How Long Do Israelis Wait for Mental Health Care? 6.5 Months at the Health Funds
The State Comptroller recorded a 6.5 month wait at Israel’s health funds, with 90% of the 1,010 people in its own survey seeking no treatment.
A wait of 6.5 months at the health funds is what the State Comptroller of Israel recorded in a 2025 special report on mental health care following the 7 October 2023 attack and the Iron Swords war. The same audit reports that 90% of the 1,010 people in the Comptroller’s own survey sought no treatment. It also records that about 23,000 people, about 11% of roughly 210,000 evacuees, were treated within six months, and that 450 people were waiting at the Ashkelon Resilience Centre in February 2024.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 6.5 months | Wait for care at the health funds | Audit of the period after 7 October 2023, report published 2025 |
| 90% | Share of the Comptroller’s own survey of 1,010 people who sought no treatment | 2025 report |
| about 11%, about 23,000 people | Evacuees, of roughly 210,000, treated within six months | 2025 report |
| 4% | Evacuee children in Sderot treated within six months | 2025 report |
| 52%, about 1,900 people | Nova festival survivors untreated | 2025 report |
| 450 people | People waiting at the Ashkelon Resilience Centre | February 2024 |
| 50,734 treatments to 15,750 people | Resilience Centre activity, 0.16% of the population | 2024 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Mental Health Care Following the October 7th Attack and the Iron Swords War, special report 2025-S-001, published 2025.
The Comptroller records a 6.5 month wait at health funds
The 6.5 months is the figure the State Comptroller published for the wait at Israel’s health funds in that report. It sits beside the Comptroller’s own survey of 1,010 people, in which 34% reported post-trauma, 32% depression and 21% anxiety. Those three shares are self-reported answers within that survey base, not clinical diagnosis rates, and the survey is the state audit institution’s own instrument.
90% of those surveyed sought no treatment at all
The State Comptroller reported that 90% of the 1,010 people in its own survey sought no treatment. That share is of the survey base and is a count of people who did not seek care, not of people turned away or placed in a queue.
- 1,010 people: the base of the survey run by the state audit institution itself.
- 90%: the share of that base who sought no treatment.
- 6.5 months: the wait at the health funds recorded in the same report, a separate measure from the take-up share above.
About 23,000 of 210,000 evacuees were treated within six months
The State Comptroller recorded that about 11% of roughly 210,000 evacuees, about 23,000 people, were treated within six months. Among evacuee children in Sderot the share treated was 4%. Of the Nova festival survivors, 52%, about 1,900 people, were untreated, which is the opposite measure and is not the complement of the two rows above.
| Group | Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evacuees, roughly 210,000 | Treated within six months | about 11%, about 23,000 people | 2025 report |
| Evacuee children in Sderot | Treated within six months | 4% | 2025 report |
| Nova festival survivors | Untreated, a different measure from the rows above | 52%, about 1,900 people | 2025 report |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, special report 2025-S-001, published 2025. Figures are the audit’s own; the treated and untreated shares are not two readings of one quantity.
450 people were waiting at Ashkelon in February 2024
The one site-level waiting count in the report is 450 people waiting at the Ashkelon Resilience Centre in February 2024, published by the State Comptroller as part of the same audit. It sits beside the volume of care the Centres delivered that year, which the audit counts as treatments rather than as patients.
- 450 people waiting at the Ashkelon Resilience Centre, February 2024.
- 50,734 treatments provided to 15,750 people, which the audit puts at 0.16% of the population, 2024.
- NIS 149.6 million, the 2024 budget for the Resilience Centres stated in the report.
No national waiting-time series by health fund appears here
The State Comptroller publishes the 6.5 month figure for the health funds and the Ashkelon waiting count, and no fund-by-fund or month-by-month mental health series. A separate 2024 audit by the same body counts appointments booked more than 90 days ahead for specialist medical services generally, on a definition of days-ahead bookings rather than months of waiting, and it publishes those counts per fund.
| Fund | Appointments booked more than 90 days ahead | Movement | Publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clalit | 290,105 | Up from 221,573 | Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services, 2024 |
| Maccabi | 513,517 | Up from 360,010 | Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services, 2024 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services, report 75A part B, November 2024. The counts are appointments across specialist services, not mental health appointments, and the two funds differ in size, so the audit publishes no combined figure.
Which figures here may not be added together?
The 90% who sought no treatment is a share of the Comptroller’s own survey base of 1,010 people; the 11% treated within six months is a share of roughly 210,000 evacuees. The two belong to different populations and are not set against each other. The 0.16% attached to the Resilience Centres is a share of Israel’s whole population and is not a treatment rate among people who needed care. The report states its 2024 Resilience Centre budget as NIS 149.6 million and separately gives a NIS 31.87 million base and a NIS 34.66 million supplement; those two components are not a decomposition of the total and are not summed to it. The specialist-services counts of appointments booked more than 90 days ahead are a different measure from the mental health audit’s months and are not read as a mental health wait.
Questions readers ask
How long is the wait for mental health care in Israel?
The State Comptroller recorded a wait of 6.5 months at the health funds in its 2025 special report on mental health care after 7 October 2023.
Who published the 6.5 month figure?
The State Comptroller of Israel published it, in special report 2025-S-001 in the Swords of Iron series.
Does the report give a wait for each health fund?
No. The State Comptroller publishes the 6.5 month figure for the health funds and no fund-by-fund breakdown in that report.
How many people were surveyed?
The State Comptroller surveyed 1,010 people for that report, and every prevalence share in it is a share of that base.
What share of those surveyed sought treatment?
The State Comptroller reported that 90% of the 1,010 people surveyed sought no treatment.
How many evacuees received care within six months?
The State Comptroller recorded about 23,000 people, about 11% of roughly 210,000 evacuees, treated within six months.
What share of evacuee children in Sderot were treated?
The State Comptroller published a share of 4% for evacuee children in Sderot treated within six months.
How many Nova festival survivors went untreated?
The State Comptroller recorded 52%, about 1,900 people, as untreated.
How many people were on a waiting list at a Resilience Centre?
The State Comptroller recorded 450 people waiting at the Ashkelon Resilience Centre in February 2024.
How much care did the Resilience Centres deliver?
The State Comptroller counted 50,734 treatments provided to 15,750 people, which the audit puts at 0.16% of the population, in 2024.
Which body funds the Resilience Centres, and how much did they receive?
The State Comptroller states a 2024 budget of NIS 149.6 million for the Resilience Centres in that report.
Does Israel publish a waiting-time figure for specialists?
The State Comptroller reported appointments booked more than 90 days ahead rising to 290,105 at Clalit and to 513,517 at Maccabi in its 2024 audit of specialist waiting times.
Is there a published mental health waiting time for prisoners?
The State Comptroller reported 71 physician posts in the Israel Prison Service with 17.25 unfilled, and 15 inmate suicides between 2017 and 2020, in its 2022 follow-up audit, and publishes no mental health waiting time there.
Are the survey shares diagnosis rates?
No. The State Comptroller reports 34% post-trauma, 32% depression and 21% anxiety as answers given within its own survey of 1,010 people.
Sources
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2025. Mental Health Care Following the October 7th Attack and the Iron Swords War. Special report 2025-S-001, Swords of Iron series. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2024. Waiting Times for Specialist Medical Services. Annual report 75A part B, chapter 601, November 2024. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. The Medical System for Treating Inmates in the Israel Prison Service, Follow-up Audit. Chapter 210, May 2022. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
