[1] Due to its historic importance, UNESCO declared Haluza a World Heritage Site along with Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta.

The city is called 'Chellous' (Χελλοὺς) in the Greek text of Judith, i, 9 (see Jdt 1:9 in NABRE), a work probably dating to the 1st century BCE.

[2] After the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE, Elusa grew to become the principal city of the central Negev, at the time part of the western Arabia Petraea province.

[2] The constant interest of Western archaeologists in the remains of Elusa, encouraged the al-Azizma Bedouin tribe of the Negev to resettle the site.

[13] They built their small village, which they called Al-Khalasa, among the ancient ruins and next to the wells, between two wadis, with houses constructed of mud and stone.

[17] A Greek inscription bearing the name of the city was discovered at Elusa, tentatively dated to the time of Emperor Diocletian around 300 CE.

[19] The excavators propose that their findings call for a reevaluation of the settlement history of the Negev region in the late Byzantine period.

[20] According to a 1906 article from the Revue Biblique written by Antonin Jaussen, in the vicinity, according to the Targums, was the desert of Sur with the well at which the angel found Hagar (Genesis 16:7).