Qiryat Yam, Haifa District, Israel

🇮🇱 Kiryat Yam is a city in the Haifa Bay district of Israel, 12 km (7 mi) north of Haifa. One of a group of Haifa suburbs known as the Krayot, it is located on the Mediterranean coast, between Kiryat Haim and the Tzur Shalom industrial area, east of Kiryat Motzkin.

History The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase, in which a large tract of land on the Haifa Bay was purchased from the Sursock family of Beirut by the American Zion Commonwealth in 1925. In 1928, the Bayside Land Corporation, a joint venture of the Palestine Economic Corporation and the Jewish National Fund, acquired 2,400 dunams of residential land in a deal related to the building of the IPC oil pipeline. Development of a residential area began in 1939, and the first houses were completed in 1940.

The northern area of the city is home to many immigrants from the former Soviet Union, North Africa and Ethiopia in which the municipality and its mayor Shmuel Sisso worked to build dozens of centres and homes to help the immigrants settle. The city is ranked medium on the socio-economic scale.

Urban development Urban development plans aimed at upgrading the old Gimmel neighborhood were blocked by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, whose main weapons development plant borders Kiryat Yam. In 2009, the Haifa district planning committee approved high-rise construction for the neighborhood, overruling Rafael's objections.

Neighbourhoods • Kiryat Yam (Dalet) - including Almogim • Kiryat Yam (Gimmel) - built in the 1950s • Kiryat Yam (Bet) • Kiryat Yam (Alef) • Savyoney Yam • Psagot Yam & Bne Beitkha.