The Beach at Nitzan

I went to the beach for the second time in Israel!

This time Aaron and Patrick (two LDS Hebrew U students who just arrived recently) went with our new Israeli friend Moshe to a beach right by the little town of Nitzan.  Nitzan is between Ashdod and Ashkelon in southern Israel, right above the Gaza Strip.

Moshe's sister lives in Nitzan and he dropped off us at the beach for a few hours while visiting her.  Moshe explained to us a little bit about the history of Nitzan, almost the entire town is made up of Israelis that were evacuated from the Gaza Strip in the early 2000s.  (The Gaza strip is an area of Israel that is a Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas).  These Israeli refugees were sent to Nitzan and almost the entire city is made up of caravillas, a type of mobile home.  Moshe was also telling us how rockets from the Gaza strip reach Nitzan, so these Israelis escaped the Gaza strip but still are close enough that they experience the effects of it. Very interesting...

Pictures from the beach:

Me, Moshe, Aaron, Patrick