Mammoth cave found near Ofra in Samaria

At present, the cave is only accessible by rappelling down a narrow shaft and then climbing up a rope, making it hard to reach even for experienced professionals.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

One of the biggest caves ever uncovered in Israel—featuring the largest underground chamber ever found in the country—dating back millions of years has been discovered, a professor said on Thursday.

The stalactite cave with its formations created by millennia of dripping water was located several months ago near the Israeli community of Ofra in the Binyamin region in southern Samaria, just off the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus.

The 40-meter-high, 90-meter-long and 75-meter-wide cave, which was found a few hundred meters southwest of Ofra during the community’s 50th-anniversary year is being dubbed the Jubilee Cave. Its underground chamber alone is nearly the size of a football field.

“By its height it is larger than any cave found in Israel,” Hebrew University geologist Professor Amos Frumkin, who was on the team of cavers that uncovered it, told JNS on Thursday.

He noted that local authorities have been notified that the cave—which was never inhabited and is not currently accessible to the public—passes near the planned expansion of the region’s main road, as well as an area planned for residential construction, so builders will take that into account.

The area is rich in caves with about 80 already uncovered near Ofra, leading his team to search the area, Frumkin said.

At present, the cave is only accessible by rappelling down a narrow shaft and then climbing up a rope, making it hard to reach even for experienced professionals, he said.

The terrain in the area is also unusual in that rainwater flows to the caves through the subsurface like pipes.

He voiced the hope that the cave will be made accessible to the public via construction of a staircase.