Cities across Israel have taken measures to prepare for Byron, but Palestinian citizens there have no resources.
Israel is bracing itself for heavy downpours and flash floods that Storm Byron is forecast to produce, especially in the coastal areas.
The Israel Meteorological Service said on Thursday that rain is likely to cover cities from northern Israel to the Negev in the south, with floods possible in low-lying cities. Up to 150mm (5.9 inches) of rain is estimated in some coastal areas, with wind gusts of up to 90km/h (56mph).
The Israeli army chief, Eyal Zamir, issued safety guidelines for the military, cancelling all leave until 6am on Friday, prohibiting all outdoor training activities and limiting soldiers to “operational” and “essential” activities.
Israel has been on high alert. Cities across the country have taken measures to prepare for the storm, reinforcing emergency teams and opening shelters in case they are needed.
Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen assessed the situation with various government bodies to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply during the storm.
In contrast, unrecognised Bedouin communities in southern Israel are bracing for disaster, hoping for a miracle. Close to 30,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel live in those communities without any basic services, including electricity, water, or infrastructure. Many of the homes and buildings in these communities are under demolition orders. They will face the brunt of the storm without recourse for help from Israeli authorities.
‘Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people’
Recognised non-Jewish towns in the Negev have a tense relationship with the state. On Wednesday, Omar al-Asam, head of the Tal al-Sabe Council, announced a strike to protest against the police blocking off the town’s only entrance and assaulting one of the residents.
“The police’s racist and aggressive conduct is unacceptable, and it goes to show the police’s racist attitude towards Arab citizens across the country, especially in the Negev,” al-Asam told local media.
This tension is a mainstay in Israel’s relationship with its non-Jewish citizens. In 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel is not a state of all its citizens.”
“According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it,” Netanyahu wrote on Instagram in response to criticism from Israeli actor Rotem Sela.
This attitude is part of Israel’s institutional discrimination against non-Jewish citizens, amounting to apartheid according to experts and human rights organisations. In the past two years, right-wing politicians have advocated for the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel or conditioning nationality on loyalty. Some have repeatedly attempted to outlaw non-Jewish parties and expel members of Knesset, the Israeli parliament, most recently in June 2025.
Byron poses ‘lot of challenges’
Meanwhile, the occupied West Bank also faces serious challenges from the storm.
Youssef Abu Saadah, the head of the meteorological service in Palestine, told Al Jazeera, “The expected rain from Storm Byron is more than a third of the average yearly rainfall. This poses a lot of challenges.”
He clarified that flood warnings in the Negev are partly because of the downstream from the Hebron hills in the West Bank.
Since the start of the occupation in 1967, Israel has barred Palestinians in the West Bank from collecting rainwater. This means that much of the downpours in the Hebron area will find their way to the Negev.
