The presence of the asbestos in the ground in the vicinity of the Paul Kor School in Petah Tikva was discovered during construction of a new road but was later found even closer to the school grounds. The parents say they learned of the problem by chance, but the municipality denies any wrongdoing
Noa Limone. January 04, 2026
The parents of students at the Paul Kor elementary school in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva kept their children home from school for a month after their parents learned by chance that asbestos had been found in the ground nearby.
The parents accused the Petah Tikva municipality of concealing the presence of the asbestos, fibers from which can cause serious lung problems. At this point, most of the students have returned to school.
The municipality denies any wrongdoing, saying that the asbestos was discovered in November more than 50 meters (165 feet) from the grounds of the school and even farther away from residential areas of the city. The municipality acknowledged that additional asbestos was found in mid-December closer to the school and said residents of the area were informed of the issue.
“It’s criminal negligence,” said one student’s father, who is only being identified as A. for this article. Other parents accused the municipality of failing to take necessary safety precautions and endangering their children’s health.
We saw people coming to the site in white suits and wearing masks, like in a science fiction movie, while the children were in classrooms nearby with open windows or playing in the yard, separated from the site by nothing more than a tin fence,” one parent said.
The presence of the asbestos in the ground was discovered in November during construction work on a new road in the city’s Em Hamoshavot neighborhood in the vicinity of a kindergarten, a community center and the Paul Kor School.
All forms of asbestos are considered clearly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Exposure can cause lung cancer as well as mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer affecting the membrane surrounding the lungs and other internal organs. The cancer usually develops decades after exposure and is usually fatal.
Asbestos exposure has also been linked to cancer of the throat, ovaries, stomach and colon as well as to chronic and acute respiratory diseases. Children exposed to asbestos face a higher risk of developing lung disease than adults with comparable levels of exposure.
On November 11 of last year, the Environmental Protection Ministry received an anonymous report about the presence of the asbestos and that same day notified the Petah Tikva municipality and the Ayalon Highways Company, which is constructing the road. The ministry also asked that the Petah Tikva Municipality’s environmental protection department carry out an inspection of the site.
But the municipality didn’t halt the road work or inform the school, the parents or nearby residents, and later undertook work to remove the asbestos without notifying the parents. The municipality claimed that the Ayalon Highways Company was responsible for contacting residents and the school administration over the issue, but the highway company that was the municipality’s responsibility and claimed that the company had acted in accordance with the law in coordination with the city.
Israel’s Asbestos Hazard Prevention Law mandates safety precautions if the asbestos is present less than 50 meters from residents. Measurements conducted by the municipality showed the distance to be slightly greater. But at a meeting between parents and municipal representatives, an audio recording from which was obtained by Haaretz, a contractor is heard saying that he measured the distance from the hazard to the school building itself and not from the perimeter of school grounds, which is closer to the site of the asbestos.
During inspections conducted by the Environmental Protection Ministry, additional asbestos fiber was discovered adjacent to the fence separating the site from the school and near a park used by local children for extracurricular and educational activities. The presence of the asbestos near the school became known to parents by chance, after a city employee inadvertently mentioned it to the head of the parents’ committee at a meeting in early December on the subject of the road construction. At that point, the parents decided to keep their children home from school.
In mid-December, the Environmental Protection Ministry conducted two site inspections and subsequently ordered a halt to all road construction work. There is still asbestos at the site, according to both the findings from an independent inspection commissioned by parents and testing conducted by the ministry, but it is at a distance of more than 50 meters.
D., another parent who spoke with Haaretz, criticized the municipality’s conduct. “At the very least, they should have informed the school administration so precautions could be taken, such as closing windows and refraining from using the yard near the site,” he said. “They also could have scheduled the work at site for the afternoon hours [after school].”
The Petah Tikva municipality said in response that when the asbestos was discovered in November, “there was no need to stop work, as what was found at that time was more than 50 meters from the school grounds and farther from residential areas.”
“The fragments found near the school were only discovered in mid-December and from the moment that they were found, residents were informed,” the municipality said. “The following day, the mayor convened all responsible parties, ordered a halt to the work, replacement of the contractor for the cleanup of the site, regular public updates and additional air tests.”
A., the father of a child at the school, said the work at the site was considerable. “They removed thousands of cubic meters of soil with hundreds of trucks,” he said. “That was before latest rain, so the soil was dry, and the asbestos was in its most dangerous state – broken, crumbled and dry.”
“Strong northerly winds blew through the area at the time, so it’s very likely that asbestos particles were carried through the air and inside the school,” he added.
Officials at the Environmental Protection Ministry said that the asbestos may not have been discovered in previous inspections because it may have been carried there by recent heavy rains. But they admitted that it may have been there previously and was simply missed.
Parents say they are convinced it was missed. “There were no floods,” A. said. “The municipality and the ministry keep saying there are only a few asbestos fragments, but we saw a large amount.”
The ministry ordered a halt to the roadwork and required soil and air quality testing before students could return to the school. The ministry also issued a document explaining that the decision was made due to “reasonable concern over the creation of additional hazards at the site and continued violation of the law.”
When asked by Haaretz whether the law had indeed been violated, the ministry declined to reply, saying only that it is weighing its next steps based on the findings. While most students have returned to school, some parents remain concerned.
An aerial view of the construction site in Petah Tikva on Thursday.
The ministry said that it is supervising the asbestos removal throughout the course of the work, as is the municipality. “We also note that, although not required by law and solely as a precaution, the ministry instructed the municipality to conduct airborne fiber sampling inside the school’s classrooms to check for the presence of asbestos fiber in the air before students returned from Hanukkah vacation. The test results did not show any abnormal findings,” the ministry said.
“I’m really not comfortable with this,” said B., the mother of a student. “One of the considerations is the weather. When it rains and the asbestos is just getting wet, it doesn’t spread, [but] I don’t know if I will send my daughter to school on windy, dry days.”
For the time being, some teachers at the school are wearing masks in class, she said. “Some tell the children that the air is polluted. My daughter asked if it was safe to go to school. I told her that the rain cleans the air. I hope that’s true.”
According to a statement from the Environmental Protection Ministry, following the discovery of asbestos, it ordered a halt to the road work on December 15 and instructed the company to submit a request for an asbestos work permit to safely remove the hazard.
“On December 18, the request was submitted, and the next day the ministry granted the permit for the work,” the ministry said. “According to the ministry’s guidelines, the removal is carried out in two stages: in the first stage, surveying and collecting asbestos fragments along the route [of the road] and in piles on the western part of the site; in the second stage, a pile of construction waste suspected of containing asbestos will be removed, and a soil survey will be conducted as a condition for the resumption of [construction] work, before it resumes in summer 2026.”