Recently, the annual Bituach Leumi report on poverty was released, painting a worrisome picture regarding poverty in Israel. The report addressed 2013, documenting there are over 1.6 million poor Israelis, including over 750,000 children.

Even more frightening is the report released by the Latet (To Give) tzedaka organization, which presents a far more worrisome picture. The comprehensive report which includes different parameters such as housing, education, health and nutrition documents there are 932,000. This startling number means one in every three children is hungry! One quarter of this children report they go to bed hungry many nights a month and half of them explain they do not bring lunch to school for their simply is no food at home.

Latet’s report coincides with electioneering for the 20th Knesset, a well-timed effort as polls show for Israelis, clearly the cost of living is their major issue when deciding which party to vote four.

The Latet report addresses 2014, documenting twice as many hungry senior citizens and the alarming increase in the number of children compelled to abandon their lives and go out and earn money to support their families. A growing number of elderly do not fill their prescription medications, preferring to use their limited resources for buying food instead.

The official Bituach Leumi report is based on a family’s income while Latet uses its wealth of experience and addresses expenses that paint a more realistic picture of the situation. Latet factors in costs including one’s apartment, education, health costs and food. In addition, 36% of the poor children are compelled to work to generate additional income for the family and 27% have abandoned school to do so and 50% do not have books or other school supplies for their family cannot afford them.

The report cites an increase of 45% in the number of children compelled to move into a dormitory setting because there simply is no food at home.

Over 72% of the poor at times do not fill prescriptions for medications or go to a doctor because they cannot afford the copay. As a result, many more of the nation’s poor are not as well as those who can afford medical care and many of the poor with chronic medical issues seem to be deteriorating at a result.

53% of the poor are hypertensive as compared to 15% of the general population and 39% are diabetic, about four times the general population. In 2014, the number of senior citizens who do not have sufficient food has doubled and 55% of the senior citizens do not eat nutritious meals as compared to 23% in 2013.

With winter upon us the report states 68% of the poor do not use heating and 10% of the poor sleep on streets or a shelter at least once a year.

Latet has sounded the alarm before Rosh Hashanah and Pesach, telling government officials that it is a NGO and it does not have the funds to meet the growing demand. Latet officials announced last year that many of the people who in the past donated money to the organization, this year find themselves on line seeking food handouts.

The Latest report is based on three studies. The first is a probe of the economic situation of 648 families supported by the organization. The second involves 692 families, probing their economic status relative to government assistance and the third included 100 respondents, all directors of charitable food organizations.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)