[3] Perched atop a hill with a history dating back to ancient times,[4] Yatta is identified with the biblical town of Juttah.

By the advent of the late 19th century, it transformed into a larger village marked by agricultural and pastoral economy, including sheep herding.

[1] Located on a large, ancient hilltop,[4] Yatta has been identified with the site of the Biblical town of Juttah (Hebrew: יוטה).

[7][14][15] In the 4th century CE, Eusebius wrote that Yatta was "a very large village of Jews eighteen miles south of Beit Gubrin.

[17][18][8] However, their oral tradition traces their origins to the Jews of Khaybar, who were expelled from the Arabian Peninsula and settled in the area at a later time.

[23][24] Also within the borders of modern Yatta is Khirbet el-Uzeiz (157/093), a ruin identified with the ancient Jewish village of Kefar Aziz (Hebrew: כפר עזיז), hometown of Rabbi Ishmael.

[25] Yatta, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 the village appeared to be in the Nahiya of Khalil of the Liwa of Quds.

[44] Khaled Mahamra is a Hamas member responsible for the June 2016 Tel Aviv shooting, who was sentenced to life in prison and released as part of the exchange deal to free captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

[44] In June 2016, two assailants from Yatta were apprehended after firing upon Israelis dining in a Tel-Aviv café, after which they were charged with killing four people and injuring 16 others.

[47] In the late 1980s, Zvi Ilan and David Amit conducted a survey that unveiled a lintel at the entrance of an old house, adorned with reliefs depicting two seven-branched menorahs flanking a rosette.

While the excavation of the building remains incomplete and its architectural plans are still unclear, the discoveries, coupled with Eusebius' description of Yatta as a large village of Jews, suggest the possibility that it may have functioned as a synagogue.

[7][14][15] Additional discoveries from Yatta include a Greek inscription, featuring the verse "This is the gate to the Lord; the righteous shall enter it" (Psalm 118), which was carved onto a lintel alongside a Maltese cross.

[23][24] Furthermore, excavations in Yatta revealed capitals indicating a potential date after the 5th century, featuring bosses adorned with rosettes and echinus displaying a Greek cross.

Despite suffering from looting and the theft of antiquities and building materials, it remains a place of prayer for local Yatta residents.

[11] The population of Yatta is primarily made up of several families, including the Makhamra clan, which is divided into the Alaya and Tahta branches, along with Al Da'ajnha, Harizat, and Houshiyeh.

[16][50] Research by Yitzhak Ben Zvi in 1928 also suggested that three out of the six hamulas (or extended families) in Yatta belonged to the Makhamra clan which possibly descended from a Jewish Arab tribe.