Israel’s largest healthcare organisation, Clalit Health Services, which serves more than five million patients, is to invest approximately NIS 400 million in a new advanced logistics centre in Beersheba. The facility is designed to strengthen the resilience and independence of the healthcare supply chain across southern Israel in both routine and wartime conditions.
The project was developed partly in response to lessons learned during the war, including the severe damage sustained by Clalit’s Soroka Medical Center and other infrastructure in the south during Iranian missile attacks, as well as disruptions to the movement of supplies into the region. These events highlighted the need for a more resilient and decentralised medical logistics system capable of maintaining the continuous supply of essential medicines, medical equipment, and other critical resources during emergencies.
The new logistics centre will occupy approximately 23 dunams and include around 27,500 square metres of above-ground facilities, with advanced automated systems for inventory management, picking, and distribution. These systems will enable Clalit to maintain and rapidly deploy critical medical supplies across the region. Clalit expects the facility to meet its storage and distribution needs in southern Israel for at least the next two decades, reflecting continued growth in healthcare activity and in the number of Clalit members in the region.
Clalit currently operates two major logistics centres, in Shoham and Haifa. In recent years, the organisation has developed a strategic plan to establish independent logistics infrastructure in the south, creating a three-hub model across northern, central, and southern Israel. Once operational, the Beersheba centre will enable faster and more direct deliveries not only to Soroka Medical Center and Clalit’s Yoseftal Medical Center, but also to hundreds of community clinics and numerous pharmacies serving Clalit members throughout southern Israel.
By locating substantial stocks of medicines and equipment within the region itself, and by reducing dependence on major transportation routes, the network is designed to shorten delivery times, create greater redundancy in the medical supply chain, and minimise the impact of any future interruptions to transport links from the centre or north of the country.
A Clalit spokesperson said: “The south needs an independent logistical backbone. The establishment of the logistics centre in Beersheba is our response to these challenges. It will allow us to diversify risk and ensure that even in extreme situations involving damage to infrastructure or the disruption of major transportation routes, critical medical supplies are already within the region and ready for immediate distribution.”
Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich said: “This is major and important news for Beersheba and the entire Negev. Clalit’s largest logistics centre in Israel will be located in the heart of the city. Alongside creating more than 100 new jobs, it will provide essential resources for the healthcare system during both routine times and emergencies.”
Southern Israel has seen steady growth in population and in the number of people enrolled with Clalit, and the new centre is intended to accommodate that expansion for years to come while addressing vulnerabilities exposed by recent conflict-related damage and supply challenges. Once complete, the facility will work in coordination with the existing centres in Shoham and Haifa to provide a more balanced and secure national medical logistics system, while also bringing economic benefits to Beersheba and the wider Negev area through the jobs it creates.