Residents of Eilat and the Arava have woken up in recent days to the sight of huge swarms of locusts spreading over their gardens and public areas.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the swarm of yellow locusts had spread over all the fields and crops. In Moshav Hatzeva residents managed to capture some of the locusts in net traps before the pests could raid the fields and crops. Kibbutz Samar and Kibbutz Elifaz in the southern Arava are also worried about the future of the crop.
In Eilat, the locust settled in the area of a field school close to the sea, and parts of the swarm were seen all over the city and in private gardens.
According to Amir Balaban, director of urban nature at the Society for the Protection of Nature, the locusts are an important food source for local wildlife. "Hundreds of bee-eater birds were seen in the Kibbutz Lotan area, making their way from Africa to Europe. They climb over the fences of the settlement and hunt the migratory locust that lands in the area. For the desert wildlife, too, it's a crazy protein festival, and like them, a lot of other migratory birds feed on locusts as they migrate north during this season."