Israel’s government has approved an urgent extension of the nationwide “Special Situation on the Home Front,” preserving the military’s ability to impose immediate civilian restrictions as renewed fighting with Iran destabilizes the region.

The declaration will remain in force through July 28, subject to approval by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Defense Minister Israel Katz requested the two-week extension before the existing declaration expires, and ministers approved it through an urgent telephone vote.

The decision does not impose new restrictions on Israelis. Schools, businesses and public events can continue under the current Home Front Command guidelines. Instead, it maintains the legal framework allowing the IDF to rapidly restrict gatherings and civilian movement, alter educational activity or order residents into protected spaces if the threat changes.

That distinction is critical as the government is not announcing that an attack is imminent. It is ensuring that commanders will not lose valuable time seeking new legal authorization if Iranian missiles or drones are again directed toward Israel. Any actual change to civilian instructions would be issued separately by the Home Front Command.

Security agencies wrote in the proposal’s explanatory notes that there remains a “high likelihood” of an attack against Israel’s civilian population, arguing that the risk is sufficient to justify maintaining the declaration. Defense officials simultaneously assessed that the immediate probability of renewed Iranian fire against Israel remains very low, while warning that the picture could change quickly. The IDF is therefore maintaining heightened defensive and offensive readiness.

The extension follows the collapse of calm between Washington and Tehran. U.S. Central Command said American forces struck approximately 140 Iranian military targets in their third round of attacks in a week, using aircraft, drones and naval vessels against missile sites, drone infrastructure, naval capabilities, ammunition depots, communications networks and coastal surveillance positions.

Those strikes followed an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attack on the Cyprus-flagged container ship M/V GFS Galaxy in the Strait of Hormuz. One civilian crew member was reported missing, while fire and severe engine-room damage left the vessel unable to continue its voyage. Iran has also declared the strategic waterway closed and launched attacks against American-linked targets and Gulf states, further increasing the danger of a wider regional confrontation.

Israel initially activated the nationwide home-front declaration when Operation Roaring Lion began against Iran. Although the most severe civilian restrictions were later lifted, the declaration has repeatedly been extended as Tehran and its terrorist proxies retained the ability to launch long-range attacks.