The Israeli Ministry of Tourism plans to promote the construction of an amusement park with the largest Ferris wheel in the Middle Easthotels and a monument in memory of the victims of the October 7 attacks in a complex that will be located on the border with the Gaza Strip and that could be operational within five years.

The Minister of Tourism, Haim Katzdefends the need for this project to reactivate the area, protect nature and attract tourism. The plan foresees an area for concerts, another for festivals and economic activities that provide employment to the population of the area.

“We want a tourist destination that host the craziest parties in the world in the same place where the Nova Festival was held, in Reim”, one of the places attacked by Hamas militiamen, said the head of the Tourist Company of the Government of Israel, Elad Ernfeld, quoted by the newspaper ‘Yedioth Aharonoth’.

“In addition, you will be able to visit the farmlands together with the farmers and the attractions and services will be jobs for the residents of the area,” he highlighted.

Ernfeld explained that the giant Ferris wheel seeks to “demonstrate to everyone inside Gaza that the border area has come back to life because that is the most important thing, coming back to life“Tourism must reach that area and we must remember and document the horrors of that terrible Saturday,” he stressed.

Objective: to be the third tourist destination in Israel after Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Minister Haim Katz is already dealing with those responsible for the reconstruction of the area to launch the project. “As a public company and executive arm of the Ministry, we will have to specify it with a tribute message,” Ernfeld highlighted. “The museum will take visitors through three sections of remembrance,” he explained.

These three sections will cover from the creation of the State of Israel until October 7, another on the events of October 7 with videos, testimonies, interviews,…, and a third section on the reconstruction, the tourist part, has been reported. .

“It can become one of the three main tourist destinations in the State of Israel after Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It is half an hour from Tel Aviv and half an hour from Beer Sheva. It has all the potential. “It is true that a national trauma has occurred here, but our mission will be to revive the place and make it an area accessible by road or train, not to mention the economic importance it will have and the jobs it will create for the neighbors,” he explained.

Neighbors question the plan: “It is far from reality”

However, residents of the area have expressed their surprise after learning about these plans and have even denounced a “disconnection with reality”with what the people of the region want and need.

“It is clear that there will be many who will want to come to the area after the war and that tourism can be developed, but there are many questions about how to do it in a way that preserves and honors the victims and takes into account the neighbors and the disaster that have lived,” explained a neighbor.

“The feeling is that they are going too fast with a plan that is far from reality,” he added in statements reported by ‘The Times of Israel’.

The plan already has financing secured after the approval in the Council of Ministers of a budget of 18 billion shekels (more than 4.5 billion euros) within a period of five years.