There are objects that tell the story of an entire period. Not through declarations, but through the roles they come to play. In recent years in Israel, the hotel is one of them.

In 2019, approximately 4.5 million tourists entered Israel, the highest number ever recorded. Hotels fulfilled their original purpose. They hosted strangers for short stays. A year later, COVID arrived and transformed them overnight into something entirely different. They became quarantine facilities. The towels were still folded into flowers. The soap was still wrapped in paper. But guests could no longer leave their rooms.

On October 7, 2023, following Hamas’s massacre of communities near Gaza, more than 200,000 Israeli residents were evacuated from their homes. Over 90,000 of them were housed in hotels. Not for a night or a week, but for months. In June 2025, with the outbreak of the Twelve-Day War, the same image returned. In February 2026, it appeared again. And some have yet to return from any of them. This has extended even into the present, with ongoing arrangements placing vulnerable evacuees, including elderly residents, in hotels during the Passover period.

Six years. Four transformations. The same buildings, the same rooms, the same beds. Each time carrying an entirely different meaning for those inside........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)