[5] The kibbutz traces its origin to a group meeting held in Hadera in 1928, by "Kvuzat HaHugim" of the HaMahanot HaOlim movement from Haifa and Jerusalem.

[6] The first members lived at nearby Ein Harod until 1934, when establishment of the kibbutz began at its present location about 1 km east of Shatta.

[9] The kibbutz was later named after the biblical town Beit Hashita, where the Midianites fled after being beaten by Gideon (Judges 7:22),[10][11] thought to be located where Shatta was.

[12][13] In 1948, Beit HaShita took over 5,400 dunams of land from the newly depopulated Arab villages of Yubla and Al-Murassas.

[14] Eleven kibbutz members fell during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the largest number as a percentage of the population than any other town in Israel.