2024 time change dates for Israel
At 2:00 AM the clocks jump straight to 3:00 AM in Israel. That hour never happens, and everyone loses an hour of sleep.
At 2:00 AM the clocks return to 1:00 AM, so that hour is lived through twice and the night is an hour longer.
Israel keeps IST in winter and shifts one hour forward for the summer.
Countdown to the next change
Health Considerations for Israel Residents
The spring transition is the one that hurts. A study in Open Heart found the risk of heart attack rose by about 24% on the Monday after clocks went forward, before falling back to normal within the week. Research published in Current Biology found a 6% rise in fatal traffic accidents in the week following the spring change, with the effect strongest in the morning and in the western parts of time zones.
The autumn change, when most people gain an hour, shows no comparable spike. Researchers attribute the difference to sleep loss rather than to the clock change itself.
Background
- Germany and Austria-Hungary were the first countries to adopt DST nationally, in April 1916, as a wartime fuel-saving measure.
- Benjamin Franklin is often credited with inventing DST, but his 1784 essay was satire — he joked that Parisians could save candles by waking earlier. The modern proposal came from New Zealander George Hudson in 1895 and Briton William Willett in 1907.
- The energy case for DST is weak by modern standards. A US Department of Energy study in 2008 found savings of about 0.5% of daily electricity use, and other studies have found no saving at all.
Tips for Israel
Take advantage of the 'extra' hour in fall to catch up on sleep or tackle a project.
Consider the time change when scheduling meetings with people in other time zones.
Update your car clock, microwave, and other manual clocks that don't auto-update.
Check and replace smoke detector batteries when changing clocks - it's a good reminder!
Frequently asked questions
When do the clocks change in Israel in 2024?
Clocks go forward on Friday, March 29, 2024 and back on Sunday, October 27, 2024.
Which way do the clocks go?
"Spring forward, fall back" is the usual mnemonic: forward one hour in spring, back one hour in autumn.
Do I have to change anything myself?
Phones, computers and anything that syncs over the internet update on their own. Car clocks, ovens, microwaves and older wall clocks generally do not.
Is Daylight Saving Time being scrapped?
It has been proposed in many places and adopted in few. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to end mandatory clock changes and the change has stalled; in the United States the Sunshine Protection Act has repeatedly passed the Senate without becoming law. Most of the world that changes its clocks is still changing them.