Israel's 2021 beach season has been a deadly one so far, noting an alarming rise in drowning incidents on Israel's beaches, pools, waterways, and reservoirs.

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The weekend proved particularly deadly, with seven people losing their lives at the beach in the span of 24 hours.

According to data published by Magen David Adom emergency services, since swimming season began this March, 22 Israelis have lost their lives by drowning and 133 people required medical attention as a result of nearly drowning,

Twelve of the victims so far have been children

Sunday marked the UN-designated International Drowning Prevention Day. The World Health Organization pegs drowning as one of the top 10 causes of death for people aged 1-24 years.

Magen David Adom data shows that 61 of the incidents recorded over the past four months took place along Israel's Mediterranean shoreline, 13 in private pools, seven in guest houses, 21 in public pools, six in the Sea of Galilee, three in the Red Sea, 18 in the Dead Sea, and 12 in rivers and other bodies of water.

"Swimming in unauthorized beaches is forbidden and dangerous," a MDA paramedic warned. "Access to such areas is complex and makes it hard for medical emergency teams to reach the site in time to provide crucial, life-saving care.

"We call on the public to only go swimming in authorized beaches and solely during times when lifeguard towers are operating."

On Saturday alone, MDA paramedics reported the death of seven Israelis. Three of them drowned when swimming in unauthorized beaches, another three around boats, including a father and his 10-year old son, one incident occurred in a public pool in Jerusalem and another in a private pool in northern Israel.

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The Big Orange (Tel Aviv-Jaffa) has been ranked No. 6 on a list of the healthiest cities in which to live that the British finance website money.co.uk published earlier this month.

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The site evaluated cities based on parameters that included obesity, life expectancy, crime, pollution, healthcare, the cost of 1 kg. (2.2 pounds) of apples, safety, and yearly hours of sunlight to arrive at a total index score.

According to the rankings, the average life expectancy for Tel Aviv residents is 82.8 years, and a bag of apples will run an average of 13 shekels ($3.98). The city enjoys a whopping 3,311 of sunlight hours per year.

Which cities were deemed healthier for residents than Tel Aviv? Spanish cities Valencia and Madrid were ranked 1 and 2, respectively, followed by Lisbon, Vienna, and the Australian capital of Canberra. Tokyo, The Hague, Ljubljana, and Zurich rounded out the top 10. Haifa was ranked No. 12.

The only American city to make the top 40 in the rankings was Madison, Wisconsin.

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Magen David Adom paramedics had to resuscitate two of the family members at the scene. They were reportedly unconscious and not breathing when the first responders arrived.

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A 14-year-old boy was listed in critical condition. A woman in her 30s was listed in serious but stable condition and was in an induced coma and on a respirator. Another young man about 20 was in serious but stable condition. Two other members of the family sustained light to moderate injuries in the lightning strike.

MDA paramedic Keren Slobodnik said that when the first responders arrived, they saw two of the victims lying on the beach, unconscious. A third, she said, was "conscious but disoriented."

"The MDA team that was nearby started working to resuscitate the two who were unconscious, not breathing, and without a pulse. As soon as we arrived, we continued trying to revive the two. The heartbeat of one was restored, and we are now trying to resuscitate the other youth," Slobodnik said.

Eyewitness Guy Shlepkov, who also tried to help the injured parties, said the lighting strike was "quick and amazing."

"There weren't a lot of people on the beach. Suddenly, there was a really strong 'boom.' It's really lucky there were a few people and they called for help and started helping the injured. I ran to the lifeguard's booth and asked them to get help urgently. A few people helped out with first aid. A woman who had been hit [by the lightning] was complaining she couldn't move her legs," Shlepkov said.

Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller characterized the incident as "serious and unusual."

Thunderstorms, as well as sandstorms, were being reported throughout southern Israel, from Ashkelon to Beersheba.

According to National Geographic, approximately 10% of lightning strike victims are killed, while 70% suffer long-term injuries. Some 400 people in the US survive being hit by lightning every year.

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In an attempt to minimize such accidents this season, a number of haredi rabbis have published letters containing a rabbinical ruling about water safety, as well as other instructions about safe behavior while on vacation. The instructions in the ruling are based on the instructions issued by the Beterem organization, which advocates for children's safety in Israel.

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"As the school holidays approach, we are once again issuing warnings against the common dangers, both spiritual and physical," one of the three letters published by the rabbis states.

"Every person is commanded to pay attention, wherever he or his children or other family members visit, that their view of [the children] is not obscured," the rabbis wrote.

The rabbis also urged the haredi public not to set out on hikes unless they were properly prepared, to avoid swimming pools and reservoirs that were not fenced off, and to avoid beaches where lifeguards were not on duty, "and of course, beaches that have not been approved by rabbis."

Another letter signed by none other than Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef provides more detailed safety instructions, warning haredi families staying at vacation lodgings to "make sure that the pool is properly fenced off to a height of at least 1.10 meters, without a gate that can be opened by infants or young children."

Other signatories to the letters include Rabbi Shimon Baadani, Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Isaac Landau and Rabbi Shevach Tzvi Rosenblatt.

Orly Silvinger, director-general of Beterem, said her organization welcomed the rabbinical initiative.

"We are happy the rabbis have enlisted to prevent drownings. Unfortunately, in recent years we are seeing an increase in the number of children who drown, especially at private pools. This affects every sector of Israeli society. We urge parents: Don't say, 'It won't happen to me' – take steps to prevent it. When at the beach, don't take your eyes off your children," Silvinger said.

Meanwhile, haredi society is also concerned about the moral dangers of beachgoing. Recently, large notices known as "pashkavalim" have been posted around the mostly-haredi Bnei Brak, urging women and girls to avoid visiting the beach entirely, even the "separate" beaches that have different, designated days for men and women.

The notices warn the women of the community that even the separate beaches are staffed by men who "come to enjoy themselves," a reference to lifeguards, members of the beach patrol, and cleaning staff.

The notices also express concern that "although the woman covers herself with a robe [over her bathing suit], it does not solve the problem and … the wet swimsuit sticks to the body and no god-fearing woman would go out in public like that."

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Israelis consider the game, called "matkot" from the Hebrew word for paddle, as their unofficial national sport.

On a Tel Aviv beach, part of a hotel-lined waterfront popular with tourists and residents, numerous matkot games were underway on Wednesday ahead of the official start of the independence day celebrations at nightfall.

"Matkot is Israel," said Haim Dagan, owner of a workshop making paddles by hand.

The shop is named Ting-Dong after the sound made as two players hit a small rubber ball from one to the other.

"In all the beaches you will hear the sound of the matkot, and if you are not careful you can also get hit by a ball," said Dagan, whose father started the business in the 1970s.

He said its popularity on Israeli beaches, where bathers often have to navigate around the players to approach the water, was a testament to Israeli "chutzpah," or nerve, in a region still locked in conflict.

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A year and a half ago, the 300-meter (1,000-foot) -long beach was handed back to the public after the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC), whose facilities are gated off and subject to military secrecy, scaled back its operations.

Scientists found a magical undersea world of unspoiled corals and schools of fish.

Faced with huge visitor interest in the virgin site, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority decided to relocate the corals for their own protection so the industrial debris left by EAPC could be removed.

"The most complicated part of opening this beach is preserving the wealth of species in this unique spot, while still allowing the public to enjoy the natural treasure," said Assaf Habary, manager of the Eilat region for the nature authority.

Coral reefs are home to an estimated 25% of all marine life. They are under threat worldwide by climate change, pollution and unregulated fishing and tourism, so saving each piece is important.

"There are hundreds of colonies of coral that we need to relocate, one by one, delicately," Habary said.

Watched by a passing dolphin, he and his teammate used hammers and chisels to gently chip the richly colored corals off cement barrels and pipes half-buried in the seabed. Enough tapping at the base of the coral and it simply peels off.

The collection of corals, ranging from the size of a baseball to a basketball, were then floated down the shore and placed on a natural, hard surface they would hopefully adopt as their new home.

Roughly one-quarter of coral reefs worldwide are already considered damaged beyond repair, with another two-thirds under serious threat, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

In Eilat, however, aquatic life seems to be bucking the global trend. Scientists have found coral here can tolerate unusually large rises in temperature, while those elsewhere are turning white and dying as oceans warm.

They believe the corals that settled thousands of years ago in the northern Red Sea had to pass through a narrow strait of warmer water that acted as a thermal barrier, ensuring they are more resilient to temperature increases.

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