Drownings in first half of beach season nearing total for entire period last year

Knesset committee to examine rising toll at the shore, which has seen 21 people lose their lives in past three months, compared to 26 in April-October 2022

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Israelis enjoy the beach on a hot summer day in Tel Aviv, June 2, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Israelis enjoy the beach on a hot summer day in Tel Aviv, June 2, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Knesset’s Interior Affairs and Environment Committee was to hold a meeting Sunday examining a rise in drownings on the country’s beaches, with the death toll after the first three months of the season already drawing close to the entire six-month period last year.

According to a report by the Knesset’s Information and Research Center, 26 people died during the 2022 beach season, while this year’s season has already claimed 24 lives.

The report, ordered by committee chair United Torah Judaism MK Ya’akov Asher, was to be presented to lawmakers at the meeting.

The toll this year “requires drawing conclusions and taking immediate actions,” Asher said in a statement reported Sunday morning by the Walla news site.

Asher said the meeting would examine “all existing aspects that can be improved, to make sure that all the necessary actions are taken to save the lives of bathers.”

Figures also showed that most of those who died in the past 13 months drowned in places where it is prohibited to go in the water, or when there were no lifeguards on duty, in a trend also seen in previous years, the report noted.

Ya’akov Asher, head of the Knesset Interior Committee leads a meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on July 10, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The report said there are 156 authorized beaches along Israel’s 306.4 kilometers (190 miles) coastlines, including along the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. In total, just 21 kilometers, or seven percent, are areas that have been authorized for swimming. In another 54%, swimming is prohibited, and the remaining 37% do not have a declared status.

Last year’s season ran from April through October. During that time, 26 people died in drowning incidents, in addition to four during the rest of 2022.

Of those who died during the beach season, five drowned at authorized beaches even though there were lifeguards on duty.

The remaining 21 died at locations where there were no lifeguards. Ten of them were on beaches where swimming is prohibited, three were on beaches that have no status, and eight were on authorized beaches but during hours when lifeguards were not on duty.

This year’s season began on March 29 and will continue until October 14. The figures show 24 drowning deaths year as of July 10, of which 21 took place during beach season. Six of those who died during the authorized time did so when there were lifeguards on duty and 15 drowned when there were not. Of the latter, nine were on beaches where bathing is prohibited; one was on a beach that has no status; and five died on beaches authorized for bathing but at times when there were no lifeguards.

Chair of the Knesset lobby for Cities and Coastal Authorities in Israel, MK Simon Davidson of Yesh Atid pointed out that the figures showed that most drownings are on undeclared beaches.

“Using public campaigns and increasing the [number of] authorized beaches, we can save lives,” said Davidson, a former competitive swimmer and ex-chairman of the Israel Swimming Association.

Israelis and tourists cool off in the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias on June 28, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Each year, the interior minister declares the start and end of the bathing season, and each municipality decides on the hours of the day that it will provide lifeguards for beaches within its jurisdiction.

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