Highway 35 (Israel)

Highway 35 begins at Barqaiya Junction in Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coastal plain and runs eastward through the Lachish region, passing through Kiryat Gat before continuing to the Tarkumiya checkpoint on the Green Line.[1] East of the checkpoint it continues to its terminus at the junction with Highway 60 near Hebron.[1] An Israeli government environmental document from 2013 classifies the road as a principal artery under National Outline Plan 3, placing it along the southern boundary of the Adullam Caves Park area.[1]

Along its western section the highway intersects Highway 40 at Plugot Junction and Highway 232 at Givati Junction.[5][6] Moshav Revaha lies between Highway 35 and the parallel Highway 3533, and residents there have reported unusually heavy traffic when drivers use local roads as an alternative to congestion at Plugot Junction.[7] Traffic-enforcement cameras have been installed westbound at Givati Junction and at Plugot Junction.[5] During the morning peak hour in 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics recorded approximately 650 vehicles traveling in both directions on the highway.[1]

In Kiryat Gat, Route 35 physically separates the newer Carmei Gat neighborhood — established in 2017 on former farmland north of the city's older core — from the rest of the urban area.[8] Only three roads connect the two parts of the city, and with municipal data placing Carmei Gat's population above 30,000 residents, planners have warned that inadequate highway connections could effectively divide Kiryat Gat into isolated districts.[8][9]

The road's eastern section near Hebron has been referenced in several major Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic instruments. The January 1997 Hebron Protocol distinguishes among a "new Route No. 35," an "existing Route No. 35," and an "old Route No. 35," treating each as a distinct element of the security and administrative arrangements around Hebron.[3] The protocol assigned a Joint Patrol to operate on existing Route No. 35, including its eastern section, and identified the high ground overlooking the new route as a location deserving special attention from Joint Mobile Units.[3] Old Route No. 35 was incorporated into the boundary description of an Agreed Adjacent Area, with the boundary defined as running from Reference Point 100 along the old route to Reference Point 101 and then by straight lines to Reference Points 102 and 103.[3]

In a compilation of Oslo agreements, the Hebron provisions specify two joint patrols: one from Ras e-Jura northward toward the Dura junction via E-Salaam Road, and another on existing Route 35, including its eastern section.[4] These provisions placed the highway within the broader Oslo-era framework for Israeli-Palestinian security coordination in the Hebron area.[4]

Following the Oslo framework, the 1999 Safe Passage Protocol used Highway 35 as part of a partially implemented corridor allowing Palestinians to travel between Gaza and the West Bank. That route ran from the Erez Crossing along Highway 4 to the Ashkelon intersection and then along Highway 35 to Tarkumia.[10] During its first four months of operation, 115,000 people, 6,500 taxis, 1,700 buses, and 2,100 cars used the passage; it was subsequently closed during the Second Intifada.[10]

A 42-kilometer (26-mile) section of Israel's security barrier south of Hebron was built along the alignment of bypass Road 35, stretching from the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the west to the Meitar checkpoint in the south.[11] This section was completed in 2017, after which the Defense Ministry completed an additional 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) section.[11] The Tarkumiya Crossing on Highway 35 remains an active security installation; in 2025 the Defense Ministry's Border Crossings Authority conducted a planned exercise there involving gunshots, explosions, and emergency vehicles, with warnings issued of potential traffic disruptions.[12]

Highway 35 is open to both Israeli and Palestinian traffic.[13] As an intercity road in the West Bank, it is accessible to free Palestinian movement, a status that distinguishes the current situation from the restricted-access conditions that applied during the Second Intifada.[13] The road is not restricted to settlers and, like virtually all major highways within the West Bank, is open to Palestinian traffic.[14]

This point became publicly significant after the April 2014 attack near the Tarkumiya checkpoint, when an initial report in The Economist incorrectly described Route 35 as a settler-only road. The Economist issued a correction on April 22, 2014, acknowledging that error as well as a separate error concerning the victim's identity.[14]

Kiryat Gat has sought upgrades to Highway 35 interchanges to support the growth of the Carmei Gat neighborhood. A Knesset committee discussion recorded that the Ministry of Transport was promoting two new interchanges — one at Derekh HaDarom and another at Sderot Lachish — along with a broader highway upgrade.[9] The ministry described the project as under execution with expected completion toward the end of 2019; Kiryat Gat's mayor disputed this characterization and maintained the project remained in planning.[9] Planners warned that without adequate road connections, the city risked becoming, in one representative's words, "three separate cities without any connection between them."[9] The neighborhood was initially planned for 7,500 marketed housing units and 2,500 issued building permits.[9]

An earlier Knesset plenary document from 2001 addressed the Kiryat Gat–Ashkelon road segment, identifying it as one of the country's dangerous roads and noting that the Ministry of Transport had recognized its safety problems.[15] Planned improvements included widening to a dual carriageway, rebuilding a 4-kilometer eastern section on a safer alignment, and treating dangerous intersections; the estimated total project budget was approximately 35 million shekels, with 17 million shekels allocated for 2001.[15]

Separate planned works affecting the Highway 35 junction included geometric and physical improvements to Highway 40, widening around Plugot Interchange, and work at the Highway 35–Highway 40 intersection. At the time of reporting, those works had not yet been carried out and remained under discussion between the Finance and Transport ministries.[16]

In 2020, Israel's Civil Administration approved a project described as an extension of Highway 35 in the West Bank, intended to provide a rapid connection from the Binyamin industrial zone to Highway 443 near the Atarot industrial zone.[17] The planned route would pass beneath the Qalandiya checkpoint and the town of al-Ram through a 600-meter tunnel.[17] Construction would require the expropriation of Palestinian land; the plan was described as coordinated with the Palestinian Authority because the road would also serve Palestinian traffic.[17]

The section of Highway 35 passing through the southern Hebron Hills near the Tarkumiya checkpoint has been the site of lethal terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.[18][2]

On April 14, 2014, Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi was fatally shot near the Tarkumiya checkpoint, close to the village of Idhna northeast of Hebron.[18] Mizrahi was traveling with his family to celebrate a Passover Seder in Kiryat Arba.[19] A terrorist approached Route 35 near Idhna on foot and fired dozens of rounds at the vehicle.[18] His wife and one of their five children were moderately wounded.[18] Mizrahi lived in Modi'in, within Israel's Green Line, and was not a settler — a fact that became the subject of a published correction after initial media reports mischaracterized both him and the road.[14]

On September 1, 2024, a drive-by shooting targeted a police vehicle on Route 35 near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, killing three Israeli police officers.[2] Israeli security forces later surrounded the gunman at a house in Hebron and killed him during an exchange of fire.[2]