Members of the European Swimming League's (LEN) Bureau agreed the move by an "overwhelming majority" in a mail vote.

The city of Netanya had originally be due to host the Championships in December 2014, before it was moved to January 15 to 18.

It will now be staged at the Wingate Institute from December 2 to 6 - the first time the Championships will be held over five days.

The LEN said it carried out surveys on the date change and "found that changing the dates would secure a bigger success to the event".

"The overall sports calendar in January is quite overloaded, and LEN wishes to avoid a clash with most of the other main sport events, as well as its own continental organisations counterparts, in order to properly value the due outcome of the aquatic product to offer worldwide," said LEN executive director Paulo Frischknecht.

It means the Championships will come almost two years after the 17th edition in Herning, Denmark in December 2013.

A number of sporting events have been moved out of Israel, or cancelled entirely, since violence broke out between the country and Hamas.

On Monday, the Association of Tennis Professionals cancelled the inaugural Negev Israel Open in Tel Aviv, which was scheduled for September 15 to 21.