Sufa () is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in southern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located in the

Hevel Shalom Hevel Shalom (, lit. ''Shalom region'') is an area in the western Negev desert close to Israel's border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai. This area was elected to be substitutive area for evacuees from Yamit. Villages Villages in Hevel Shal ...

area of the north-western

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Eshkol Regional Council Eshkol Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Ezorit Eshkol'') is a regional council in the north-western Negev, in Israel's Southern District. The regional council's territory lies midway between Ashkelon and Beersheba, bounded on the west by the Gaza St ...

. In it had a population of . A border crossing between Israel and the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

named after the kibbutz was located nearby, but was closed permanently by Israel in 2008.

Kibbutz

The kibbutz was founded in 1982 by former residents of Sufa, an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

in Sinai which was evacuated as part of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. Its name is derived from the severe

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

s which occurred in the original settlement. To the north of the kibbutz, where Nirim was between the years 1946–1949, lies the memorial site "Dangur", commemorating the casualties of the

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian attack on Nirim and a memorial for the eight fallen soldiers. Sufa was one of the Israeli villages briefly under Hamas control at the start of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, with three residents killed. A women's tank platoon of the

Caracal Battalion The 33rd "Caracal" Battalion () is an infantry combat battalion of the Israel Defense Forces, one of the three fully combat units (alongside the ' Lions of Jordan Battalion' and the ' Cheetah Battalion') in the Israeli military's Paran Brigad ...

was crucial for recapturing the kibbutz.

Border crossing

The Sufa border crossing was used by Palestinians working on Israeli farms. During the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

(2000–2005), the border crossing and the military base next to it were subject to several Palestinian attacks, and the crossing was intermittently closed. In October 2007, the crossing was closed, leaving the

Kerem Shalom Kerem Shalom (, "Vineyard of Peace") is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located on the Tripoint, triple Gaza Strip-Israel-Egypt border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The ki ...

crossing as the only point of entry. In November, despite IDF objections saying it was harder to guard than Kerem Shalom, Deputy

Defense Minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Matan Vilnai Matan Vilnai (; born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A former Knesset member and government minister, he was appointed ambassador to China in 2012. Since 2017 Vilnai serves as ...

decided to reopen the crossing. It was then used to transfer humanitarian assistance to the Strip. In May 2008 the crossing was once again closed following a mortar attack which wounded an IDF soldier. A few days later, thousands of Palestinians protested the Israeli blockade. Six people were reported wounded by the IDF in that incident. On 1 June about forty Israeli farmers protested at the crossing, in a bid to stop the transportation of goods into the Strip despite the ongoing

Qassam rocket The Qassam rocket ( ; also ''Kassam'') is a simple, steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. These rockets cannot be fired to target specific military objectives in or near ci ...

barrages. As a result, the Sufa border crossing was permanently closed in 2008.

References

External links

Official website

Sufa
Negev Information Center {{Authority control Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1982 Israel–Gaza Strip border crossings Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1982 establishments in Israel