Al-Atatra ( ar, العطاطرة) is a northwestern neighborhood in the city of

Beit Lahiya Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya ( ar, بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59 ...

in the northern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

.
Israel and the Occupied Territories, Indiscriminate Fire Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel and Israeli Artillery Shelling in the Gaza Strip
''

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. 2009. p.72. Its residents, the majority of whom are farmers or landowners are not

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...

s, unlike most of the population in the Gaza Strip, including Beit Lahiya. A major cash crop in al-Atatra are strawberries which were mainly exported to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

before Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip following the territory's control by

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

, a Palestinian paramilitary and political organization. El-Khodary, Taghreed
In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The New York Times Company. 2009-02-03. Israel considers al-Atatra a political stronghold of Hamas. Al-Atatra was the target of assaults by the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) during the Gaza War in 2008–09. At least 16 civilians were reported killed, including five who belonged to the same family, during the first few days of the war. Between 40 and 50 houses were destroyed as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atatra, al- North Gaza Governorate Villages in the Gaza Strip