Yoav Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית יואב, ''Mo'atza Azorit Yoav'') is a

regional council Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fran ...

in the Southern District of

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 ...

. It is located near the cities of

Kiryat Gat Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat ( he, קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most a ...

Kiryat Malakhi Kiryat Malakhi ( he, קִרְיַת מַלְאָכִי, also Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi) is a city in the Southern District of Israel, from Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2). Histor ...

and

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

. It was founded in 1952, covering an area of 230,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amou ...

s (230 km²), with a population of about 5,300. The council is named after Yitzhak Dubnov, who was nicknamed " Yoav", and who fell while defending Negba in the

1947–1949 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 ...

Operation Yoav Operation Yoav (also called ''Operation Ten Plagues'' or ''Operation Yo'av'') was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between th ...

and Metzudat Yoav, which is located in the council's area, are also named after him. The council contains two parts which are not contiguous geographically. The main part is bordered on the north by

Nahal Sorek Regional Council Nahal Sorek Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית נחל שורק, ''Mo'atza Azorit Nahal Sorek'') is a regional council in the Central District of Israel. The seat of the council is Yad Binyamin. The council is named for the Sorek str ...

, on the west by

Be'er Tuvia Regional Council Be'er Tuvia Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית באר טוביה, ''Mo'atza Azorit Be'er Tovia''), is a regional council in the southern Coastal Plain region in Israel. It borders Yoav and Nahal Sorek regional councils in the east; ...

and

Shafir Regional Council Shafir Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית שפיר, ''Mo'atza Azorit Shafir'') is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel near the city of Kiryat Gat. The council is bordered on the north by the Be'er Tuvia Regional Co ...

, on the south by Lakhish Regional Council and

, and on the east by Matte Yehuda Regional Council. The western portion of the council, which includes the kibbutzim Negba and Sde Yoav, is bordered on the north and east by

, on the west by Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, and on the west by Lakhish Regional Council.

Communities in the council

Today the council has 8

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

im, 3

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...

im, a

youth village A youth village ( he, כפר נוער, ''Kfar No'ar'') is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pionee ...

, a

community settlement A community settlement ( he, יישוב קהילתי, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of village in Israel and the West Bank. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the village's residents are organized in ...

, and an Arab village. The immediate past mayor of the Yoav Regional Council is Rani Traynin from

Beit Nir Beit Nir ( he, בֵּית נִיר, ''lit.'' House of tilled soil) is a kibbutz in the Lakhish region of south-central Israel. Beit Nir falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council and is a member of the Kibbutz Movement. In its popula ...

. Mr. Traynin resigned his position as mayor to become the Vice Chairman of the Executive of the

Jewish Agency for Israel The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...

. He was succeeded by Matti Sarfati Harkavi, the first woman ever elected Mayor of the Yoav Regional Council. She is from

Sgula Sgula ( he, סְגֻלָּה, סגולה) is a moshav in south-central Israel. North of Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In it had a population of 717. History The moshav was founded in 1953 by Sabra (person) ...

and is a noted plant geneticist. For several years she served as the Yoav Chairperson of the Partnership 2000 Committee, linking the Yoav Regional Council with the Jewish community of the Lehigh Valley based in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania ...

. The government offices are located at Re'em Junction.

Kibbutzim

* Beit Guvrin *

Gal On Gal On ( he, גַּלְאוֹן, גל און, lit. ''Wave of Strength'') is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In it had a population of . The kibbutz is associated ...

* Gat * Kfar Menachem * Negba * Revadim * Sde Yoav

Moshavim

Kfar HaRif Kfar HaRif ( he, כְּפַר הָרִי"ף, lit. ''Village of the Rif'') is a moshav in southern Israel. Located on the border of the Shephelah and the Israeli coastal plain around 2 kilometres northeast of Kiryat Malakhi, it is the largest co ...

* Nahla *

Youth village

Kedma Orthodox Jewish student groups exist at many secular colleges and universities in the diaspora, especially in the United States, Canada, and Europe. History At some points in history there were umbrella organization that united Orthodox students ...

Community settlement

Vardon Vardon ( he, ורדון) is a community settlement in south-central Israel. Located north of Kiryat Gat and south of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In it had a population of . History It was founded ...

Arab village

* al-'Azi

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 31.600, N, 34.900, E, display=title, source:cawiki Regional councils in Israel 1953 establishments in Israel