List of cities in Israel in the context of "Districts of Israel"

Haifa (/ˈhaɪfə/ HY-fə; Hebrew: חיפה, romanized: Ḥēyfā, IPA: [ˈχajfa]; Arabic: حيفا, romanized: Ḥayfā) is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of 298,312 in 2023. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to the Baháʼí Faith's Baháʼí World Centre, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Baháʼí pilgrimage.

Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years. The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE). In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the Haifa area has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites, Israelites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, and the British. During the Battle of Haifa in the 1948 Palestine war, most of the city's Arab population fled or were expelled. That year, the city became part of the then-newly-established state of Israel.

Acre (/ˈɑːkər, ˈeɪkər/ AH-kər, AY-kər), known in Hebrew as Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAkkō, IPA: [ˈako]) and in Arabic as Akka (Arabic: عكّا, ʻAkkā, IPA: [ˈʕak.ka]), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel.

The city occupies a strategic location, sitting in a natural harbour at the extremity of Haifa Bay on the coast of the Mediterranean's Levantine Sea. Aside from coastal trading, it was an important waypoint on the region's coastal road and the road cutting inland along the Jezreel Valley. The first settlement during the Early Bronze Age was abandoned after a few centuries but a large town was established during the Middle Bronze Age. Continuously inhabited since then, it is among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth. It has, however, been subject to conquest and destruction several times and survived as little more than a large village for centuries at a time.

31°15′8″N 34°47′12″E / 31.25222°N 34.78667°E / 31.25222; 34.78667

Beersheba (/bɪərˈʃiːbə/ beer-SHEE-bə), officially Be'er-Sheva (/bɛərˈʃɛvə/ bair-SHEV-ə), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most populous Israeli city with a population of 218,995, and the second-largest city in the area (after Jerusalem), with a total area of 117,500 dunams (117.5 square kilometres).

Local councils (Hebrew plural: מוֹעָצוֹת מְקוֹמִיּוֹת, romanized: Mo'atzot Mekomiot; singular: מוֹעָצָה מְקוֹמִית Mo'atza Mekomit; Arabic plural: مجالس محليّة, romanized: Majalis Mahaliyya; singular: مجلس محلّي Majlis Mahallī) are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, the other two being cities and regional councils. There are 124 local councils in Israel, including 69 Arab local councils.

Local council status is determined by passing a minimum threshold: enough to justify operations as independent municipal units, although not of a scale large enough to be declared a city. In general this applies to all settlements of over 2,000 people.