The Times of Israel was fastest-growing news website in the world in October

The Times of Israel was the fastest-growing news website in the world in October, according to a Friday ranking.

The news site saw a 604 percent year-on-year increase in visits, reaching 64.2 million, according to data from SimilarWeb reported by Press Gazette.

Press Gazette said the soaring readership of The Times of Israel meant that it entered the world’s top-50 news site rankings for the first time, reaching 42nd place.

The massive increase in traffic came amid the war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s horrific onslaught across southern Israel on October 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed, mainly civilians, and some 240 kidnapped and taken hostage in Gaza.

Times of Israel editor David Horovitz said: “Our work in these terrible times clearly resonates. And that’s a credit to our incredibly hardworking and dedicated staff.”

The second fastest-growing site was Al Jazeera with a 147% increase, Press Gazette said, showing a high level of interest in news from the Middle East.

David Horovitz, editor, The Times of Israel (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of israel)

Third place was taken by the Associated Press news agency, which saw a 63% increase, and US broadcaster ABC News which was up 61%.

The Times of Israel was launched in February 2012, with the aim of providing an independent, fast and accurate source of news, analysis and opinion about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

The Times of Israel’s military reporter Emanuel Fabian in northern Gaza on November 16, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90)

While all the content on the site is free, those who want to help financially support the coverage can do so via The Times of Israel Community.

In addition to the English site, The Times of Israel has sister sites in Arabic, Hebrew, French and Persian.