Beach Camp is a Palestinian camp in the Gaza Strip. It was established in 1949 after the Palestinian Nakba on an area not exceeding half a square kilometer, to house 23 thousand refugees who were displaced from the cities and villages of the Palestinian coast. The number of its residents doubled and it became highly populated. Leaders, scholars, and thinkers emerged from it. Like other areas of the Gaza Strip, it was exposed to bombing, massacres and attacks.
Label
The camp was called Beach Camp because it is located along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and the residents of the Gaza Strip call it “Beach Camp.”
Location and space
The camp is located in the coastal plain area northwest of Gaza City, 4 kilometers away from it, and is administratively affiliated with it. It extends to the Mediterranean coast, and is about 25 meters above sea level.
The camp expanded over time after its establishment and became adjacent to the neighborhoods of Gaza. To the north, it is bordered by the Al-Atatra neighborhood in the city of Jabalia, and to the east, it is bordered by the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, and to the south and southeast, it is bordered by the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, and to the west, it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, along an area of 5 kilometers.
The camp’s area is about half a square kilometre, and it is considered the third largest and most densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. It is supervised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Population
When the camp was established, its population reached 23,000 refugees. They were deported from various Palestinian villages and cities, including: Harbia, Berbera, Brier, Al-Joura, Deir Snid, Demra, Jiyeh, Julis, Al-Sawafir, Al-Majdal, Hamama, Ashdod, Al-Battani, Abdis, Semsom, Hawj, Kartiya, Al-Masmiya, Jaffa, Lod, Ramla, Al-Khasas, Yabna, and others, according to what was stated in the Encyclopedia of Villages. Palestinian.
After about 10 years, the occupation forces transferred about 1,300 families from the camp to the Sheikh Radwan housing project, and then deported about 5,000 refugees after demolishing their rooms.
However, the camp’s population continued to increase. In 2017, its population reached about 40,000 people, and it rose the following year to about 41,000 people. At the last census in 2023, their number reached about 47,000, according to statistics from the Encyclopedia of Palestinian Villages.
However, UNRWA stated on its website that the number of refugees living in the camp and registered with it reached about 91 thousand people.
the date
Beach Camp was established in 1949 to house about 23,000 refugees who were displaced there from the Palestinian coastal areas and some central cities and villages.
When the refugees migrated there for the first time, they lived in the open, during its founding. Then they moved to tents that spread throughout the place, and with the passage of time, the residents began building rooms instead of tents with tin roofs. After that, they lived in houses with tiled roofs, then in cement houses.
The camp has played a prominent role in resisting the occupation since the 1970s. It also played a major role in the first intifada, and from there the first person in the Stone Intifada, Dr. Khalil Quqa, was expelled.
The camp also played a major role in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, and from it the first naval commando operation took place, led by the martyr Hamdi Insio.
After the Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they launched several attacks and wars on the Gaza Strip, during which the Beach Camp was subjected to bombing, massacres, and the assassination of leaders, like the rest of the Gaza Strip.
The most recent was the war launched by the occupation forces on the Gaza Strip following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which was launched by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, 2023 against the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli army began an expanded military campaign, air and land.
The camp was subjected to violent bombardment, large massacres were committed, and its residents were subjected to forced displacement when the ground incursion from the occupation arrived into the camp.
Institutions in the camp
The camp includes 25 schools, 4 of which operate in a single shift system, and 22 schools operate in a double shift system. It also includes 17 UNRWA facilities, a food distribution center, one health center, a relief and social services office, in addition to an environmental maintenance and health office.
Camp problems
The camp suffers from electricity outages and a high unemployment rate, in addition to the restrictions imposed by Israel on fishing. It also suffers from high population congestion, water pollution, and a lack of construction resources, and the siege affects it greatly.