In the early days of Operation Protective Edge, representatives of the Finance Ministry approached the Center for Regional Councils and asked how much it would cost to evacuate approximately 3,000 people who live in near-Gaza communities, along the border with the Gaza Strip. These communities, mainly kibbutzim, are euphemistically called “mortar communities.” In less polite terms, they are cannon fodder for the campaign in Gaza.

Unlike towns and villages in the center of the country, which receive a 60- to 90-second warning before incoming rocket fire, these communities get just 15 seconds at best from the moment the siren goes off until a mortar shell lands. In the worst case, they barely get three seconds.

As chairman of the Center for Regional Councils, Shmuel Rifman wasted no time. He immediately ordered the creation of a team to quickly estimate the cost of evacuating the residents from the region for a period of about one month. He then presented the Finance Ministry with a document that estimated the cost at 20 million shekels (about $5.7 million).

Ostensibly, the Finance Ministry’s request seems to indicate that the government was acting responsibly and in an orderly manner, taking the impact of a drawn-out campaign into account, along with the need to ensure the safety of civilians living in immediate danger. What actually happened in Operation Protective Edge is the exact opposite. It is unclear what the fate of this document was, but regardless, the government never intended to cover the entire amount given by Rifman. Furthermore, from the first day of the fighting, when an endless barrage of mortar shells landed on kibbutzim along the border fence and turned them into a full-fledged battlefield with its own dead and wounded, Israel’s leaders simply detached themselves from the problem. Even if it never said so explicitly, the message implied in the government’s actions was that responsibility for the safety of those civilians under fire lies exclusively with those civilians themselves.