The Eilat Municipality announced on Sunday that it will be erecting a "tent city" about 5 km. north of the city near the Shkhoret Industrial Zone. The tent city will extend for 10 hectares (almost 25 acres).
Eilat is the Israeli city that has absorbed the most evacuees fleeing from the war with Hamas, with current estimates at over 120,000 and growing according to a municipality spokesperson.
The majority of new arrivals come from areas near the Gaza border who either fled or were evacuated by the government, but the municipality is expecting more arrivals – and for some to come from the North, too.
The new arrivals have swelled the city to over double its regular population, with all hotels, hostels, and rental apartments filled to the brim.
"The city is practically full to capacity and all the hotels are full," said the spokesperson.
This is what led Eilat City Mayor Eli Lankri to order an expansion of facilities and submit a plan to the government for the following: "tent complexes in the territory of the city of Eilat in a number of complexes, including the camel farm, a field school, the Carolina complex and in the Shkhoret industrial area located at the entrance to the city."
The total area of the new facilities will be 15 hectares (37 acres).
Eilat willing and ready to absorb more evacuees
"The city of Eilat was the first to mobilize and has so far taken in tens of thousands of evacuees with the help of a huge show of solidarity and mutual guarantee on the part of all the residents of the city. It is ready and willing to continue to act and absorb," Lankri said.
"The municipal effort requires political assistance and I expect the government to immediately prepare accordingly and on time."
The plan was put together by teams from the municipality's Engineering Administration and its Emergency and Security Department together with its subsidiary companies in conjunction with the Home Front Command.
Along with this, the organization "Brothers in Arms" met with Eilat's mayor to prepare the camel farm to become a tent city that will cater to approximately 500 people in the first stage.
Additionally, as per its announcement mentioned above, the municipality is preparing to allocate, in the first stage, a large area in the Shchoret industrial area, which covers about 10 hectares, for the purpose of establishing a tent complex in the area located at the entrance to the city.