Editing Tel Aviv (section)

===State of Israel===
[[File:Israel -Independence May 14, 1948.jpg|thumb|Crowd outside Dizengoff House (now [[Independence Hall (Israel)|Independence Hall]]) to witness the proclamation and signing of Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948]]

After Israel [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|declared Independence]] on 14 May 1948, Tel Aviv was the temporary government center of the State of Israel. The city was repeatedly bombed by Egyptian warplanes and shelled by Egyptian warships during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War|Israeli War of Independence]], killing around 150 people. The most significant attack was the [[1948 Tel Aviv bus station bombing|bombing of the central bus station]], in which 42 people were killed.<ref>[https://blog.nli.org.il/en/hoi_egypt_tel-aviv/ When the Egyptians Bombed Tel Aviv]</ref> On 3 June 1948, the [[Israeli Air Force]] scored its first aerial victory over Tel Aviv when Israeli fighter pilot [[Modi Alon]] shot down two Egyptian bombers during a raid. The city was also the scene of fighting between the [[Israel Defense Forces]] and [[Irgun]] during the [[Altalena Affair]], in which the IDF stopped an Irgun attempt to import arms for its own use.

In December 1949, the Israeli government relocated to [[Jerusalem]]. Due to the international dispute over the [[Positions on Jerusalem|status of Jerusalem]], most embassies remained in or near Tel Aviv.<ref name="VTLV">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Telaviv.html |title=Tel Aviv |access-date=18 July 2007 |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |archive-date=1 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070601204949/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Telaviv.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa became a matter of contention between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Israeli government in 1948.<ref name="Golan1995">{{cite journal |last1=Golan |first1=Arnon |year=1995 |title=The demarcation of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's municipal boundaries |journal=Planning Perspectives |volume=10 |pages=383–398 |doi=10.1080/02665439508725830}}</ref> The former wished to incorporate only the northern Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, while the latter wanted a more complete unification.<ref name="Golan1995" /> The issue also had international sensitivity, since the main part of Jaffa was in the Arab portion of the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|United Nations Partition Plan]], whereas Tel Aviv was not, and no armistice agreements had yet been signed.<ref name="Golan1995" /> On 10 December 1948, the government announced the annexation to Tel Aviv of Jaffa's Jewish suburbs, the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] neighborhood of [[Abu Kabir]], the Arab village of [[Salama, Jaffa|Salama]] and some of its agricultural land, and the Jewish [[Hatikva Quarter]].<ref name="Golan1995" /> On 25 February 1949, the depopulated Palestinian village of [[al-Shaykh Muwannis]] was also annexed to Tel Aviv.<ref name="Golan1995" /> On 18 May 1949, [[Manshiya]] and part of Jaffa's central zone were added, for the first time including land that had been in the Arab portion of the UN partition plan.<ref name="Golan1995" /> The government voted on the unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on 4 October 1949, but the decision was not implemented until 24 April 1950 due to the opposition of Tel Aviv mayor [[Israel Rokach]].<ref name="Golan1995" /> The name of the unified city was Tel Aviv until 19 August 1950, when it was renamed Tel Aviv-Yafo in order to preserve the historical name Jaffa.<ref name="Golan1995" /> Tel Aviv thus grew to {{cvt|42|km2|sqmi|sp=us|1}}. In 1949, a memorial to the 60&nbsp;founders of Tel Aviv was constructed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fodors.com/world/africa%20and%20middle%20east/israel/tel%20aviv/entity_190378.html |title=Founders Monument and Fountain |access-date=21 January 2008 |work=[[Fodor's]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130002108/http://www.fodors.com/world/africa%20and%20middle%20east/israel/tel%20aviv/entity_190378.html |archive-date=30 January 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Tel_Aviv-Yafo_997009452359205171.jpg|thumb|Tel Aviv in 1961]]

In the 1960s, some of the older buildings were demolished, making way for the country's first high-rises. The historic [[Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium]] was controversially demolished, to make way for the [[Shalom Meir Tower]], which was completed in 1965, and remained [[List of tallest buildings in Israel|Israel's tallest building]] until 1999. Tel Aviv's population peaked in the early 1960s at 390,000, representing 16&nbsp;percent of the country's total.<ref name="profile">{{cite web |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/English/engineering/strategy/pdf/profile-main-issues.pdf |title=City Profile |access-date=30 March 2008 |publisher=Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070306032523/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/engineering/strategy/pdf/profile-main-issues.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2007}}</ref> By the early 1970s, Tel Aviv had entered a long and steady period of continuous population decline, which was accompanied by [[urban decay]]. By 1981, Tel Aviv had entered not just natural population decline, but an absolute population decline as well.<ref name="Interregional Migration 2012 page 164">{{cite book |title=Interregional Migration: Dynamic Theory and Comparative Analysis |editor-first1=Wolfgang |editor-last1=Weidlich |editor-first2=Günter |editor-last2=Haag |publisher=Springer |date=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mLvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |page=164 |isbn=9783642730498 |access-date=9 June 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005124436/https://books.google.com/books?id=0mLvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 1980s the city had an aging population of 317,000.<ref name="profile" /> Construction activity had moved away from the inner ring of Tel Aviv, and had moved to its outer perimeter and adjoining cities. A mass out-migration of residents from Tel Aviv, to adjoining cities like [[Petah Tikva]] and [[Rehovot]], where better housing conditions were available, was underway by the beginning of the 1970s, and only accelerated by the [[Yom Kippur War]].<ref name="Interregional Migration 2012 page 164"/> Cramped housing conditions and high property prices pushed families out of Tel Aviv and deterred young people from moving in.<ref name="profile" /> From the beginning of 1970s, the common image of Tel Aviv became that of a decaying city,<ref name="Tel Aviv 2007 page 132">{{cite book |title=Tel Aviv: Mythography of a City |first=Maoz |last=Azaryahu |publisher=Syracuse University Press |date=2007 |page=132}}</ref> as Tel Aviv's population fell 20%.<ref name=StrategicPlan26/>
[[File:Tel_Aviv-Yafo_997009323131805171.jpg|thumb|Tel Aviv in 1970]]

In the 1970s, the apparent sense of Tel Aviv's urban decline became a theme in the work of novelists such as [[Yaakov Shabtai]], in works describing the city such as ''Sof Davar'' (''The End of Things'') and ''Zikhron Devarim'' (''The Memory of Things'').<ref name="Tel Aviv 2007 page 132"/> A symptomatic article of 1980 asked "Is Tel Aviv Dying?" and portrayed what it saw as the city's existential problems: "Residents leaving the city, businesses penetrating into residential areas, economic and social gaps, deteriorating neighbourhoods, contaminated air – Is the First Hebrew City destined for a slow death? Will it become a ghost town?".<ref name="Tel Aviv 2007 page 132"/> However, others saw this as a transitional period. By the late 1980s, attitudes to the city's future had become markedly more optimistic. It had also become a center of nightlife and discotheques for Israelis who lived in the suburbs and adjoining cities. By 1989, Tel Aviv had acquired the nickname "Nonstop City", as a reflection of the growing recognition of its nightlife and 24/7 culture, and "Nonstop City" had to some extent replaced the former moniker of "First Hebrew City".<ref>{{cite book |title=Tel Aviv: Mythography of a City |first=Maoz |last=Azaryahu |publisher=Syracuse University Press |date=2007 |page=131}}</ref> The largest project built in this era was the [[Dizengoff Center]], Israel's first shopping mall, which was completed in 1983. Other notable projects included the construction of [[Marganit Tower]] in 1987, the opening of the [[Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater]] in 1989, and the [[Tel Aviv Cinematheque]] (opened in 1973 and located to the current building in 1989).
[[File:Assassination_of_Prime_Minister_Yitzhak_Rabin,_1995_XVI_Dan_Hadani_Archive.jpg|thumb|A poster mourning the [[assassination of Yitzhak Rabin]] hangs in the [[Carmel Market]] in Tel Aviv, 1995]]

In the early 1980s, 13 embassies in Jerusalem moved to Tel Aviv as part of the [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 478|UN's measures]] responding to Israel's 1980 [[Jerusalem Law]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1979-1980/119%20Foreign%20Ministry%20reaction%20to%20the%20transfer%20of%20t |title=Foreign Ministry reaction to the transfer of the Dutch embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv |date=26 August 1980 |work=Israel's Foreign Relations: Selected Documents |publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs |access-date=30 December 2005 |archive-date=19 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019111032/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1979-1980/119%20Foreign%20Ministry%20reaction%20to%20the%20transfer%20of%20t |url-status=live }}</ref> Today, most national embassies are located in Tel Aviv or environs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.science.co.il/Embassies.asp |title=Embassies and Consulates in Israel |access-date=18 July 2007 |work=Israel Science and Technology Homepage |publisher=Israel Science and Technology |archive-date=14 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114194830/http://www.science.co.il/Embassies.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> In the 1990s, the decline in Tel Aviv's population began to be reversed and stabilized, at first temporarily due to a wave of immigrants from the [[Post-Soviet states|former Soviet Union]].<ref name="profile" /> Tel Aviv absorbed 42,000 immigrants from the FSU, many educated in scientific, technological, medical and mathematical fields.<ref name=StrategicPlan26>{{cite book |author=Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo |date=2006 |title=The Strategic Plan for Tel Aviv Yafo |location=Israel |publisher=Strategic Planning Unit |page=26}}</ref> In this period, the number of engineers in the city doubled.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=U. |date=2012 |title=What's Next for the Start up Nation? |location=Indiana |publisher=Authorhouse |page=15}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2022|reason=Authorhouse flagged as likely self-published}}</ref> Tel Aviv soon began to emerge as a global high-tech center.<ref name="Economist" /> The construction of many [[List of tallest structures in Israel|skyscrapers]] and high-tech office buildings followed. In 1993, Tel Aviv was categorized as a [[Global city|world city]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/geo/publikacije/dela/files/Dela_21/019%20kipnis.pdf |title=Tel Aviv, Israel – A World City in Evolution: Urban Development at a {{sic |nolink=y|Deadend}} of the Global Economy |first=Baruch A. |last=Kipnis |year=2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409004017/http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/oddelki/geo/publikacije/dela/files/Dela_21/019%20kipnis.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2008 }}</ref> However, the city's municipality struggled to cope with an influx of new immigrants. Tel Aviv's tax base had been shrinking for many years, as a result of its preceding long term population decline, and this meant there was little money available at the time to invest in the city's deteriorating infrastructure and housing. In 1998, Tel Aviv was on the "verge of bankruptcy".<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Leaders |date=2013 |title=A Global City, An Interview with The Honorable Ron Huldai, Mayor, Tel Aviv-Yafo |volume=36 |issue=3}}</ref> Economic difficulties would then be compounded by a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the city from the mid-1990s, to the end of the Second Intifada, as well as the [[dot-com bubble]], which affected the city's rapidly growing hi-tech sector. On 4 November 1995, Israel's prime minister, [[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|was assassinated]] at a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo peace accord. The outdoor plaza where this occurred, formerly known as Kikar Malchei Yisrael, was renamed [[Rabin Square]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lBpAgAAQBAJ&dq=kings+of+israel+square+rabin&pg=PA118|title=The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right|first=Ami|last=Pedahzur|date=15 October 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-990882-0|via=Google Books|access-date=9 September 2022|archive-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005124940/https://books.google.com/books?id=7lBpAgAAQBAJ&dq=kings+of+israel+square+rabin&pg=PA118#v=onepage&q=kings%20of%20israel%20square%20rabin&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Flickr_-_Government_Press_Office_(GPO)_-_Patriot_missiles_being_launched_to_intercept_an_Iraqi_Scud_missile.jpg|thumb|[[Patriot missiles]] being launched to intercept an Iraqi [[Scud missile]] during the [[Gulf War]] in 1991]]

In the [[Gulf War]] in 1991, Tel Aviv was attacked by [[Scud]] missiles from Iraq. Iraq hoped to provoke an Israeli military response, which could have destroyed the US–Arab alliance. The [[United States]] pressured Israel not to retaliate, and after Israel acquiesced, the US and [[Netherlands]] rushed [[Patriot missile]]s to defend against the attacks, but they proved largely ineffective. Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities continued to be hit by Scuds throughout the war, and every city in the Tel Aviv area except for [[Bnei Brak]] was hit. A total of 74 Israelis died as a result of the Iraqi attacks, mostly from suffocation and heart attacks,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Gulf_War.html |title=The Gulf War |website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-date=14 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714090450/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Gulf_War.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while approximately 230 Israelis were injured.<ref name="publicpolicy.umd.edu">{{Cite journal |last1=Fetter |first1=Steve |last2=Lewis |first2=George N. |last3=Gronlund |first3=Lisbeth |author3-link=Lisbeth Gronlund |title=Why were Casualties so low? |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=361 |pages=293–296 |publisher=[[Nature Publishing Group]] |location=London |date=28 January 1993 |url=http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/4282/1/1993-Nature-Scud.pdf |doi=10.1038/361293a0 |issue=6410 |bibcode=1993Natur.361..293F |hdl=1903/4282 |s2cid=4343235 |hdl-access=free |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-date=14 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714171614/http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/4282/1/1993-Nature-Scud.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Extensive property damage was also caused, and some 4,000 Israelis were left homeless. It was feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with [[nerve agent]]s or [[sarin]]. As a result, the Israeli government issued [[conflict gas mask|gas mask]]s to its citizens. When the first Iraqi missiles hit Israel, some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas. The inhabitants of the southeastern suburb of Hatikva erected an angel-monument as a sign of their gratitude that "it was through a great miracle, that many people were preserved from being killed by a direct hit of a Scud rocket."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://israelplaces.christ2020.de/#q |title=Spiritual places in modern Israel |website=Christ2020.de |access-date=13 January 2010 |archive-date=16 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116113058/http://israelplaces.christ2020.de/#q |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Dizengoff_Center_suicide_bombing,_1996_I_Dan_Hadani_Archive.jpg|thumb|The [[Dizengoff Center]] after the [[Dizengoff Center suicide bombing|bombing of 1996]]]]

Since the [[First Intifada]], Tel Aviv has suffered from [[Palestinian political violence]]. The first [[suicide attack]] in Tel Aviv occurred on 19 October 1994, on the [[Dizengoff Street bus bombing|Line 5 bus]], when a bomber killed 22 civilians and injured 50 as part of a [[Hamas]] suicide campaign.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/timeline/mideast_timeline/index.html |title=Death toll |work=CNN|access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026004356/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/timeline/mideast_timeline/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 6 March 1996, another Hamas suicide bomber killed 13 people (12 civilians and 1 soldier), many of them children, in the [[Dizengoff Center suicide bombing]].<ref name="victims">{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm |title=Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel Since the DOP (September 1993) |date=24 September 2000 |publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=15 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715040430/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+before+2000/Fatal+Terrorist+Attacks+in+Israel+Since+the+DOP+-S.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news |title=Bombing in Israel:The Overview;4th Terror Blast in Israel Kills 14 at Mall in Tel Aviv; Nine-Day Toll Grows to 61 |author=Serge Schmemann |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 March 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/05/world/bombing-israel-overview-4th-terror-blast-israel-kills-14-mall-tel-aviv-nine-day.html?scp=1&sq=dizengoff%20center%20suicide&st=cse&pagewanted=print |access-date=18 February 2017 |archive-date=30 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130151625/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/05/world/bombing-israel-overview-4th-terror-blast-israel-kills-14-mall-tel-aviv-nine-day.html?scp=1&sq=dizengoff%20center%20suicide&st=cse&pagewanted=print |url-status=live }}</ref> Three women were killed by a Hamas terrorist in the [[Café Apropo bombing]] on 27 March 1997.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=34825&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה |website=Laad.btl.gov.il |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501235044/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=34825&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |archive-date=1 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35470&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה |website=Laad.btl.gov.il |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501235100/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35470&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |archive-date=1 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35084&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה |website=Laad.btl.gov.il |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508133928/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35084&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3 |archive-date=8 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 19099 ruins of tel aviv dolphinarium.JPG|thumb|Tel Aviv Dolphinarium, demolished in 2018, site of the 2001 [[Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing]], in which 21 Israelis, mostly teenagers, were killed]]

One of the deadliest attacks occurred on 1 June 2001, during the [[Second Intifada]], when a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance to the [[Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing|Dolphinarium discothèque]], killing 21, mostly teenagers, and injuring 132.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/65/currentpage/22/Default.aspx |title=The Palestinian Authority-Hamas Collusion – From Operational Cooperation to Propaganda Hoax |website=Ict.org.il |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203021154/http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/65/currentpage/22/Default.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-48416289.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023030542/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-48416289.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 October 2012 |title=No. 1 Hamas terrorist killed. Followers threaten revenge in Tel Aviv |last=O'Sullvian |first=Arieh |date=25 November 2001 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=30 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/international/middleeast/29israel.html |title=In Hamas's Overt Hatred, Many Israelis See Hope |last=Fisher |first=Ian |date=29 January 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=18 February 2017 |archive-date=11 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111022312/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/international/middleeast/29israel.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-1258,00.html |title=Ynet – פיגוע בדולפינריום – חדשות |publisher=Ynet.co.il |date=20 June 1995 |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=24 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724182358/http://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-1258,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Another Hamas suicide bomber killed six civilians and injured 70 in the [[Allenby Street bus bombing]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-09-19-mideast-explosion_x.htm |title= Six killed, scores wounded in suicide attack on Tel Aviv bus |work=USA Today  |location=McLean, VA |issn=0734-7456 |date=19 September 2002 |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223120654/https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-09-19-mideast-explosion_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/20/israel1 |title=Tel Aviv bus bomb shatters hopes of truce {{pipe}} World news {{pipe}} The Guardian |work=The Guardian |date=20 September 2002 |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |first=Jonathan |last=Steele |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=3 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403022403/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/20/israel1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2268392.stm |title=BBC NEWS {{pipe}} Middle East {{pipe}} Fatal bus blast rocks Tel Aviv |work=BBC News |date=19 September 2002  |location=London |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=19 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719093342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2268392.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/world/suicide-bomber-kills-5-on-a-bus-in-tel-aviv.html |title=Suicide Bomber Kills 5 on a Bus in Tel Aviv |work=The New York Times |date=20 September 2002 |issn=0362-4331 |first=Serge |last=Schmemann |access-date=18 February 2017 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329115343/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/world/suicide-bomber-kills-5-on-a-bus-in-tel-aviv.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/19/kessel.otsc/index.html |title=CNN – Jerrold Kessel: Heart of Tel Aviv hit – 19 September 2002 |website=Archives.cnn.com |year=2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004211435/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/19/kessel.otsc/index.html |archive-date=4 October 2012}}</ref> Twenty-three civilians were killed and over 100 injured in the [[Tel Aviv central bus station massacre]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Memorial/2003/Avi%20Kotzer |title=Avi Kotzer |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526053154/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Memorial/2003/Avi%20Kotzer |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Memorial/2003/Viktor%20Shebayev |title=Viktor Shebayev |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526044641/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Memorial/2003/Viktor%20Shebayev |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades]] claimed responsibility for the attack. In the [[Mike's Place suicide bombing]], an attack on a bar by a [[British Muslim]] suicide bomber resulted in the deaths of three civilians and wounded over 50.<ref name="jewishsf.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/20891/edition_id/429/format/html/displaystory.html |title=Tel Aviv bar and bomb target slowly getting its groove back |last=Khazzoom |first=Loolwa |website=Jewishsf.com |date=29 September 2003 |access-date=30 April 2012 |archive-date=1 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301060140/http://jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/20891/edition_id/429/format/html/displaystory.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility. An Islamic Jihad bomber killed five and wounded over 50 on 25 February 2005 [[Stage Club bombing]].<ref name="USA Today-2005">{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-02-26-syria-bombing_x.htm |title=Syria-based Islamic Jihad claims role for Tel Aviv bombing |work=USA Today |date=26 February 2005 |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=30 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220530052706/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-02-26-syria-bombing_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The most recent suicide attack in the city occurred on 17 April 2006, when 11 people were killed and at least 70 wounded in a [[2nd Rosh Ha'ir restaurant bombing|suicide bombing near the old central bus station]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adl.org/Israel/israel_attacks.asp |title=Major Terrorist Attacks in Israel |access-date=19 July 2007 |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |archive-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114162802/http://www.adl.org/Israel/israel_attacks.asp |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=November 2024}}

[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - IAF Flight for Israel's 63rd Independence Day.jpg|thumb|[[Israeli Air Force]] [[General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon variants#F-16I Sufa|F-16I Sufas]] over Tel Aviv]]

Another attack took place on 29 August 2011 in which a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular [[Haoman 17]] [[nightclub]] in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000<ref name="autogenerated5">{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/palestinian-drives-stolen-taxi-israelis-stabs/story?id=14403744 |title=Terror Attack Outside Tel Aviv Nightclub Filled With 2,000 Teenagers |work=ABC News |date=29 August 2011 |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=30 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830180738/https://abcnews.go.com/International/palestinian-drives-stolen-taxi-israelis-stabs/story?id=14403744 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Israelis|Israeli]] teenagers. After crashing, the assailant went on a stabbing spree, injuring eight people.<ref name="USA Today-2005" /> Due to an [[Israel Border Police]] roadblock at the entrance and immediate response of the Border Police team during the subsequent stabbings, a much larger and fatal mass-casualty incident was avoided.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kubovich |first=Yaniv |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/terror-attack-in-tel-aviv-leaves-eight-wounded-1.381250 |title=Terror attack in Tel Aviv leaves eight wounded |work=Haaretz |date=29 August 2011 |access-date=3 May 2012 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016045010/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/terror-attack-in-tel-aviv-leaves-eight-wounded-1.381250 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 21 November 2012, during [[Operation Pillar of Defense]], the Tel Aviv area was targeted by rockets, and air raid sirens were sounded in the city for the first time since the [[Gulf War]]. All of the rockets either missed populated areas or were shot down by an [[Iron Dome]] rocket defense battery stationed near the city. During the operation, a bomb blast on a bus wounded at least 28 civilians, three seriously.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/21/250965.html |title='Apparent explosion' rocks Tel Aviv bus: Israeli police |publisher=Al Arabiya |date=21 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121113737/http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/21/250965.html |archive-date=21 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=292860 |title=Terrorist blows up bus in central Tel Aviv; 10 injured |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=21 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122112016/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=292860 |archive-date=22 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/162356 |title=Terrorist Attack on Bus in Tel Aviv |publisher=Arutz Sheva |date=21 November 2012 |access-date=21 November 2012 |archive-date=27 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127223758/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/162356 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4309791,00.html |title=Blast on bus in heart of Tel Aviv |publisher=Ynet News |date=21 November 2012 |access-date=21 November 2012 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329123906/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4309791,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This was described as a terrorist attack by Israel, Russia, and the United States and was condemned by the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, France and Russia, whilst Hamas spokesman [[Sami Abu Zuhri]] declared that the organisation "blesses" the attack.<ref name="BBC-Nov21">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20425352 |title=Israel-Gaza crisis: 'Bomb blast' on bus in Tel Aviv |publisher=BBC |date=21 November 2012 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=23 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423214502/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20425352 |url-status=live }}</ref> More than 300 rockets were fired towards the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area in the [[2021 Israel–Palestine crisis]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Israel: Hamas launches rocket attack on Tel Aviv |url=https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-launches-rocket-attack-on-tel-aviv-12303773 |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=Sky News |language=en |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512205454/https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-launches-rocket-attack-on-tel-aviv-12303773 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Channel2 - Tel Aviv.webm|thumb|thumbtime=55|Short video about Tel Aviv from the [[Israeli News Company]]]]

New laws were introduced to protect Modernist buildings, and efforts to preserve them were aided by [[UNESCO]] recognition of Tel Aviv's White City as a world heritage site in 2003. In the early 2000s, Tel Aviv municipality focused on attracting more young residents to the city. It made significant investment in major boulevards, to create attractive pedestrian corridors. Former industrial areas like the city's previously derelict Northern [[Tel Aviv Port]] and the [[Jaffa railway station]], were upgraded and transformed into leisure areas. A process of gentrification began in some of the poor neighborhoods of southern Tel Aviv and many older buildings began to be renovated.<ref name="Economist" />

The demographic profile of the city changed in the 2000s, as it began to attract a higher proportion of young residents. By 2012, 28 percent of the city's population was aged between 20 and 34 years old. Between 2007 and 2012, the city's population growth averaged 6.29 percent. As a result of its population recovery and industrial transition, the city's finances were transformed, and by 2012 it was running a budget surplus and maintained a credit rating of AAA+.<ref>{{cite web |website=Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality |date=2013 |title=The City in Numbers |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/eng/AboutTheCity/Pages/CityNumbers.aspx |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217002045/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/eng/AboutTheCity/Pages/CityNumbers.aspx |archivedate=17 December 2015}}</ref> In the 2000s and early 2010s, Tel Aviv received tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, primarily from [[Sudan]] and [[Eritrea]],<ref name="autogenerated10">{{cite web |date=December 2009 |url=http://web.hevra.haifa.ac.il/~ch-strategy/images/publications/darfur_refugees.pdf |script-title=he:פליטים או מהגרי עבודה ממדינות אפריקה |language=he |trans-title=Refugees or migrant workers from African states |publisher=Research Center, National Defense College and Chaikin Chair in Geostrategy, University of Haifa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814142203/http://web.hevra.haifa.ac.il/~ch-strategy/images/publications/darfur_refugees.pdf |archive-date=14 August 2011}}</ref> changing the demographic profile of areas of the city. In 2009, Tel Aviv celebrated its official centennial.<ref name="centennial">{{cite web |url=http://www.tlv100.co.il/EN/ |title=Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Year 1909–2009 |publisher=City of Tel Aviv-Yafo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228103847/http://www.tlv100.co.il/EN |archive-date=28 February 2009}}</ref> In addition to city- and country-wide celebrations, digital collections of historical materials were assembled. These include the History section of the official Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Year website;<ref name="centennial" /> the Ahuzat Bayit collection, which focuses on the founding families of Tel Aviv, and includes photographs and biographies;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ahuzatbait.org.il/ |title=Ahuzat Bayit Collection |language=he |access-date=27 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228194235/http://www.ahuzatbait.org.il/ |archive-date=28 February 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Stanford University]]'s Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.stanford.edu/telaviv |title=Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |access-date=2016-02-12 |archive-date=6 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606153614/http://lib.stanford.edu/telaviv |url-status=live }}</ref> documenting the history of the city. Today, the city is regarded as a strong candidate for [[Gamma world city|global city status]].<ref name="GAWC">{{cite web |url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb57.html |title=Tel Aviv, Israel – A World City in Evolution: Urban Development at a {{sic |nolink=y|Deadend}} of the Global Economy |last=Kipnis |first=B.A. |publisher=Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network at [[Loughborough University]] |date=8 October 2001 |access-date=18 July 2007 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201248/http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb57.html |url-status=live }} Cities in Transition. Ljubljana: Department of Geography, [[University of Ljubljana]], pp. 183–194.</ref> Over the past 60&nbsp;years, Tel Aviv had developed into a [[secularity|secular]], liberal-minded center with a vibrant nightlife and café culture.<ref name="Economist" />