The Welfare Ministry announced on Wednesday it would expand aid and services offered to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The state would provide refugees with temporary shelter, food and other forms of material assistance and access to medical care and education and social services.
Almost three weeks since fighting first broke out in Eastern Europe, Welfare Minister Meir Cohen said that his ministry would cooperate with civil society groups to facilitate aid for incoming refugees. Cohen also promised to add more Russian-speaking representatives at the ministry's 118 hotline.
The program is designed to provide primary emergency assistance to asylum seekers until they receive official refugee status and a work permit, or until they return to their country of origin.
The Welfare Ministry estimates that the cost of assistance will hover around NIS 1,000 ($310) per refugee, depending on the dynamic nature of the situation. The program will focus on the elderly population, children and teenagers at risk, people with disabilities, and families.
"This is our moral obligation as Jews and Israelis and we see this obligation as a great honor," Cohen said.
"I thank the prime minister [Naftali Bennett] for giving us this project. The Welfare Ministry is ready to use all the means at its disposal to help this population."