History of the Jews in Gaza City

[citation needed] The Jewish presence in Gaza City was characterized by periods of coexistence, economic challenges, and occasional tensions with other communities.

Gaza City, situated along the Mediterranean coast, was part of the Seleucid Empire during the Hellenistic period, and later came under Roman rule.

[3] In 145 BCE, the Jewish Hasmonean leader Jonathan Apphus besieged Gaza while serving in the army of the Seleucid king Antiochus VI.

The fact that this Jewish symbol was preserved throughout the decades inside the mosque was described as demonstrating "peaceful coexistence" by scholar Ziad Shehada.

[8] According to all rabbinic opinions, the Gaza Strip is included in the borders that ‘olei Mitzrayim’ were commanded to conquer in the times of Joshua, and it was included in the inheritance of Judah, as it is written: “And Gaza with its surrounding towns and settlements, as far as ‘Nachal Mitzrayim’ and the border at the Mediterranean Sea” (Joshua 15:47).

This settlement continued until the end of the Byzantine period, as indicated by the Arab conquest of Gaza and its vicinity (in February 634, after the siege of the city's surroundings, it was besieged, culminating in the capture of the city in July) in a Syriac chronicle: "And about four thousand poor peasants from the Land of Israel were killed there: Christians, Jews, and Samaritans.

The central inscription on the mosaic in Greek reads: "We, Menahem and Yeshua, sons of Jesse, wood merchants, as a mark of respect for the holiest site, donated this mosaic in the month of Louos, year 569" (the Jewish counting of the year in Gaza began with the expulsion of Gabinus).

The conquests were characterized by a certain level of religious tolerance, allowing Jews and Christians to practice their religions under the conditions of dhimmi, a protected status for non-Muslims.

A manuscript discovered in the Cairo Geniza testifies to a dispute between David ben Daniel from the prominent Jewish community of Babylonia and the Gaon family concerning whether Gaza and Ashkelon were included in the borders of the Land of Israel.

A piyyut (liturgical poem) from that time, written by the poet Rabbi Shmuel ben Yerubi Haushana, refers to a decree that affected the Jews in the region during the same period: "And the sons of Gaza were cut off, and the congregation of its courtyards was driven away."

Jewish travelers who visited the Land of Israel during this period, such as Benjamin of Tudela and Petachiah of Regensburg, do not mention Gaza at all.

With the Crusader conquest and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the early 12th century, the residents of Gaza fled their city, and it was handed over to the order of the Knights Templar, who resettled it.

[citation needed] Around 1432, the Burgundian spy Bertrandon de la Brocquière reported encountering Sicilian Jews in Gaza.

According to his account, Jews resided in the upper part of the city, referred to as the "Yehudika" (Jewish quarter), with the house of Delilah located there, associated with the biblical Samson.

Meshullam of Volterra (1481) reported 60 Rabbinite and four Samaritan Jewish households, and noted that the Jews were responsible for cultivating the wine in the region.

[14] Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488) noted 70 Rabbinite and two Samaritan households,[15] and mentions the presence in Gaza of a Rabbi Moses of Prague, who had moved there from Jerusalem.

Nathan's teachings at the seashore of Gaza were described by an apostle as "“The Prophet’s” penchant for preaching the secrets" of the Zohar, the fundamental book of Jewish mysticism.

[19] In February 1799, with the French forces led by Napoleon capturing the city, and the emergence of a plague, most of the Jewish community fled from Gaza.

[22] In 1885, Zev Klonimus Wissotzky, a leader of the Ḥovevei Zion movement, called for the establishment of Jewish settlements in the heart of Arab cities, including Gaza, Lod, and Nablus, to provide an additional source of livelihood for immigrants, in addition to the agricultural settlements that were established at the time.

[citation needed] The synagogue that served the local community in the 18th century, if it was in an independent building, either collapsed or came under Muslim control.

By 1895, a small Jewish community remained in the city, consisting of about twelve families who maintained excellent relations with the Muslim population.

[citation needed] Gaza City was briefly under Israeli military administration led by Lt. Col. Haim Gaon during the Suez Crisis between November 2-3, 1956 and March 7, 1957.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, and new Israeli settlements, deemed illegal under international law, were constructed in the Gaza District, including Gush Katif, Kfar Darom, and Netzarim, and the northern settlements of Elei Sinai, Nisanit, and Dugit.

[citation needed] In 1987, Israeli architects Gershon Tzapor and Benjamin Edelson designed the expansion of Al-Shifa Hospital.