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Haifa Travel Maker in Hebrew 2023

Haifa Travel Maker 2023

Visit the Bahai Gardens for free . . .

The Bahai Gardens on Mount Carmel

Take a ride and see the view. . .

Haifa Cable Car

Visit our beautiful museums. . .

Your holiday begins at Haifa Visit Haifa for an experience of a vast verity of locations and attractions which are part of the great view that can be seen in every corner of the city. On the website you will find information about the city hotels, museums , walking tours and places where you can hang-out. The Haifa tourist advisers can also build you a special tour, which will include touring sites and attractions.

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Haifa Travel Guide

Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, is usually overlooked by locals and tourists alike. I often go there for the Holiday of Holidays Festival that takes place every December and celebrates the diversity of religions in Haifa. And while I’m there, I also stop by new and old restaurants and enjoy the city’s exciting food scene. Yes, Haifa is well known for its food thanks to its large Arab population. Arab food is delicious.

But Haifa has more to experience than just food and the Holiday of Holidays. It has an interesting history, some nice beaches, and top-notch museums. Because it’s situated on the slopes of Mount Carmel, it also offers some pleasant and beautiful nature trails. Oh, and I totally forgot the Bahai Gardens!

This travel guide to Haifa includes everything you need to know for a perfect visit to the city. And I’m updating it all the time.

Planning a trip to Israel? Here are 11 tips to Planning Your Budget Trip to Israel.

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5 top things to see and do in Haifa

Eat, eat, and eat.

Haifa is a food-lover paradise. Downtown is packed with a variety of restaurants, selling anything from street food to fancy food. I recommend checking out the restaurants in Wadi Nisnas and its surroundings. Read more >> The Best Restaurants in Haifa: Wadi Nisnas and Beyond .

Go on a free tour of the Bahai Gardens

The Bahai Gardens are the most famous landmark in Haifa. They are located on the slope of Mount Carmel and are BEAUTIFUL. The main building in the gardens is the Shrine in which the founders of the Bahai religion are buried. The Bahais offer free guided tours in the gardens, led by Bahai volunteers. Check out the available tours here .

I also recommend going to the German Colony a short while after sunset to view the Bahai Gardens in the dark. They are lit up and very magical.

Try the Carmelit

The Carmelit is an underground funicular that connects Downtown Haifa to the upper parts of Mount Carmel. You can call it is one of the shortest subways in the world, although it’s not exactly a subway. You can use it to reach the Louis Promenade and the upper gate of the Bahai Garden, or just take a ride for fun. Read more about the Carmelit on its official website.

Visit a museum

Haifa has some of the best museums in Israel. The National Maritime Museum is a fascinating museum that shows the development of the shipping industry in Israel. There are many artifacts on display, that were taken from shipwrecks in the area.

Another museum I recommend is the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum which tells the story of the illegal immigration to the Land of Israel during the British mandate. You can also look into some of the navy’s vessels.

Besides these two museums, there are many more museums, including the Hecht Museum , the Madatech Museum , and the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art . So, if you’re a museum-lover, you have plenty of museums to visit in Haifa.

Take a look at the view

Haifa offers fantastic views of Israel’s northern coast. For the best view, go up to the Louis Promenade. The best way to get there is by taking the Carmelit up to Gan Ha’em Station and walking from there. When you look at the view from Louis Promenade, you can see the entire coast from Haifa Bay to the northern tip of Israel – Rosh Hanikra. It’s BEAUTIFUL!

More things to do in Haifa

Explore the history of old haifa.

There are few remains from Haifa’s old city. For many years, Haifa was a fishermen’s village. In the 18 th century, Daher al-Omar established the modern city and built defensive walls around it. In 1869, the city expanded outside the walls, which were later demolished. But we don’t know much about the history of the city because most of the documentation was destroyed by fire during the violent events that took place in 1929 and 1936.  

You can walk around the little remains in Downtown Haifa. At Falcon’s shop on Kibbutz Galuyot 42 Street, you can see an old wall painting depicting the battle between the Turks and British. Here and there you can see some old and abandoned buildings. To really understand what you’re looking at, it’s best to take a tour guide.

Go to the beach

There are several declared beaches in Haifa, so if you want to spend some time on the beach, it’s a possibility. One of the most popular beaches is Dado Beach, but if you’re looking for quieter beaches, it might be best to go to Bat Galim Beach or Neve Yam Beach.  

Enjoy Haifa’s nature trails

Haifa is located on the slope of Mount Carmel, and blends into the Carmel Forest. So, there are many nature trails all around the city, as well as outside it. For example, one of the most popular and pleasant trails in the city is the Nahal Lotem trail, which starts at Tishbi Street and ends at Gan Ha’em.

Here are other trails on the Carmel:

Hiking Down the Carmel Through Wadi Kelah and Galim

Hiking Mount Carmel on the Israel National Trail

Looking for a tour guide in Israel? I might be free to guide you while you’re here. Contact me by email at [email protected] .

How many days to visit Haifa?

It depends on what you want to do. Haifa is very accessible from Tel Aviv and can be a pleasant day trip by train. In one day, you can taste some great food, visit the Bahai Gardens, and maybe squeeze in another activity. If you want to see more and absorb the atmosphere, I’d say 2-3 days should be enough.

When to come to Haifa?

I think the best time to come is October-December or March-May when the weather is usually pleasant. Haifa is right next to the sea. If you’re not planning on the beach, I would skip coming here in June-September because of the high humidity.

If you want to avoid the crowds, don’t come in December because that’s the time of the Holiday of Holidays Festival and everything is crowded.

Where to stay in Haifa?

I’d search for stay options near Downtown, the German Colony, or Wadi Nisnas. That’s where all the good restaurants are located. Here are three places I’ve stayed during my visits to Haifa:

• Nesthouse Haifa : A cozy place in Downtown Haifa, a few steps away from the train station. This place offers a mixed dormitory and private rooms. Read my full review here.
• Hostel Roks: A clean place in Downtown Haifa, about 10 minutes walk from Wadi Nisnas. There are no dormitory rooms here, but the private room prices are cheap compared to other places. Read my full review here.
• The Colony Hotel : This place is a boutique hotel, so it isn’t cheap. But if it’s within your budget, it’s centrally located in the German Colony, and you can see the Bahai Gardens from its rooftop. The rooms have a special inner design. Though, breakfast wasn’t so delicious (maybe because it was a Saturday).

Where to eat in Haifa?

As I’ve already mentioned, Haifa is a paradise for food lovers. If you’re looking for good food, look in Wadi Nisnas and its surroundings. There’s much more than falafel and shawarma. You can also try pita with cheese and za’atar, kanafeh, fatayer, and stuffed vegetables. Ask around and you’ll probably get some good recommendations. Here are my favorite places to eat >>> The Best Restaurants in Haifa: Wadi Nisnas and Beyond .

Money-saving tips for Haifa

Like all places in Israel, Haifa isn’t cheap. Expect to spend around 160-300 ILS (50-90 USD) per day, including food and accommodation. If you’ll follow these money-saving tips, you can keep your budget low:

Use Couchsurfing.

If you want to save money on accommodation,  Couchsurfing  is a great option. They have started charging an annual subscription, but it’s still worth it. Couchsurfing is a platform that connects travelers with local hosts, who will be happy to host you for free. This way, you save money and also get to know the local people! Couchsurfing is very popular in Israel, so it’s easy to find a host. Just make sure to read the references before you send a request and  stick to the safety basics.

Make your own meal.

An average meal costs 30-50 ILS. So to save money, it’s best to purchase supplies in a local supermarket and make your own meals. Though, I do recommend eating out a few times just to taste the food. If you’re staying in a hostel, you can use the shared kitchen. Don’t go to the market because the prices there are generally higher than in supermarkets. Plus, the vendors can tell you a higher price just because you are tourists.

Drink during Happy Hour.

In Israel, alcohol is expensive. If you go to the supermarket, a bottle of beer costs about 10 ILS, depending on the type. In a bar, prices range around 30-35 ILS! So, if you want to hang out in one of Haifa’s bars but also want to save money, come for Happy Hour. The nightlife scene starts late, around 10-11 PM, so you’ll find Happy Hour deals earlier, around 5-8 PM. This way, you’ll get more for less.

How to get around Haifa

It’s not so easy walking around Haifa because it’s situated on the slope of Mount Carmel. So, if you choose to walk, I recommend taking transport up to the highest point you plan to visit and walk down from there.

I think Haifa’s public transportation is the best in Israel. There are regular buses going anywhere you need, and they usually have their own lanes which means less traffic jams. There’s also the Carmelit, an underground funicular railway that connects Downtown Haifa to the higher parts of the Carmel. A one-way ticket costs 6.6 ILS. The bus fare is quite the same. Make sure to get a Rav-Kav public transit card before boarding any sort of transportation.   

To find the best route in the city, you can use the Moovit app or Google Maps .

To learn more, read my full guide to public transportation in Israel .

 How to get to certain attractions from Downtown

If you’re traveling on foot, it’s easy to walk between Downtown places like Wadi Nisnas, the German Colony, and the nightlife area (HaNamal Street). But if you want to visit other attractions, here are some popular attractions and how you can reach them by public transportation:

The Bahai Gardens: You can look at the Bahai Gardens from the bottom of the gardens, but if you want to attend a free tour, you’ll need to get to one of the garden’s top entrances depending on the tour you’re taking. To get to the middle gate on Hatzionut Street, you can walk uphill for about 20 minutes or take bus #136 from Downtown. To get to the upper gate on Yefe Nof Street, take bus #136 and get off at HaNassi/ Iris. Then walk a bit to the entrance.

Stella Maris Monastery: Take bus #58 from Downtown and get off at Cable Car/ Stella Maris station. It takes about 10 minutes.

Madatech Museum: Take bus #28 or #37 from Downtown and get off at Madatek/ Balfour station. It takes about 10 minutes.

Bat Galim Beach: Take bus #16 or #24 from Downtown and get off at Ha’Aliya Hashniya/ Lotz station. From there, walk a bit to the beach.

Annual events and festivals in Haifa

Holiday of holidays.

Dates not set yet – usually December

The Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa is one of the top events in Israel. It celebrates the three main monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It’s celebrated in December because Christmas and Chanukkah usually fall together in that month. Sometimes, the Muslim Ramadan also falls in December, but it’s more rare.  

During the festival, there are many tours that introduce you to the people that live in Wadi Nisnas. You get to hear their stories and sometimes taste some local food. Unfortunately, these tours are usually only in Hebrew. Besides these tours, it’s nice to walk around Downtown and enjoy the Christmas decorations.

For more information, check out the official website of Holiday of Holidays .

Check out this video by Israel:

Haifa International Film Festival

This year – 8-17 October 2022

This is the first international film festival in Israel and one of the biggest cinematic events in the country. It takes place every year during Chol HaMoed Sukkot and screens hundreds of international and local films. If you love the movies, it’s worth going.

For more information, check out the official website of Haifa International Film Festival .

Recommended day trips

Haifa is in northern Israel, about 1.5 hours by train from Tel Aviv and 2 hours by bus from Jerusalem. If you want to use it as a base to explore the North, it’s about an hour by bus from Nazareth and 1.5 hours by bus from Tiberias/ the Sea of Galilee. If you want to use it as a base, I think it’s best to rent a car.

Here are some recommended day trips from Haifa:

• Acre (Akko): About one hour by train, Acre is one of the most charming towns in Israel. It has old and winding alleys, good food, and UNESCO Heritage Sites such as the Knights Hall. Read my post >> Top Free Things to do in Acre .
• Daliyat al-Karmel: About one hour by bus, Daliyat al-Karmel is a famous Druze village on Mount Carmel. You can walk around the village, visit the market, and also take a short bus ride to Deir Al-Mukhraqa Carmelite Monastery.
• Caesarea National Park: About 1.5 hours by bus, Caesarea is one of the leading national parks in Israel. It has an impressive Roman theatre and amphitheater, a beautiful view of the Med Sea, and some interesting exhibitions. Read my post >> A Walk Through Ancient Caesarea.  

Haifa is a fascinating city that combines religion, history, and good food. While it’s not a MUST, it could be a great addition to your trip itinerary.

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Multicultural Haifa is a veritable gem in the crown of Israel’s urban makeup. Its districts and suburbs sweep up across the vistas of Mount Carmel and down to the azure waters of the Mediterranean deep east, all the while peppered with curious heritage sites and religious points of interest that stand as a testimony to the city’s perhaps somewhat unusual intermingling of faiths and followers. Amongst the array of beautiful things to see here, the Bahá'í Gardens are without question the best and a real favourite of any Haifa tourist guide. This sprawling collection of cultivated gardens and monumental parkland floods its way down to the city centre from the heights of Carmel to the port districts and residential centres of Haifa below, offering an array of magnificent religious terraces and various worship houses all the way. Downtown also has a number of worthy churches and interesting café hotspots, such as the array of daytime bars in German Colony to explore. Take the time to stroll around Wadi Nisnas, Haifa’s largest Arab neighbourhood buzzing with pedestrians and lovely outdoor art. Outside of the city, visitors can explore the legendary Cave of Elijah, a number of ancient Roman city sites and ruins and even pre-historic caves.

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'Extra-tense': powder-keg Israeli port braces for bombardment

Haifa's residents gaze warily on to the sprawling industrial port that flanks their Israeli city, knowing the potential for a major blast as they brace for bombardment from Hezbollah.

The historic city cascades down a steep hillside to the very edge of the port, a complex which contains Israel's biggest oil refinery, giant fuel tanks and other highly flammable targets.

Memories are vivid in Haifa, about 30 kilometres (less than 20 miles) from the Lebanese border, of the 2006 war with Hezbollah when the militant group's rockets repeatedly slammed into the city, reducing homes to rubble and leaving more than a dozen people dead.

Residents are also aware of the notorious Beirut port blast that killed more than 220 people, injured at least 6,500 and devastated large parts of the Lebanese capital in August 2020.

Haifa is now in the crosshairs once again with Iran and its proxies feared to be preparing an attack over last week's killings of top officials from Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"Of course it's a main concern, especially after what we've seen happening four years ago in the harbour of Beirut," long-time resident Patrice Wolff told AFP, when asked about the potential for a big explosion.

"We know how damaging it can be, a blast from this area, so we are very conscious of it. And we certainly hope it will not come to be that bad."

- 'We are very exposed' -

Haifa's Mount Carmel offers panoramic views across the city, port, Israeli coast and northern Israel, all the way up to the mountainous, disputed border.

However, the area has come under repeated drone attack in recent days, increasing jitters in the frontline region.

The residents of Haifa, population 280,000, know the drill: if the air raid siren sounds, or is alerted via smartphone, they have one minute to reach a bomb shelter or secure area.

Wolff, 58, who works for a medical supplies company, sleeps with his phone next to him in case of an alert.

"We're all very conscious of the risk and we know what to do if things would go astray. We have instructions from the civil defence on how to behave," he said.

"We certainly hope that it will not come to this extent but we are very exposed because we're in a straight line from Lebanon."

As tensions climb, the number of tourists to the laid-back, beachside city -- home to Jews, Muslims and Christians -- has plunged.

"There are fewer tourists now; there used to be a lot, but now there are fewer. Business is slow," said Nadia Abu-Shaker of Humus Abu Shaker, a popular restaurant close to the port.

"Many people are afraid and don't leave their homes, they don't go anywhere," she added.

However, the prospect of an attack does not faze Abu-Shaker, who lived through the 2006 Hezbollah strikes as well as 1991, when Iraqi missile fire hit her home.

"I'm not afraid. I live near the port, at the Abu Shaker restaurant. If there is a war, I'm not afraid because I know that God protects us," she said.

- 'We don't trust them' -

Many of Haifa's hotel rooms are occupied by evacuees from border areas, forced out of their homes by Hezbollah shelling since the Israel-Hamas war started in October.

The city has made careful preparations for an attack, opening bomb shelters with capacity for tens of thousands of people, according to Leonid Reznik, head of emergency preparedness at the Haifa municipality.

The shelters, many of which are converted underground car parks, can house people for days at a time and come equipped with generators, wifi, water and first aid, he said.

Kindergarten teachers will be deployed to the bigger shelters to keep young children occupied, Reznik added.

Haifa's main hospital, which received dead and wounded soldiers during the 2006 war with Lebanon, has a large underground facility that is already in use, he said.

"Because we're waiting for the response from the Iranians or Hezbollah, we understand that something will happen. They will not do nothing. They will respond in some way," Reznik said.

"We hope it will not be shooting into the city but we understand something will happen."

Reassurances that some of the most explosive chemicals have been removed from the port do not reassure Andre Suidan, whose wine shop overlooks the complex.

"We don't trust them. We don't trust that they did (move the chemicals)," said the Haifa native, 57, calling the refinery's presence "horrific".

"People are completely impatient and they're completely stressed out. These are not normal times," Suidan said.

"It's affecting people on the street, it's affecting people everywhere. Everybody's extra-tense."

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The threat Israel didn't foresee: Hezbollah's growing drone power

Bassem Mroue

Associated Press

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Hezbollah militants take part in a military exercise with armed drones in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group launched one of its deepest strikes into Israel in mid-May, using an explosive drone that scored a direct hit on one of Israel’s most significant air force surveillance systems.

This and other successful drone attacks have given the Iranian-backed militant group another deadly option for an expected retaliation against Israel for its airstrike in Beirut last month that killed top Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukur .

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“It is a threat that has to be taken seriously,” Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said of Hezbollah's drone capability.

While Israel has built air defense systems, including the Iron Dome and David’s Sling to guard against Hezbollah's rocket and missile arsenal, there has been less focus on the drone threat.

“And as a result there has been less effort to build defensive capabilities” against drones, Hinz said.

Drones, or UAVS, are unmanned aircraft that can be operated from afar. Drones can enter, surveil and attack enemy territory more discreetly than missiles and rockets.

Hezbollah proclaimed the success of its May drone strike, which targeted a blimp used as part of Israel's missile defense system at a base about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Lebanon border.

The militants released footage showing what they said was their explosive Ababil drone flying toward the Sky Dew blimp, and later released photographs of the downed aircraft.

Israel’s military confirmed Hezbollah scored a direct hit.

“This attack reflects an improvement in accuracy and the ability to evade Israeli air defenses,” said a report released by the Institute for National Security Studies, an independent think tank affiliated with Tel Aviv University.

Since the near daily exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border began in early October, Hezbollah has used drones more to bypass Israeli air defense systems and strike its military posts along the border, as well as deep inside Israel.

While Israel has intercepted hundreds of drones from Lebanon during the Israel-Hamas war, its air defense systems are not hermetic, an Israeli security official said. Drones are smaller and slower than missiles and rockets, therefore harder to stop. That's especially true when they are launched from close to the border and require a shorter reaction time to intercept.

The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly in line with Israeli security restrictions, said Israeli air defense systems have had to contend with more drones during this war than ever before, and Israel responded by attacking launch points.

On Tuesday, a Hezbollah drone attack on an Israeli army base near the northern city of Nahariya wounded six people. One of the group’s bloodiest drone attacks was in April, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding 13 others plus four civilians in the northern Israeli community of Arab al-Aramsheh.

Hezbollah also sent surveillance drones that filmed vital facilities in Israel’s north, including in Haifa, its suburbs and the Ramat David Airbase, southeast of the coastal city.

While Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has boasted the militant group can now manufacture its own drones, its attacks so far have mainly relied on Iranian-made Ababil and Shahed drones. It has also used a drone, at least once, that fires Russian-made S5 guided missiles.

Hezbollah’s increasing capabilities have come despite Israel killing some of its most important drone experts.

The most high-profile was Shukur, who Israel said was responsible for most of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including missiles, long-range rockets and drones.

In 2013, a senior Hezbollah operative, Hassan Lakkis, considered one of its drone masterminds, was shot dead south of Beirut. The group blamed Israel. More recent strikes in Syria attributed to Israel killed Iranian and Hezbollah drone experts, including an official with the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division.

In its early days, Hezbollah used lower-tech tactics, including paragliders, to attack behind enemy lines.

After Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year occupation, Hezbollah began using Iranian-made drones and sent the first reconnaissance Mirsad drone over Israel’s airspace in 2004.

After the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, Lakkis, the Hezbollah drone mastermind, took charge of the drone program.

Hezbollah increased its use of drones in reconnaissance and attacks during its involvement in Syria’s conflict . In 2022, as Lebanon engaged in indirect negotiations to demarcate its maritime border with Israel, the group sent three drones over one of Israel’s biggest gas facilities in the Mediterranean before they were shot down by Israel.

Hezbollah's drone program still receives substantial assistance from Iran, and the UAVs are believed to be assembled by experts of the militant group in Lebanon.

“Since Iran has not been able to achieve aerial supremacy, it has resorted to such types of aircraft,” said retired Lebanon general and military expert Naji Malaaeb referring to drones. He added that Russia has benefited from buying hundreds of Iranian Shahed drones to use in its war against Ukraine.

In February, the Ukrainian intelligence service said that Iranian and Hezbollah experts were training Russian troops to operate Shahed-136 and Ababil-3 drones at an air base in central Syria. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah have a military presence in Syria, where they have been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

In a 2022 speech, Nasrallah boasted that “we in Lebanon, and since a long time, have started producing drones.”

The Lebanese militant group still apparently relies on parts from Western countries, which could pose an obstacle to mass production.

In mid-July, three people were arrested in Spain and one in Germany on suspicion of belonging to a network that supplied Hezbollah with parts to build explosive drones for use in attacks in northern Israel.

The Spanish companies implicated, like others in Europe and around the world, purchased items, including electronic guidance components, propulsion propellers, gasoline engines, more than 200 electric motors and materials for the fuselage, wings and other drone parts, according to investigators.

Authorities believe Hezbollah may have built several hundred drones with these components. Still, Iran remains Hezbollah’s main supplier.

“Israel’s air force can fire missiles on different parts of Lebanon, and now Hezbollah has drones and missiles that can reach any areas in Israel,” Iranian political analyst and political science professor Emad Abshenass said. He added that as the U.S. arms its closest ally, Israel, Iran is doing the same by arming groups such as Hezbollah.

Associated Press writer Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Middle East Crisis Arab States Urge Iran to Show Restraint in Conflict With Israel

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Arab nations urge Iran to exercise restraint in responding to a Hamas leader’s assassination.

Several Arab countries are encouraging Iran to exercise restraint in responding to the assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week, as fears of an unpredictable regional war expand.

The diplomatic blitz, led by countries allied with the United States, came as the Biden administration was trying to lower tensions in the Middle East and renew efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.

But the diplomacy also reflected concerns among some Arab countries of being dragged into a major conflict that could destabilize their economies and undermine their security.

In the past week, Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi of Jordan has twice met with senior Iranian officials, including the newly elected Iranian president , in a rare visit to Tehran.

“Jordan informed the Iranian brothers of its message in a clear manner,” Muhannad al-Mubaidin, Jordan’s minister of government communications, said in an interview. “We will not allow for our airspace or land to be used for any purpose. We are not willing to be a battlefield.”

In April, Jordan helped intercept missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel after senior Iranian officers were killed in an airstrike on Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus, Syria. The strike was widely attributed to Israel.

The latest tensions between Israel and Iran have put Jordan in a particularly challenging position. While it maintains a strong relationship with the United States and close security coordination with Israel, Jordan also has millions of citizens of Palestinian origin, including many who fiercely oppose aiding Israel in any form.

“Jordan has to strike a very delicate balance,” said Saud al-Sharafat, a former brigadier general in Jordan’s intelligence service. “It’s like walking on a tightrope.”

Last week, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that avenging Mr. Haniyeh’s death was “our duty” because he had been killed on Iranian soil. He promised to deliver “a severe punishment.”

Countries farther from Israel have also been urging Iran to refrain from escalating regional tensions.

In a phone call on Monday, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, told Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, that he had spoken to Ali Bagheri Kani, the Iranian foreign minister, about the need for restraint, according to an official familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

The Qatari prime minister also informed Mr. Blinken that Qatar had given a similar message to Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia that has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border, the official said. Hezbollah says it is fighting there in support of Hamas in Gaza. Both groups are backed by Iran.

Hours before Mr. Haniyeh’s assassination, Israel killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military official, in response to a deadly strike on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights days earlier. Israel blamed Hezbollah for that strike, but the group denied responsibility.

Earlier this week, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech that his group and Iran were “obliged to respond” to the killings of Mr. Shukr and Mr. Haniyeh, “whatever the consequences.”

“What is required is confrontation,” he said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty of Egypt called Mr. Bagheri Kani as a part of his country’s efforts to “contain the escalation in the region,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday expressed sympathy for Iran’s position and sharply criticized Israel during an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia of foreign ministers from countries belonging to the Organization for Islamic Cooperation.

The Saudi deputy foreign minister, Waleed El Khereiji, said that Mr. Haniyeh’s assassination had been a “blatant violation” of Iran’s “sovereignty, its regional and national security and of international law.” Mr. El Khereiji added that the kingdom called on the international community to force Israel to “bear responsibility for its crimes,” including attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Amid the flurry of calls and meetings, some officials in the Arab world were predicting that Iran would conduct a limited response.

One adviser for an Arab country whose officials speak frequently with their Iranian counterparts said they saw Iran as “smart and cautious” and that while they did expect a response to Mr. Haniyeh’s assassination, they thought it would be calibrated to avoid further escalation. The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to disrupt diplomatic channels.

Reducing tensions, Jordanian officials said, was important for giving an agreement on a cease-fire in Gaza a chance to be reached.

“It’s not possible to end a war while you’re witnessing an escalation from all the sides,” Mr. Mubaidin, the government communications minister, said.

Vivian Yee and Vivian Nereim contributed reporting.

— Adam Rasgon and Ben Hubbard

Key Developments

Turkey joins in the genocide case against Israel at the World Court, and other news.

Turkey asked on Wednesday to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In an initial ruling on the genocide case in January, the court ordered Israel to restrain its attacks in Gaza , and in May it ordered the country to immediately halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Israeli officials have strongly denied the genocide accusation and denounced the provisional measures . Several other countries have said they would file arguments in the case.

The Israeli military ordered Palestinians on Wednesday to leave several neighborhoods in northern Gaza and move south into Gaza City, warning shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning that it was preparing to take “immediate” and “forceful” action against Hamas and other militants who it said fired rockets toward Israel. The new evacuation orders were issued for areas near Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, which have been decimated by repeated Israeli bombardment. Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military urged displaced Palestinians to move even further south into central Gaza, including into Deir al Balah.

Amid a flurry of international diplomatic activity to avert a wider war in the Middle East, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke to Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday, according to a statement from Mr. Macron’s office. France’s leader called on Mr. Pezeshkian “to do everything in his power to avoid a new military escalation, which would be in nobody’s interest, including Iran’s,” the statement said. It added that Mr. Macron was sending the same message to all actors in the region that he was in contact with and reiterated France’s support for “an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and a firm refusal of any escalation with Lebanon.”

The Iranian authorities issued an advisory on Wednesday to all civil airlines not to fly over its airspace, according to Egyptian state media. The report attributed the advisory to military drills on Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning. Still, the warning came as the Middle East was bracing for a potential Iranian attack in response to the assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. It also came as airlines around the world, including United and Delta, have suspended some flights to the region amid fears of wider war.

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Some Gazans worry that Sinwar’s rise could mean a cease-fire is further away.

Palestinians in Gaza were apprehensive about Hamas’s decision on Tuesday to name Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to lead its political wing, fearing that a cease-fire deal — and an end to their suffering — would be even further away.

Ordinary Gazans have borne the brunt of 10 months of Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, and left hundreds of thousands of others struggling to find food, water and shelter. For that, many Gazans blame Mr. Sinwar, the influential leader of Hamas in Gaza.

His appointment to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed last week in an assassination in Iran widely believed to have been carried out by Israel , cements his influence over the armed group and shows that Hamas remains unwavering in its hard-line position.

“I thought that after they killed Haniyeh, they had already achieved their goal and that we were closer to the end of the war,” said Nisreen Sabouh, a 37-year-old displaced mother of four.

“But now, with Sinwar taking over, I don’t believe this will bring the negotiations to a better place,” she said, adding that Mr. Sinwar, who remains the head of Hamas in Gaza, “is tough and everyone knows that.”

The situation in Gaza has continued to worsen as Israeli troops have in recent weeks been returning to parts of Gaza where they said Hamas had regrouped. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, has expressed little appetite for compromise, insisting last month on further concessions from Hamas in negotiations.

The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of parts of the northern town of Beit Hanoun on Wednesday, the latest in a series of recent directives that have forced tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians to relocate yet again amid ongoing airstrikes and shelling.

Against that backdrop, the change in the leadership of the group that had governed them — often oppressively — was one of the many things some people said they no longer had the luxury to worry about.

“I don’t care who Hamas chooses to lead the movement inside or outside,” said Safaa Oda, a 39-year-old cartoonist from the southern city of Rafah who was displaced to a tent in Khan Younis.

“What we need is a cease-fire,” she said, adding that she believes that Sinwar’s appointment will make the situation in Gaza “worse than ever before.”

Mr. Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding out in tunnels deep beneath Gaza, has been widely seen as trying to keep Hamas’s focus more on military power than on running a civilian government. Hamas leaders have said they want to ignite a permanent state of war with Israel on all fronts as a way to revive the Palestinian cause.

Husam al-Khateeb, a 45-year-old technician at a local radio station from Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, described Mr. Sinwar as “the most obstinate man I have ever seen.”

Mr. Sinwar was “willing to do anything for the sake of the movement’s survival,” he said. A solution to the conflict and an end to the war would not come from Mr. Sinwar or from inside Gaza, he said, but from Iran and its proxies and the United States.

Ibtihal Shurrab, 29, from Khan Younis, noted the widespread thinking that Mr. Haniyeh was more of a figurehead, while Mr. Sinwar “has the first and last word in everything.”

“It is a scary situation that we live in,” she said. “I hope Sinwar can be the one to end the war, the way he was the one who started it.”

Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting from London.

— Bilal Shbair and Hiba Yazbek reporting from Gaza and Jerusalem

Sinwar is the ‘primary decider’ in any cease-fire, Blinken says.

Hamas’s decision to name Yahya Sinwar, its hard-line leader in Gaza and a key planner of the Oct. 7 attacks, to head its political wing could complicate prospects for a cease-fire deal by further empowering him in the troubled negotiations , political analysts said on Wednesday.

It could also make Hamas more impervious to pressure from nations like Qatar that have helped mediate the talks, given that Mr. Sinwar, unlike other leaders of the group, has remained in Gaza since the war started 10 months ago, the analysts said.

Israel and Hamas have been negotiating for months over a cease-fire deal that would involve the release of hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7. The deal would also involve the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention and an increase in the amount of aid to the enclave, and in a later phase is intended to lead to an end to the war.

American and Israeli officials have accused Hamas of intransigence over the deal, and they say Mr. Sinwar has always had the power to veto any proposal, given his leadership of the group in Gaza. Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said the announcement on Tuesday would reinforce that role.

The choice of Mr. Sinwar “only underscores the fact that it is really on him to decide whether to move forward with a cease-fire,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference in Annapolis, Md., late Tuesday, shortly after the appointment was announced. “He has been and remains the primary decider when it comes to concluding a cease-fire.”

At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has taken a hard line, saying last week that he wanted to put more military pressure on Hamas to squeeze more concessions from the group. Families of hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7 have accused Mr. Netanyahu of doing too little to reach an agreement that would secure their release.

Around 115 of the people seized as hostages on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza. That number includes the bodies of those who have died or been killed in captivity.

Hamas named Mr. Sinwar to replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s previous political leader and a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who had been living in Qatar, was killed in an explosion in Iran last week that has been widely attributed to Israel.

Mr. Sinwar is a major target of Israel’s military, which has vowed to eliminate him. He has made no public appearances since the start of the war and communicates through intermediaries.

In effect, the naming of Mr. Sinwar to the position amounts to a new phase in the cease-fire talks because it binds Hamas to the leader most identified with the war, one who has previously adopted an inflexible approach, according to Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science from Gaza City.

He said Mr. Sinwar was also more closely aligned with Iran than others in the group’s top leadership. Iran backs Hamas and has threatened retaliation for the assassination of Mr. Haniyeh.

“He isn’t going to make any more concessions. He knows more than anyone else that the hostages are the only card he has,” said Mr. Abusada, who is now based in Cairo.

Choosing a new leader for the political wing of Hamas would normally take months, and different segments of the group, including prisoners detained in Israel, would be consulted, according to Ibrahim Dalalsha, founder of the Horizon Center for Political Studies and Media Outreach, a research organization based in the West Bank. But Hamas made the decision quickly in order to send a message, he said.

Mr. Dalalsha said Mr. Sinwar cannot effectively oversee Hamas’s entire operation, given that he is in hiding, but the group wanted to signal that it views the war in Gaza, rather than developments in the West Bank, Qatar or elsewhere in the region, as its primary focus. Hamas’s selection of Mr. Sinwar also signals his primacy in the cease-fire talks.

“It tells Israel in a defiant way that they are negotiating with Sinwar, so it’s blunt,” he said.

But Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argued that while the new role for Mr. Sinwar was symbolically important for Hamas, it would make little difference in the negotiations, which he said have been deadlocked largely over arrangements for policing a strip of land between Gaza and Egypt.

Waiting for Mr. Sinwar’s approval has often slowed cease-fire negotiations. It has sometimes taken a day to get a message to him and another day to receive a response.

Mr. Sinwar has sometimes disagreed with Hamas leaders outside Gaza and is seen as less ready to concede ground to the Israeli negotiators, in part because he knows that he is likely to be killed whether or not the war ends, analysts say. The death of Mr. Haniyeh, in an explosion in Tehran last week, lends credence to this perception — as has Israel’s response.

Israeli officials have vowed to kill Mr. Sinwar in retaliation for his work in planning the Oct. 7 attack, which they say killed about 1,200 people and led to roughly 250 being taken back to Gaza as hostages. The military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, reiterated that stance on Tuesday.

“There is only one place for him, and that is alongside Muhammad Deif and all of the other terrorists who are responsible for Oct. 7,” he said, referring to another Hamas leader, whom Israel says it killed in an airstrike in July . “That is the only place we are preparing for him.”

Ephrat Livni contributed reporting.

— Matthew Mpoke Bigg

The United States presses Hamas’s new political chief to accept the latest cease-fire proposal.

The White House called on the new political leader of Hamas on Wednesday to accept the cease-fire agreement with Israel that remained on the table and expressed continued optimism that a deal could be had quickly if both sides simply agreed.

John F. Kirby, a national security spokesman for the White House, said that Yahya Sinwar — the leader of Hamas in Gaza who took over as head of the group’s political wing following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran last week — was a killer.

“The man is a terrorist,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. “He has an awful lot of blood on his hands. This guy was the architect of the 7th of October attacks in Israel. And some of that blood on his hands is American blood.”

But Mr. Kirby added that Mr. Sinwar had “always been the chief decision maker when it comes to negotiations” for a cease-fire. So in that sense, “nothing really changes,” he added.

“And as the chief decision maker, he needs to decide now to take this deal, to get a cease-fire in place, to get some of those hostages home and to get us all an opportunity to get more humanitarian assistance in,” Mr. Kirby said. “He needs to accept the deal.”

Mr. Kirby repeated the White House position that the cease-fire talks were “as close as we’ve ever been” to a deal with only select gaps remaining that were “narrow enough that they can be closed.”

He also put the onus on Israel to accept the deal.

“There is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place,” Mr. Kirby said.

He said that the United States was still “working really, really hard, with intense diplomacy” to avoid an escalation following the assassinations of Mr. Haniyeh in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon. “We certainly don’t want to see any sort of all-out regional war,” he said. “And there’s not a whole lot of indications that other parties here want to see the same thing.”

— Peter Baker Reporting from Washington

Israel’s military chief says the country is at ‘peak readiness,’ both defensively and offensively.

Government and military leaders are visiting troops at bases around Israel this week, vowing military readiness, as search-and-rescue units are deployed to Haifa, Eilat and other Israeli cities.

As fears of escalation rise around the region, Israelis are readying for attacks on multiple fronts, with the expectation that Iran and its proxies will retaliate after the assassinations last week of a Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, and Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

Israel has acknowledged killing Mr. Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but not Mr. Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran, though it has been widely held responsible for that assassination. The leaders of Iran and Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed Lebanese militia, have vowed to respond.

On Wednesday, Herzi Halevi, the military’s chief of staff, expressed readiness, telling soldiers after an assessment of the Tel-Nof Air Force Base, near Rehovoth : “I see peak readiness, both in offense and in defense.”

“We will know how to carry out a very rapid offensive anywhere in Lebanon, anywhere in Gaza, anywhere in the Middle East, above ground and below ground,” he added.

The same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops at a base near Tel Aviv, welcoming new recruits, according to a video posted on social media. Addressing Israeli citizens broadly, he urged them to remain calm, cool and vigilant. He has said that Israel would “exact a heavy price for any act of aggression.”

Haifa, Tel Aviv and other major cities were seeing an influx of search-and-rescue battalions , sent by the Israeli Home Front Command this week in preparation for any strikes on civilian centers. Residents have been told to stock up on food and water and limit their activities. In northern Israel, near Lebanon, outdoor gatherings are restricted to 30 people, and beaches are closed.

World leaders have been urgently exchanging phone calls in an attempt to stave off an escalation. On Wednesday, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke to his newly elected Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, to urge restraint, a message the French leader was sending to everyone in the region, according to a statement from Mr. Macron’s office.

President Biden spoke with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani , on Tuesday and with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday to convey a similar message.

The possibility of an escalation has rattled nerves around the region. In Lebanon, the government is stocking up on emergency supplies and preparing for worst-case scenarios . Iranians are watching and waiting.

Iran’s government has not issued directives about what citizens should do in the event of Israeli counterstrikes, leaving some Iranians anxious and confused . Iran issued a notice on Wednesday to civilian aviation agencies worldwide warning of military drills for several hours on Wednesday night and into Thursday over parts of the country. The announcement stoked fears of a possibly imminent strike, but the night passed with relative quiet.

Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.

— Ephrat Livni