Israel's state comptroller says government failing on home front

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman accused the government on Sunday of failing on the home front.

The State Comptroller in Israel is responsible for monitoring the government's actions and policies and is affiliated with the Knesset, or parliament.

Engelman spoke with residents who were evacuated from their homes in the south and north and are staying in hotels in the city of Tiberias, according to the Maariv newspaper.

He said there is no justification for not having an economic plan and a coordinator to manage the crisis in the fourth week of the war.

According to the newspaper, Engelman has directed unusually harsh criticism toward the government over its behavior since the outbreak of the war.

He said the evacuation of thousands of residents of southern and northern communities from their homes is a major failure and defect and there is no excuse that can justify it.

Since the outbreak of the war with Palestinian factions in Gaza, Israeli authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of settlements adjacent to Gaza in the south and adjacent to southern Lebanon in the north.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat