KKL-JNF Invests Over NIS 1.1 Billion in Israel’s North and South

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has announced investment plans totaling more than NIS 1.1 billion to strengthen communities across Israel’s north and south. The funding will help rebuild war-affected areas while encouraging long-term population growth.

On Wednesday, KKL-JNF announced that it will invest NIS 284 million in southern Israel, including more than NIS 110 million for communities near the Gaza border. The announcement comes shortly after KKL-JNF approved a NIS 859 million, three-year investment plan for northern Israel, which the organization described as the largest it has ever advanced for the region.

The northern plan stretches from the Lower Galilee and communities surrounding the Sea of Galilee to the Golan Heights and towns along the Lebanese border. It includes NIS 362 million in direct support for local authorities to fund infrastructure and public development projects.

Another NIS 150 million will fund the purchase of apartments that will be rented at reduced prices to teachers and educators. The initiative is intended to attract young families while strengthening schools in northern communities. KKL-JNF also allocated NIS 120 million to encourage organized groups to settle in the north. The program aims to bring approximately 1,200 new residents to the region within three years.

That program includes NIS 30 million for Kiryat Shmona and another NIS 30 million for communities along the northern border and in the Golan Heights. KKL-JNF also approved funding for new educational centers in Nahariya, Afula, Karmiel and Tiberias, as well as direct assistance for communities close to the Lebanese border.

KKL-JNF Chairman Eyal Ostrinsky said the organization sees the north as a major national priority, with investments focused on housing, settlement, education, culture, infrastructure and environmental development.

In the south, the new funding focuses heavily on communities still rebuilding from Hamas’s October 7 attack and the war that followed. Additional funds will support development in the Western Negev, Lachish, the Beersheba area and the Arava.

Kibbutzim Be’eri and Kfar Aza will each receive NIS 20 million over three years for rehabilitation and commemoration. Kfar Aza’s allocation includes NIS 15 million for October 7 memorial projects. The decision follows a dispute with the Heritage Ministry, which had offered Kfar Aza NIS 2 million while seeking involvement and veto authority over the nature of the memorial. KKL-JNF said its agreement will allow residents to determine how they tell the community’s story and honor those murdered and those who fell defending the kibbutz.

Kibbutz Holit will receive NIS 5 million for memorial initiatives. KKL-JNF also approved an additional NIS 12 million to help Kibbutz Beit Nir prepare for 46 families from Nir Oz who have decided not to return to their former community.

Agriculture will also receive significant support. KKL-JNF allocated NIS 40 million for preparing agricultural land, including NIS 30 million to develop approximately 6,700 dunams in the Eshkol Regional Council. Another NIS 15 million will support organized groups of pre-military academy graduates moving to rural communities in southern Israel.

Ostrinsky described the southern program as part of a broader effort to treat the entire region as a national development priority. He said KKL-JNF aims to create conditions for communities not only to recover from the war but to grow.

Together, the two plans represent more than NIS 1.14 billion in investment, linking postwar recovery with longer-term efforts to strengthen communities along Israel’s northern and southern borders.