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Phosphorite deposits in southern Israel alternate between low phosphorous pristine phosphorites and high phosphorous reworked phosphorites. Deposition of pristine phosphorites occurs at high productivity and sedimentation rates under suboxic to anoxic conditions, whereas deposition of reworked phosphorites has been attributed to oxidizing conditions at low sedimentation rates during high-energy episodes accompanied by bioturbation. In this study, iron speciation in primary and reworked phosphates was used for investigating paleoenvironmental conditions of the two phosphate facies. Studied phosphates include low iron sections (Zin and Rotem synclines, North Negev) and iron-rich phosphates deposit (Ein-Ofarim, North Arava). Iron speciation in different synclines provides information on diagenetic processes during phosphogenesis and reworking processes.Pristine phosphorites are associated with substantially higher total iron (FeT) and highly reactive iron (FeHR) contents compared to the reworked phosphorites. On the other hand, the FeHR to FeT ratio is higher in reworked phosphorites. The pyrite Fe (Fepy) fraction to FeHR ratio is diagnostic for non-sulfidic water conditions for all studied phosphorites. The combination of FeHR/FeT and Fepy/FeHR paleoredox proxies points to possibly anoxic to anoxic-ferruginous sedimentary settings for pristine phosphorites while reworked phosphorites seem to be formed under more anoxic conditions. However, this observation opposes the general concept of reworked facies formation under aerated conditions. As ferruginous conditions are implausible, an alternative explanation for the observed iron speciation could be external input (possibly aeolian dust) of iron-rich particles during initial phosphate. During the reworking processes, removal of poorly reactive iron-rich smectites during reworking processes, although both fractions were depleted by up to 90%. Thus, the observed differences in FeHR to FeT ratio between pristine and reworked phosphates were likely caused by physical processes rather than changes in environmental redox conditions.