Demand for burial within the city limits of Jerusalem presents a serious challenge. Observant Jews generally do not cremate their dead; and the site of the Givat Shaul cemetery, on the border between Palestinian and Israeli territories  made further horizontal expansion of Jerusalem's largest burial space politically untenable.

In response, the cemetery has both built up and excavated down. Aboveground crypts must maintain a connection to the earth in order to be sanctioned by the rabbis, but a new network of tunnels 50 meters (or 165 feet) underground brings the dead into direct contact with Jerusalem’s geological substrate. The first phase of this modern catacomb project, estimated to cost $50 million dollars, has added 22,000 vaults that are projected to accommodate seven years of Jewish burials in Jerusalem.

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