As Iran’s retaliatory strikes continue across Israel following Tel Aviv’s unprovoked attacks on Tehran, a stark and painful reality emerges: Palestinian citizens of Israel are largely left to fend for themselves amid the bombardment.
The country’s defence infrastructure — from bomb shelters to the Iron Dome missile defence system — has reportedly been operating under a discriminatory logic that prioritises Jewish lives while devaluing those of Palestinians.
Areas where Palestinians live in Israel, particularly in the Naqab (Negev) region, are frequently designated as “open areas”, where Iron Dome interceptors deliberately allow missiles to fall or detonate interceptors overhead, showering civilians with deadly shrapnel, according to The New Arab report.
In some places, shelters simply do not exist; in others, one shelter—often located in a school or nursery—is expected to serve thousands.
On Saturday, four Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in the town of Tamra, located about 25 kilometres east of Haifa, when an Iranian missile unexpectedly struck their residential building.
Residents told news agencies that when the Israeli government instructed all citizens to seek protected areas as missile sirens sounded, Palestinians in Tamra had no choice but to shelter in place or gather in family homes due to the absence of public shelters and safe rooms.
Prior to the strikes, Tamra residents had repeatedly complained about the lack of bomb shelters, noting that almost no homes were equipped with a safe room, despite such facilities being mandatory for all new constructions built after 1991.
The disparity is striking: while Tamra, with over 35,000 residents, has no public shelters, the nearby Jewish settlement of Mitzpe Aviv boasts at least 13 shelters for just 1,100 people, local residents say.
There has also been reports of Israelis shutting doors of bomb shelters on Palestinian citizens of Israel, when missiles began raining down.
Chronic neglect and structural inequality
The discriminatory nature of Israel’s protective infrastructure is well documented.
A 2018 State Comptroller’s report found that 60 of 71 municipalities with Palestinian citizens of Israel lacked public shelters. Tamra, home to over 35,000 residents, is one of them.
The situation is exacerbated by housing policies that systematically marginalise Palestinians in Israel.
At-home safe rooms, known as “Mamad” in Hebrew, are considered less effective than larger public shelters but are still scarce in those towns where Palestinians reside. Israeli law prohibits safe rooms in houses built without permits—a common issue in Palestinian municipalities where discriminatory policies make obtaining construction permits nearly impossible.
As a result, many Palestinian families live without access to legally sanctioned safe rooms.
A survey cited by The New Arab found that 87 percent of public shelters in Palestinian towns are inside schools, which are more difficult to access in emergencies, while Jewish areas have shelters in more accessible locations such as parking lots and dedicated structures.
The Israel Democracy Institute confirmed that Palestinian citizens are denied equal protection compared to Jewish citizens.
"The lack of protective infrastructure forces Arab citizens to live in constant danger, violating their basic rights to life, physical wellbeing, and equality," wrote Lital Biller, author of a report published by the Israel Democracy Institute.
A 2023 audit by the State Comptroller revealed that 60 percent of residents within nine kilometres of the northern border who lack proper protection are Palestinians.
As of 2018, only 11 out of 71 Palestinian towns surveyed had even one public shelter; some towns with populations up to 60,000 had just a single shelter.
In southern Israel, the disparity is glaring. Rahat, a town of 80,000 Palestinians near Gaza, has no public shelters, while nearby Ofakim, a Jewish town half its size, has dozens.
An estimated 120,000 Palestinian residents across 35 towns in Israel have no protection at all from missile strikes or Iron Dome debris, The New Arab reported.
