Nuseirat ( ar, مخيّم النصيرات) is a

Palestinian refugee camp Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian ...

located in the middle of the

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.. ...

, five kilometers north-east of

Deir al-Balah Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah ( ar, دير البلح, , Monastery of the Date Palm) is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir el-Balah Governorate. It is located over south of Gaza City. The ci ...

. The

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

is in the

Deir al-Balah Governorate The Deir el-Balah Governorate ( ar, محافظة دير البلح '), also referred to as Central Gaza Governorate ( ar, محافظة الوسطى) is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine in the central Gaza Strip which is administered by Palest ...

, Gaza Strip. According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

, the refugee camp had a population of 31,747 and the surrounding Nuseirat municipality had a population of 54,851 in 2017. The camp was established after the 1948 Palestinian expulsion during the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

History

Ancient history

The Nuseirat camp was named after the local Nuseirat tribe, part of the larger

Hanajira Al-Hanajira (also Arab al-Hanajira, al-Hanajra or el-Hanajreh) was one of the five principal Bedouin tribes inhabiting the Negev Desert prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its territory stretched north-south between Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, ...

confederation, that historically dominated the area between Deir al-Balah and Gaza. Excavations in the area have revealed remains of a large coenobium, including a church with a crypt, a bathhouse and a hospice, reminiscent of the

monastery of Martyrius The Monastery of Martyrius, whose ruins, known as Khirbet el-Murassas in Arabic, have been excavated in the centre of the West Bank settlement and city of Ma'ale Adumim, was one of the most important centres of monastic life in the Judean Desert dur ...

Ma'ale Adummim Ma'ale Adumim ( he, מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; ar, معالي أدوميم) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991 ...

. The side has been tentatively identified as that of the monastery of Seridus.

Origin of the refugee camp

The camp was established after the 1948 Palestinian expulsion during the

. Most refugees of this camp came from the southern areas of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

such as

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

and the coastal plain. Prior to the camp's establishment by

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

, the roughly 16,000 original refugees settled in the grounds of a former British military prison at the site.

2000s

In May 2018 a mosque, the Grand Nuseirat Mosque, was opened by the

Qatari Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sha ...

envoy to Gaza, Mohammed Al Emadi.

Israel–Hamas war

The Nuseirat refugee camp has been bombed repeatedly since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. On 18 October 2023 the Grand Nuseirat Mosque was bombed and destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, subsequently the attacks continued causing more than a hundred victims. On 8 June 2024, the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

and

Yamam The Yamam ( he, ימ"מ, an acronym for ''Centralized Special Unit'' , ''Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet''), also called in Hebrew and Israel's National Counter Terror Unit (I.N.C.T.U.) in English, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit, ...

rescued four Israeli hostages held 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 ...

in Nuseirat, including Noa Argamani, during a rescue operation. An IDF spokesperson stated that the hostages were guarded by armed militants and concealed among Gazan civilians. The

Gaza Health Ministry The Gaza Health Ministry is the government agency responsible for healthcare and medical services in the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories. It operates under the administration of the Hamas authority that has run the territory since 200 ...

reported that at least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 wounded in the Israeli airstrikes on the refugee camp, causing international outrage and the attack deemed a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

. The operation took place in two sites in Nuseirat, where the hostages were kept, a school and a marketplace.

Population

References

External links

Nuseirat
articles from

UNWRA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

Welcome To al-Nusayrat R.C.
{{Authority control Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip Deir al-Balah Governorate