חוק תוספות לתגמולים ולהטבות לבני משפחה של חטופים ונעדרים (תיקוני חקיקה), התשפ"ה-2025Law for Supplements to Benefits and Advantages for Family Members of Abductees and Missing Persons (legislative amendments), 2025 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

This Law provides that parents, spouses, siblings and children of a released hostage (hereinafter - family members) shall be entitled, for three years from the date of the hostage's release, to benefits relating to occupational rehabilitation and medical benefits, at the highest value given to a bereaved parent under the Families of Soldiers Fallen in the Campaign Law, as well as to assistance in funding studies or vocational training, in an amount not exceeding the tuition fee for a first degree as determined by the Council for Higher Education, even if the studies are not of the type available to a family member under the Families of Soldiers Fallen in the Campaign Law. In addition, such family members shall be entitled, for four years from the date of release, to psycho-social benefits. Benefits in these areas received by a family member during the period the released hostage was held captive shall be offset against the same benefit given under this Law. These benefits shall also apply to family members of a person who was a hostage on 7 October 2023 and whose body was returned, and these too shall be offset against the benefits received by the family member during the period the hostage was held captive or against entitlements under the Families of Soldiers Fallen in the Campaign Law. In addition, it is provided that the exceptions committee for benefits established under the Families of Soldiers Fallen in the Campaign Law may determine an increase in the amounts of the benefits, and may approve, in exceptional and rare cases that could not have been anticipated, funding of services and reimbursement of expenses for additional needs of family members in an amount not exceeding approximately 65,000 shekels, if they arise from and are connected to the abduction and are intended for the rehabilitation of the benefit applicant. This Law also amends the Law on Funding Expenses for Families of Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, and establishes an addition of 13,500 shekels to the quarterly grant paid to a parent of a hostage if the parent does not have a spouse who is also a parent of the hostage, that is, when the hostage's parents are divorced or separated. This addition shall be given only if the portion of the grant to which the parent was entitled before the addition was less than 45,000 shekels, for example when, in addition to the separated parents, the hostage has a spouse entitled to part of the same grant. An addition of 3,000 shekels was also established for the quarterly grant paid to siblings and children of hostages who have reached the age of 18, and if the sibling or child is himself a parent of a child, the addition amount shall be 4,500 shekels. The said additions to the grants shall be paid retroactively from 7 October 2023. A person who was entitled to a quarterly grant prior to the hostage's release shall be entitled, on a one-time basis, to a grant addition for the purpose of reorganization, the amount of which varies according to the date on which the hostage was released during the quarter. Such a reorganization grant shall also be given to a child, sibling, who has reached the age of 18, of a person who was a hostage on 7 October 2023 and whose body was returned, according to the date of burial.

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