The High Court of Justice on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by the residents of Kibbutz Nahal Oz against the government’s decision to end state funding for the temporary housing they have been living in since the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault.

The decision to cut off state funding will effectively compel the residents of the Gaza border community to return to their homes, which many of them feel is not yet safe to do as the war continues to rage in Gaza just a few hundred meters away.

In the petition filed earlier this month, the residents argued that the sounds of war were still clearly audible from the kibbutz, and that the continuing danger — including occasional stray rounds hitting the community — impacted their sense of security and mental health in the wake of the trauma they suffered during the attack on their homes.

In light of this, they asked the court to issue a temporary stay on the government decision until the question is settled on whether an arrangement will be made for funding until the end of the war.

Some 120 kibbutz members signed the petition, among them several whose family members were killed or kidnapped during the Hamas attack.

In their decision on Tuesday, justices Daphne Barak-Erez, Ruth Ronen, and Yechiel Kasher explained that they were rejecting the petition because the matter was “a clear policy issue” within the government’s purview, and therefore was not for the court to intervene in.

They however acknowledged the experiences........

© The Times of Israel