Juhr al-Deek: “Gaza’s food basket” and “the soft flank” of the Strip | Encyclopedia

The village of Wadi Gaza, known as the “Rooster’s Hole” and the “soft flank” of the Gaza Strip, is located on the southern outskirts of the Gaza Governorate. Therefore, it is considered a hot place for resistance confrontations with the Israeli occupation, and the most dangerous during wars and confrontations, due to its attachment to the security fence that Israel has erected along the border. .

This village separates the northern and central Gaza Strip, which makes it a gateway to Israeli incursions, and one of the first areas to be destroyed. It was said that the reason for its name was that a rooster fell into a burrow in the Umm Aziz hill of a merchant who passed through the area, and he was unable to find it despite all his attempts.

Location and population

The village is located in the south of the Gaza Governorate, to which it is administratively affiliated, between Gaza City and the central camps. It is 8 kilometers away from Gaza City. It is bordered by the Green Line to the east, Salah al-Din Street to the west, the Al-Mintar (Karni) crossing to the north, and Wadi Gaza to the south.

According to the Encyclopedia of Palestinian Villages in 2023, its population was about 5,000 people, most of whom depend on agriculture, and its area is about 6,200 dunums (a dunum equals a thousand square metres), and the homes of the villagers occupy approximately 100 dunums of it.

Residents depend on artesian well water for drinking and irrigating crops, and they suffer from its salinity due to the occupation continuing to drill water wells on the Israeli side at the Green Line in the east. Residents live in tents, caravans, and weak homes.

The village of Juhr al-Dik is considered a geostrategic location for the following reasons:

• The occupied territories are located along the armistice line.
• The “Be’eri” settlement (one of the settlements around the Gaza Strip) is about 6 kilometers east of it.
• In addition to its proximity to two settlements in the northeast: “Nahol Oz,” which is 5.8 kilometers away from it, and “Kfar Gaza,” which is about 9 kilometers away from it, and in the southeast of the two settlements, “Alomim,” which is 7.1 kilometers away, and “Ra’im,” which is 7.7 kilometers away from it. In addition to the “Kissufim” settlement, 9.4 kilometers to the south.
• The Al-Mintar crossing is located there, which is controlled by the occupation.

Geography

The region is characterized by its fertile land and green plains, and has highlands such as Tal al-Ghalayini and Tal Juhr al-Dik. Its residents depend on olive and citrus cultivation, and it provides a large part of the food needs of the Gaza Strip, so much so that it was called the “Gaza food basket,” especially with regard to fruits and vegetables.

Its lands slope from the northeast to the south towards Wadi Gaza. Its climate is within the climate of the Mediterranean basin, and its soil is divided into clayey and mixed soil.

AndEffect Its location is on the border of the Green Line on its agricultural lands, due to its frequent leveling during the Israeli occupation’s invasions, so it lost its ability to sustainably farm, which negatively affected the living situation of the village’s residents.

stations

Because of its location adjacent to the security fence erected by Israel along the border, the residents of the village – when anticipating any Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip – rush to pack their belongings and flee their homes and farms before they are destroyed by the occupation forces.

Throughout its history, the area has been a site for occupation incursions during its military incursions in all of the Gaza wars, as it does not contain natural obstacles that would help the resistance to hide due to its agricultural nature. It was one of the first villages to be destroyed in the 1948 war, knowing that it was founded in 1944. It was occupied in 1967 before it was occupied. It was liberated after the occupation withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

However, the Palestinians consider it a “deadly hole” for the occupation soldiers, who are killed by the resistance’s constant ambushes during the clashes, until the term “zero distance” came out of it, due to the clips shared by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), during the march of its resistors. towards the occupation tanks and point the explosives directly at them.

The region witnessed a period of prosperity following the 2014 war, when the occupation completely destroyed the village’s homes and bulldozed most of its lands. The residents reconstructed it, in addition to building a residential neighborhood with funding from Turkey, but the occupation returned and destroyed everything during its aggression in the year 2023/2024.

Since the start of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood in October 2023, the occupation has begun its ground invasions from the “Juhr Al-Dik” area, and it has become a gateway for military vehicles that destroy everything it passes on its way.

Although the occupation expected that the area would be exposed and difficult for the resistance to enter, on November 17, 2023, the Al-Qassam Brigades’ military media broadcast a video clip of its fighters attacking the occupation soldiers while they were in their tents in the Juhr al-Dik area from zero distance and behind the incursion lines.