don't owe us anything and for the most part they let us in. What's crazy is the uncertainty."
It should be noted that while in the first days of the war the residents did not know whether they would be able to enter the public shelter on the street or whether they would be allowed to enter the Medatech, the residents on the street report improved treatment from the guards at the Medatech, who understand the residents' hysteria, especially in light of what happened this morning, Sunday, 22/06/2025, in the Hadar neighborhood.
The municipality's response to the events in Hadar
The municipality said that all approved shelters have been opened, including shelters at Carmelit stations, schools and parking lots. But Daria does not feel protected: "I am not asking for much - just to be told where to hide safely when missiles are flying."
Kiryat Eliezer: Inaccessible and crowded shelters
A resident of Kiryat Eliezer, Vered Hanin, says: "I don't have a shelter. I run with my child to a public shelter on Tzahal Street. But there are so many people there – it's impossible to breathe. I tried to go to the nearby Mihaa kindergarten, which is a municipal building with a shelter, and I asked to go in there during the alarms. They refused."
When a protected space becomes a privilege
"They told me there's no shelter, but I know there is! There may be expensive equipment, but this is war. I just want my child and I to be able to stand safely for a few minutes during an alarm. There's not a shred of mutual guarantee here. The municipality constantly responds according to the map, but they don't understand the reality on the ground."
The municipality's response to the events in Kiryat Eliezer
The Haifa Municipality said that when the fighting began, all approved shelters in the city were opened, and additional shelters were also prepared. In the Tzahal Street area, shelters are open at the Reut and Ofer schools, and at Yoav and Tzahal 51 streets.
Difficult questions about state and municipal responsibility
Are the state and the municipality fulfilling their duty to protect their residents?
According to the stories before us, the answer is not unequivocal. There are dedicated workers, but without budgets and without a systemic vision, it is impossible to guarantee equal protection. In the meantime, tens of thousands of Haifa residents, mainly in old and poor areas, are exposed to harm without any real solution.
The gap between the guidelines and the reality on the ground
The municipality's website has instructions, maps, and good communication, but in practice - some of the doors are locked, the shelters are crowded, and public spaces are closed to residents.
The call for solidarity and mutual guarantee
This war is unlike any other, and emphasizes more than ever the need for a community and institutional safety net. The right to life and security is not a recommendation – it is a legal and moral obligation. The time has come for every resident of the city, without exception, to feel that they have a place to hide and protect themselves – even if they live in an old apartment in Romema, Hadar or Kiryat Eliezer.
We have a government that went to war when the residents, we, are not protected, there are not enough interceptors, and in the meeting where the decision to go to war was made, there was talk that this could cost lives. It was estimated that 4000 people.
But the survival of the government is more important.
Mr. Netanyahu takes upon himself the achievements of the IDF, which he slandered.
The 'privileged' pilots protected us.
The government is still defending itself.
And the municipality… apparently incompetent. It knows how to collect high property taxes.
As long as the Haifa Municipality and the planning authorities continue to operate in corruption, under serious suspicion of bribery - the procedures for approving TAMA 38, as well as other procedures, will continue to be conducted in the dark, without sunlight, while regulating construction monsters and thwarting opponents - causing a serious failure of transportation and infrastructure - corruption reigns supreme - and then there is not enough protection, not enough police, not enough protection for the public, no reasonable projects for construction clearance, urban renewal, especially projects of severe overcrowding, poor quality of apartments, slum neighborhoods, endless delays in approving projects and the public loses out - and there are those who pocket all the wealth in the world - until when will corruption reign supreme and the public will not be protected in terms of security and its rights will be trampled.
I also live on Yosef, right near the shelter at Tel Hai, but I have a problem with one leg that prevents me from taking steps. I use a rollator so there's no way I could get to Madatek even if I had known about it. I am on the ground floor so I shelter in an inside hall hoping there isn't a direct hit. Even if I made it to the shelter, I wouldn't be able to stand in the middle of the crowd. I have to sit after a minute or so. Because I am on the east side of Yosef, there are flats below to reinforce one of those to make a safe space for residents. AS it happens, one man owns this whole building and he should be required to do so. the building even though I am on the ground at street level. It should be possible
When will you realize that in this country there is no one who cares about us citizens, but only about political interests and the deep pockets.
That's why they force us to go to work during a real war and try to make it look like everything is fine now and they don't have missiles and they've calmed down. They're not.
In the meantime, the politicians receive a salary, sit at home and everything is fine, and the ordinary citizen works and works and risks his life.
There is no protection in the NWO either. We are hiding in a warehouse that is only open because it has a big hole in the wall and is full of dangerous equipment.
In addition, it is also surrounded by many gas cylinders attached to it.
Every day I wonder if it's better to stay home. I contacted the municipality at least about the equipment in the warehouse because it's heavy stuff and construction parts and furniture that we can't move. Apparently it doesn't belong to any of the tenants here and was left over from previous tenants. The municipality claimed that they don't deal with private places and we were left without an answer.
We are prodigals and left to fate. The drop has already fallen close enough to hit us too and we will all die from this equipment that will fly at us (if not from the gas or the cardboard building we live in that will collapse on us because it will obviously fall apart with every little tremor).
For years, the renewal of Kiryat Eliezer has been delayed by trifles. Kalisch failed to understand the residents' need for protection in crumbling buildings before the 52 Dangerous Buildings Order.
The municipality should have put the issue on the agenda until it was addressed. It is not possible for elderly mothers and the general public to be trapped in an unprotected, crumbling home.
And this is after more than a decade of the municipality delaying renewal in dangerous neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, the Haifa Municipality is investing millions of shekels in establishing new neighborhoods or a metro station in Neot Peres that does not justify the expense. I personally live in a new neighborhood and I have protection. For years, they talked about building protections in the city, but no action was taken on the matter, and they neglected the old neighborhoods. The municipality is not investing.
Nothing in the old, dilapidated buildings in the city.
And in the rehabilitation of shelters and the development of these neighborhoods.
And thanks to Iran for waking up Hadar for the week.
It turns out that the Haifa municipality fails again and again and discriminates between residents and between neighborhoods. Kiryat Haim and Morel have also been neglected and discriminated against for many years.
It's infuriating to think that even in war, residents don't have the right to security.
For over 30 years, warnings have been issued about the Iranian nuclear threat and for about 20 years about their missile capabilities, and nothing has been done about the lower city with all the old construction and many other parts of the city without shelter and dimensions, and nothing has been done by either the state or the municipality. There is no greater lawlessness than this.