The Tel Aviv-Yaffo Municipality has announced the opening of a lifeguard training course (Type 1 Sea Lifeguard certification) for the first time in four decades. The course is approved and supervised by the Ministry of Labor and includes training as first responders under Magen David Adom supervision. The municipality will fully fund the course at no cost to participants, and it is open to the general public who meet the admission criteria.
The course is expected to take place between February and March 2026 and will include weekly sessions with theoretical and practical studies. The initiative aims to strengthen the municipal rescue system and address the existing lifeguard shortage, a deficit affecting the ability to operate lifeguard stations along the municipal coastline.
Currently, the municipal rescue unit employs approximately 50 lifeguards, with the first female lifeguard joining the unit last summer. Tel Aviv-Yaffo beaches stretch from the Herzliya border in the north to the Bat Yam border in the south and include approximately 13 designated beaches along approximately 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) of coastline. During the bathing season, these beaches record an average of approximately 8.5 million bathers.
Among the beaches where rescue services are provided during the summer season: Tzuk North Beach, Tzuk South Beach, Tel Baruch Beach, Metzitzim Beach, the Separate Beach, Hilton Beach, Gordon Beach, Frishman Beach, Bograshov Beach, Jerusalem Beach, Geula Beach, Charles Clore Beach, and Givat Aliyah Beach. During the winter season, three lifeguard stations operate – Jerusalem, Separate, and Tzuk North – during bathing hours.
