Eilat (Hebrew: אֵילַת‎, Arabic: إيلات‎ About this sound (audio) (help·info)) is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. Home to 65,000 people,  the city is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arava. The city is adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba  to the south, the Jordanian port city of Aqaba to the east, and within sight of Saudi Arabia to the south-east, across the gulf. Eilat's arid desert climate  is moderated by proximity to a warm sea. Temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) in summer, and 21 °C (70 °F) in winter, while water temperatures range between 20 and 26 °C (68 and 79 °F). The city's beaches, nightlife and desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourism.

The original settlement was probably at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.Archaeological excavations uncovered impressive prehistoric tombs dating to the 7th millennium BCE at the western edge of Eilat, while nearby copper workings and mining operations at Timna Valley are the oldest on earth. Ancient Egyptian records also document the extensive and lucrative mining operations and trade across the Red Sea with Egypt starting as early as the Fourth dynasty of Egypt. Eilat is mentioned in antiquity as a major trading partner with Elim, Thebes' Red Sea Port, as early as the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt.Trade between Elim and Eilat furnished Frankincense and Myrrh, brought up from Ethiopia and Punt; Bitumen and Natron, from the Dead Sea; finely woven Linen, from Byblos; and copper amulets, from Timnah; all mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. In antiquity Eilat bordered the states of Edom, Midian and the tribal territory of the Rephidim, the indigenous inhabitants of the Sinai.


Eilat is first mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Exodus. The first six stations of the Exodus are in Egypt. The 7th is the crossing of the Red Sea and the 9th-13th are in and around Eilat, after the exodus from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. Station 12 refers to a dozen campsites in and around Timna in Modern Israel near Eilat. When King David conquered Edom[1], which up to then had been a common border of Edom and Midian, he took over Eilat, the border city shared by them as well. The commercial port city and copper based industrial center were maintained by Egypt until reportedly rebuilt by Solomon at a location known as Ezion-Geber (I Kings 9:26). In 2 Kings 14:21-22: "And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept among his fathers." And again in 2 Kings 16:6: "At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath to Aram, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, and dwelt there, unto this day".

During the Roman period a road was built to link the area with the Nabataean  city of Petra  (modern-day Jordan). The remains of a large copper smelting  and trading community which flourished during the Ummayad Period (700-900 CE) were also found between what is now Eilat's industrial zone and nearby Kibbutz Eilot. The Darb el Hajj  or "Pilgrim's Road", from Africa through Egypt to Mecca, passed out of Sinai from the west at Eilat before skirting the sea and continuing south into Arabia.

The area of Eilat was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War an old Ottoman police station, called Umm Rashrash in Arabic, was taken without a fight on March 10, 1949 as part of Operation Uvda, in which both the Negev and Golani Brigades participated. (Only one of Umm Rashrash 's mud-brick buildings remains standing, in a tiny park.) Having forgotten to bring an Israeli flag with them, the Negev Brigade soldiers improvised and raised the "Ink Flag" in order to claim for Israel the area upon which Eilat would be constructed. The Timna Copper Mines near Timna valley were opened, a port was constructed, the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline laid, and tourists began visiting.

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