Ashkelon

Rescuers check for victims in flooded cars on a road in Erftstadt, Germany, July 17, 2021 (AP/Michael Probst)

July 20, 2021, 7:46 pm

As floods stir climate change fears, Israel may be up a creek without a plan

A comptroller report in June found cities woefully unready for 2020’s deadly deluges; and though leaders say they take the issue seriously, funding for preparedness remains elusive

By Sue Surkes

An oil tanker docked at the Europe Asia Pipeline Company's port, close to the coral reef nature reserve of Eilat in southern Israel. (Society for the Protection of Nature)

June 14, 2021, 8:46 pm

Losing no time, green groups urge new government to stop ‘dangerous’ oil deal

Activists warn of environmental disaster, as tankers unload crude in coral-rich Eilat for transport overland to Ashkelon, on Mediterranean coast, for shipping to Europe

By Sue Surkes

Statues found during the excavation of the basilica in the Tel Ashkelon National Park. (Yaniv Cohen/ Nature and Parks Authority)

May 31, 2021, 9:09 pm

Ashkelon park renovation to unveil Israel’s largest Roman basilica to public

After years of excavation in Tel Ashkelon National Park, archeologists plan to restore some of the massive marble columns and statues, build 2 kilometers of accessible paths

By TOI staff

A soldier from the Israeli military's Home Front Command walks outside a house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon that had been struck by a Hamas rocket on May 20, 2021. (Edi Israel/FLASH90)

May 23, 2021, 7:16 am

‘Guardian of the Walls’ wasn’t the resounding victory the IDF had hoped for

Though it had clear successes on the tunnel front and elsewhere, the military failed to prevent terror groups in Gaza from firing over 4,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israel

By Judah Ari Gross

A man walks his dog near the beach in Ashkelon, Israel, Friday, May 21, 2021, after a ceasefire took effect between Hamas and Israel. (AP Photo/Maya Alerruzzo)

May 21, 2021, 4:24 pm

Many residents of south are angered by ceasefire, yet optimistic about the quiet

After 11 days of Hamas bombardment, some say it’s a huge relief just being able to safely go outside again

By Emanuel Fabian

Israeli soldiers from Home Front Command visit families inside a bomb shelter in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on May 18, 2021. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

May 20, 2021, 7:32 pm

Gaza border town residents forced to stay in shelters for hours amid mortar fire

Home Front Command extends school closures in southern, central Israel through Friday; Gantz says Israel prepared to expand operation if necessary amid reports of ceasefire

By Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff

Shlomo Lampert, far right, who founded Ir Miklat, an organization dedicated to clearing out apartment bomb shelters in poor Israeli neighborhoods during the recent crisis with Gaza (Courtesy Shlomo Lampert)

May 20, 2021, 4:52 am

Clearing out helter-skelter, group makes room for people in junk-jammed shelters

In rocket-struck cities, neighborhood non-profit Osim Shchuna is enlisting an army of helpers to fix up communal shelters made unusable by people’s old stuff stored there

By Jessica Steinberg

People clean up inside a damaged synagogue in Ashkelon, following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, on May 16, 2021. (Avi Roccah/Flash90)

May 16, 2021, 7:32 pm

Holy cleanup: Ashkelon synagogue ready for Shavuot 2 hours after hit by rocket

The hole smashed in the wall by a rocket from Gaza is still there but the rest of the damage has been fixed, and Yad Michael Synagogue is ready for festival prayers

By TOI staff

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeted the Ansar compound, linked to the Hamas movement, in the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2021. (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

May 14, 2021, 10:10 pm

Report: IAF bombing of Hamas ‘metro’ smashed miles of tunnels; no info on deaths

Air force officer: Operations such as this likely ‘make the enemy want to stop… but we will continue to act for as long as necessary’

By TOI staff

A view into the Temple Mount compound amid clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, May 10, 2021 (Ahmad Gharabli / AFP)

May 14, 2021, 4:13 pm

IDF: Hamas chiefs spurred to launch war after seeing Monday Temple Mount clashes

Military Intelligence believes group hopes to paint itself as ‘defender of Jerusalem’; Israeli strikes on Hamas, Islamic Jihad setting them back for years to come, army assesses

By Judah Ari Gross

An explosion lights the sky following an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 14, 2021. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

May 14, 2021, 10:04 am

IDF: Overnight bombardment targeted Hamas’s tunnel network under Gaza City

Military says 160 aircraft dropped 450 missiles on 150 targets in operation, as ground troops in Israel struck terror operatives who try to attack them

By Judah Ari Gross

Dr. Jonathan Rieck, director of the Emergency Medicine Department speaks at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon on May 12, 2021 (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)

May 14, 2021, 9:42 am

In war-weary Ashkelon, resilience, experience and concern over one fresh twist

Residents and emergency room doctors alike have lived stoically through innumerable rounds of conflict with nearby Gaza, but internal Arab-Jewish violence has them shocked

By Lazar Berman

An explosion lights the sky following an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip early on May 14, 2021. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

May 14, 2021, 2:58 am

Israeli air, ground forces bombard northern Gaza in heaviest strike yet

For 4th night, Hamas fires rockets at central, southern Israel; 87-year-old woman dies after hitting her head while running to bomb shelter; PM vows to exact heavy price from Hamas

By Judah Ari Gross

Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Omer Tabib, 21, in Elyakim in northern Israel, on May 13, 2021. Tabib was killed when Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired an anti-tank missile near the border. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

May 13, 2021, 7:51 pm

Hundreds attend funeral of Omer Tabib, IDF soldier killed by anti-tank missile

‘In my blackest dreams, I didn’t think I this day would come,’ mother eulogizes son, the military’s first casualty in current round of fighting between Israel and Gaza

By TOI staff

Rockets are launched towards Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, on May 12, 2021 (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

May 13, 2021, 4:47 pm

IDF hits Hamas center with dozens of operatives; barrages on Tel Aviv, Beersheba

Child hurt running to shelter; terror group says it used long-range missile in failed attack on Eilat, and launched new ‘suicide drones’; IDF hits four anti-tank missile teams

By Judah Ari Gross