About fifteen families lived in trailers or abandoned houses that reportedly had been Egyptian Army officer's barracks from the period when Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip.

Four days later, when the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli Police came to evacuate Shirat Hayam, he defended this self-proclaimed country alone with an M-16 after ascending the roof of his home.

While the standard policy adapted by the Israeli government was to destroy all residential property prior to the retreat from Gush Katif, the cement structures in this settlement were not touched until several weeks later.

[1] The evicted residents of the village chose to remain together as a group and move to Maskiot in the Jordan River valley to build an agricultural settlement.

[2] Since the Maskiot site, a former military base, was not ready for settlement, the group moved to adjacent Hemdat.