Checked against official sources · October 19, 2026

Step-by-step guide[This page in Hebrew](https://nayeret.ai/guides/unemployment-benefits/)

# Unemployment benefits in Israel: how to claim and what affects the amount

To get unemployment benefits, register with the Employment Service and file form 1500 with National Insurance. You need at least 12 months as an employee out of the last 18, and you must claim within 12 months.

Official forms and government websites are almost always in Hebrew only. That is why we show the Hebrew name of each field or document next to the translation: look for exactly these words on the form.

## Step by step

- Register with the Employment Service (שירות התעסוקה) right away, in the first days after your job ends, even if you resigned. If you register online, you must report in person at the nearest office within 14 days.
- File form 1500 (טופס 1500) with National Insurance (ביטוח לאומי) online. If you have not registered yet, one online form does both, with the government's national identification login (הזדהות לאומית).
- Make sure your employer reported your salary. Most employers send it to National Insurance on form 100. If yours did not, ask for a confirmation of your work period and salary (form 1514), or attach payslips.
- Attach documents for your situation. Resigned for a justified reason, such as health or moving home? Attach documents that prove it, to be paid from the first day.
- Keep reporting on the dates you are given. You are paid by reporting days. If you miss a date, you are not paid for the days until your next report.
- Follow your claim in your personal area on the National Insurance website. Payment arrives on or around the 12th of the month, for the previous month.

## Form 1500 checklist: what to have ready

- The date your job ended and the reason: פיטורים (dismissal), התפטרות (resignation) or end of contract.
- Details of all your employers in the last 18 months.
- If your employer did not send form 100: form 1514, or the employer confirmation on pages 5-6 of form 1500, or your payslips (תלושי שכר). Also a letter about the end of your work, signed and stamped by the employer, with the date and the reason.
- Unpaid leave (חל"ת) of 30 days or more: a confirmation from the employer of when it started and at whose initiative.
- If you resigned: documents that explain a justified reason.
- Your bank account details.

## Who is eligible

According to National Insurance, you must meet all of these conditions:

- You are an Israeli resident.
- You are 20 or older and not yet 67 (there are special cases under 20).
- You stopped working: dismissal, end of contract, resignation, or unpaid leave at the employer's initiative. Unpaid leave at your own initiative does not qualify.
- You registered and report at the Employment Service.
- Qualifying period (תקופת אכשרה): at least 12 months of work as an employee out of the 18 months before you registered. The months do not have to be in a row or with the same employer, and even one working day in a month counts as a month.

Not insured for unemployment: the self-employed, controlling shareholders of a closely held company (even if they work there as employees), kibbutz and cooperative moshav members who do not work as employees outside it, soldiers in regular service and people in national service during their service, and students who do not work as employees.

Part of your work in the last 18 months was abroad? Ask National Insurance how your months are counted before you decide that you are not eligible.

## How many days are paid

The maximum depends on your age and on the number of people who depend on you. It is counted within 12 months from the 1st of the month in which you first reported:

| Age | Days | With 3 or more dependents |
| Up to 25 | 50 | 138 |
| 25 to 28 | 67 | 138 |
| 28 to 35 | 100 | 138 |
| 35 to 45 | 138 | 175 |
| 45 and over | 175 | 175 |

Discharged soldiers and people who finished national service: up to 70 days in the first year after discharge.

## Waiting days and resignation

The first 5 days of unemployment in every 4 consecutive months of reporting are not paid. They are not taken off your days. If you resigned without a justified reason, you start getting benefits only 90 days after you stopped working. With a justified reason and documents, you can be paid from the first day of registration. You are also not paid for a period covered by holiday pay or by payment instead of notice from your employer.

## How the amount is calculated

The daily amount depends on your age and on the income on which National Insurance contributions were paid in the 6 full months before you first reported. The higher the salary, the lower the percentage, and there is a daily maximum. Under 28 the percentages are lower. Each month you get the daily amount times your reporting days. Amounts change every year, so check yours in the official [National Insurance calculator](https://www.btl.gov.il/Simulators/Pages/AvtalaCalcNew.aspx). Income tax and contributions are deducted from the benefits.

Our [unemployment calculator](https://nayeret.ai/tools/unemployment/) (in Hebrew) shows the calculation step by step. Enter the salary on which National Insurance was deducted, from your payslips.

Claim within 12 months of your first report. If you claim late, you are paid only for the 12 months before the claim. And refusing suitable work offered by the Employment Service is costly: 90 days without payment and 30 days fewer, for each refusal.

## What to do next

- [Tax refundTax was deducted from your benefits? Check at the end of the year.](https://nayeret.ai/en/tax-refund/)
- [Form 1500 in HebrewOur full Hebrew page with the official links.](https://nayeret.ai/forms/1500/)
- [Unemployment calculator (Hebrew)](https://nayeret.ai/tools/unemployment/)
- [Glossary of Hebrew terms](https://nayeret.ai/en/glossary/)

## Sources

We checked these facts on the official websites (in Hebrew). If anything differs, the official text is what counts.

- [Bituach Leumi: זכאות לדמי אבטלה](https://www.btl.gov.il/benefits/Unemployment/Pages/zakaut.aspx)
- [Bituach Leumi: תקופת הזכאות](https://www.btl.gov.il/benefits/Unemployment/Pages/tkufat_zakaut.aspx)
- [Bituach Leumi: סכום דמי האבטלה](https://www.btl.gov.il/benefits/Unemployment/Pages/sum.aspx)
- [Bituach Leumi: תשלום דמי האבטלה](https://www.btl.gov.il/benefits/Unemployment/Pages/pay.aspx)
- [Bituach Leumi: הגשת תביעה](https://www.btl.gov.il/benefits/Unemployment/Pages/submit.aspx)