Israelis suffering from respiratory, cardiovascular, and kidney diseases, as well as diabetes, visit hospital emergency rooms more often and require longer hospital stays during summer heatwaves compared with periods of pleasant weather, according to a new study.

Between 2014 and 2025, this cost the state an estimated NIS 380 million ($127 million).

Researchers from the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies say that based on their data, policymakers should plan for additional staffing and hospital beds during heatwaves, given Israel’s already high bed occupancy compared with other developed countries.

“We are used to peaks in the winter because of influenza, rather than in the summer,” said Maya Sadeh, who led the study.

The ministry should also expand community medicine to help people cope with the heat and avoid heat stress, the report added.

“We don’t really talk about the importance of things like opening windows occasionally when the air conditioning is on all the time, or not letting the air conditioning make people too cold,” Sadeh said.

Israel is a climate change hotspot, where temperatures are rising faster than the global average.

Reviewing 14 years of data on temperatures, humidity levels, and hospital visits from 2010 to 2023, and focusing on people with diseases that are particularly aggravated by heat stress, the research team found that 41% more people with lung disease visited the ER during especially hot periods. The corresponding figures for those with kidney and cardiovascular disease........

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