When the siren sound incessantly, when the Home Front Command alerts are constantly flashing on our phone screens, when the thudding boom of interceptions and echoes of explosions are clearly heard across large areas of Israel, everyone craves at least a few minutes of silence. Without the ongoing panic and tension, without planning the route to the next safe room or shelter, without the noise of the drums of war, what if you were told that within driving distance there is a place where none of this exists?
There is and it is Mitzpe Ramon, nestling in the Negev Mountains. It is as if the desert town is outside Israel: no sirens, no alerts, with bustling streets, as if nothing is happening in the Middle East. Since the war against Iran began, only one siren has been sounded in the southern town, and there is no talk about interceptions and falling shrapnel. It is no coincidence that Israelis are flocking to Mitzpe Ramon.
“We are learning from experience – from the Covid pandemic, from October 7th. Unfortunately, there have been quite a few situations like this in recent years,” says Elia Winter, head of the Mitzpe Ramon Local Council. “On the Saturday, when the war started, I knew we had to prepare ourselves to receive guests, and even though everything was quiet on Sunday, from the Monday we have been full of visitors, and it has been like this ever since. We are a small place, about 6,000 people in total, and I know everyone. In recent days, I have been walking down the street and I don’t know anyone.”
Winter says that Mitzpe Ramon has about 800 guest rooms, and they are all fully occupied right now. “People are looking for sublets, residents are opening their homes for hosting, for Airbnb. This is the golden hour for business owners here. In extreme situations, Mitzpe Ramon is flourishing.”
50% more garbage
Mitzpe Ramon weas founded in 1953, and since then it has maintained its character as a small, frontier town, far from Israel’s large population centers. Beersheva, 85 kilometers away is the closest large city – 75 minutes by car. In 2025, Mitzpe Ramon’s population was just below 6,000.
Facebook groups for finding for accommodation in the town are expanding. For example, the group “Mitzpe Ramon Sublet, for Rent” contains almost 14,600 people. In the last two days, more than 20 searches for sublets (apartments for rent for short periods) have been registered in this group – mainly from young people, students, reservists and families. Those group members who are trying to find a vacant apartment in the southern town write that they are “looking to escape Tel Aviv for a bit”, “looking for a sublet until the rage passes”, “looking to escape to Mitzpe Ramon” – whether for one night or for a month or more. As the phenomenon intensified, the Mitzpe Ramon council posted an “absorption questionnaire” for guests on its website – for security reasons but also out of a desire to estimate the number of guests in the town during this period.
“Due to the security situation and out of responsibility for your wellbeing and our ability to provide a suitaable response, it is important for us to get to know the residents of Mitzpe Ramon in a basic way,” it says. “Filling out the questionnaire will help us maintain an up-to-date picture of the situation, prepare for needs arising in the field, and provide assistance and services when needed.” The questionnaire includes details such as the locality from which the guests come, the number of guests coming to stay, the place where they will stay, health status, and profession.
“This time, unlike after October 7, for example, people are coming here not out of lack of choice, as refugees, but out of choice and out of knowledge,” says Winter. “They do not need welfare services on the scale that was required then, but rather come to rest, to recharge their batteries, and they spend more money. We ourselves know better how to prepare, based on previous times. The large supermarket in Mitzpe Ramon is prepared with advance orders, as are the grocery stores. The pubs, cafes, and clubs have ordered more stock than in normal times.”
One of the metrics that Winter uses to monitor the extent of the “growth” in the number of people in the town is the amount of garbage accumulated: “Compared to normal times, the amount of garbage that the council is removing has increased by more than 50%.”
17,000 residents by 2030
Mitzpe Ramon is currently beginning a growth process that should increase its population to about 17,000 residents by 2030, almost three times its current size. It should be noted that only about a decade ago, in 2015, did the town cross the 5,000-residents threshold.
Three neighborhoods in the town are currently under construction – HaMa’ayan, Gvanim and Ramon, which will have about 230 housing units. Two more neighborhoods are planned in the future, with almost 950 more housing units. Since the beginning of 2026, according to the Israel Tax Authority’s real estate information website, four apartments have been sold in the town, all second-hand apartments, for less than NIS 1 million each. Prices are around NIS 12-13,000 per square meter, and it is possible that new apartments (currently, the stock of new apartments in Mitzpe Ramon is quite low) will be sold for higher amounts. Transactions on the Tax Authority website are updated up to three months back, so it is possible that more deals have actually been carried out during this period.
“For us, times like these are an opportunity to further reveal the assets that Mitzpe Ramon has to offer,” concludes Winter, “and quite a few of those who come here to visit end up staying. Business owners and entrepreneurs are interested in Mitzpe Ramon, certainly now with the ongoing and planned expansions, and everyone understands, even during normal times that Mitzpe Ramon is a magical place to be.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 10, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
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