People sleeping at the underground parking lot-turned-public shelter at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center mall live in a strange sort of alternative reality.

Past cars parked on the minus-2 and minus-3 levels, the minus-4 floor opens onto a dimly lit tent city with dozens of colorful camping tents pitched by those who have been living there full-time since the war commenced.

While many Israeli homes have reinforced safe rooms, thousands of older apartments and buildings lack easy access to shelter. For some residents, the only way to avoid repeated sprints during missile sirens has been to relocate entirely — turning public bomb shelters into temporary homes.

The need for shelter is hardly hypothetical with near-daily attacks on the city: On Tuesday morning alone, an Iranian missile injured four people and badly damaged property.

“I teach classes online, and stopping in the middle every time there is a siren is messing up my life and my job,” said Gal, a 35-year-old woman who moved into the Dizengoff shelter last week. “Staying here has made my life easier, and I have more time to see friends and go to the beach. It’s definitely a unique experience, but that’s life.”

Gal described the atmosphere as she sat with her laptop at a small wooden picnic table, eating reheated food left by one of the vendors in the mall. The shelter, crowded with living quarters delineated by mattresses and bags of personal items, was mostly empty of people during the day, but the unmistakable odor of unwashed bodies lingered heavily in the air.

“There are some strange people with dogs here, and I’ve definitely heard romance happening in some of the tents,” Gal said. “But I’ve met some new people, and some friends here are planning a pajama party tonight. Most people are nice, but there are some stressful moments. There’s a sense of being calm but watchful, very aware of your surroundings.”

In recent days, Gal has showered at friends’ homes and at the beach, and in one case, at the home of a stranger who was looking to help. She says her friends don’t see any social stigma in her shelter lifestyle, although people are amazed that she has been away from her bed for so long.

“If I can sleep the whole night here, I prefer it,” she said.

Since Israel and the US launched strikes against Iran’s military infrastructure just over three weeks ago, millions of Israelis have been sent running to shelters on a daily basis to escape deadly ballistic missiles fired by the Islamic regime.

Massive underground shelters in Tel Aviv like Dizengoff — along with others underneath Habima Square and Basel Square — are designed to hold thousands of people at times of war, said Noah Efron, a member of the Tel Aviv- Jaffa municipal council. These are part of a network of facilities that includes hundreds of smaller shelters in schools and private buildings around the city.

During the war, the Tel Aviv municipality is working very seriously to ensure that all the residents’ needs are met, Efron........

© The Times of Israel