Sde Dov Contamination: First Buyer Demands Deal Cancellation
The first purchaser of an apartment option at the Sde Dov complex is suing the real estate developer Gindi, demanding the cancellation of the deal and a refund due to severe soil contamination.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection initially authorized the marketing of the Sde Dov land as clean, but contamination was discovered after sales had already begun. Consequently, the first purchaser of an option to buy a residential apartment has filed a lawsuit against the real estate company Gindi at the Tel Aviv District Court, demanding the cancellation of the deal and a refund of approximately half a million shekels.
The plaintiff claims that had information regarding the soil contamination been disclosed, buyers would not have acquired rights in a complex with such severe findings. For many years, while the site served as an airport, the soil at Sde Dov was contaminated with PFAS, a group of chemicals known as "forever chemicals" due to their durability. These substances have been linked to various health problems, including cancer, and have already caused the closure of numerous water wells.
Although the Water Authority clarified to the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2022 that all wells in the Sde Dov area were contaminated (in some cases with a 2000% deviation from the standard), the ministry lacked a policy for PFAS sampling and allowed the land to be marketed as clean. It was not until 2025 that the ministry began conducting tests, which revealed abnormal concentrations of PFAS throughout the Sde Dov complex.
In July 2026, the Ministry of Environmental Protection ordered the Tel Aviv Municipality to halt infrastructure work due to concerns that thousands of tons of contaminated soil had been spread across the area without supervision. The plaintiff, who purchased the option in July 2025 and paid 7% of the transaction amount, requested that Gindi cancel the deal and return her funds. The developer rejected the request and refused to extend the option period pending the results of soil surveys.
"The act of concealing information constitutes misleading a consumer and negotiating in bad faith," the lawsuit claims. The plaintiff argues that a developer of Gindi's scale should have examined all aspects of the property, including environmental data that was already publicly available regarding the area in 2022, before marketing hundreds of luxury apartments to the public.
