South Cemetery (Israel)

The South Cemetery (Beit Almin HaDarom) (בית עלמין הדרום), also known as Holon Cemetery and Bat Yam Cemetery, is a cemetery located in the southeastern part of Bat Yam, bordering Holon and Rishon LeZion.

Location
The South Cemetery is situated near the Komemiyut Interchange on the Ayalon Highway, in the southern part of Bat Yam, at the border with Holon and northeast of the Neve Hof neighborhood in Rishon LeZion. Nearby, there is the Bat Yam municipal stadium and a bus terminal.

Initially, the cemetery covered an area of 500 dunams (about 123 acres), and later it was expanded by an additional 300 dunams (about 74 acres). It also includes a military cemetery.

History
The cemetery was established in 1964, after the burial grounds at the Nachalat Yitzhak Cemetery and the Trumpeldor Cemetery began to fill up. The mayor of Bat Yam, David Ben Ari, opposed its establishment as he preferred other uses for the land taken for this purpose. The cemetery was intended to be the main regional cemetery for Tel Aviv, and so it was for 15 years until the opening of the Yarkon Cemetery. It was designed by architect R.M. Meir. The opening ceremony was conducted by the Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Isser Yehuda Unterman, on the 7th of Adar 5724. In the month of Iyar of the same year, the first deceased was buried in the cemetery.

Despite being within the jurisdiction of Bat Yam, it is often referred to as the "Holon Cemetery" because, upon its opening, the only entrance was from the eastern gate, coming from Holon. Only after several years was the northern gate built from the Bat Yam direction, which, with the construction of the Ayalon Highway, became the main gate.

As in most large cemeteries in Israel, the South Cemetery has many memorials for communities that perished in the Holocaust, and beneath some of them, there are ashes of the victims. Approximately 200,000 deceased are buried in it, and it is designated by the National Insurance Institute as a "closed cemetery." It contains a section for bereaved parents, a section for children, and sections for other unique population groups.