Al-Fukhari (, also spelled al-Fokari or al-Fukhkhari) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

town in the

Khan Yunis Governorate The Khan Yunis Governorate () is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine, located in the southern Gaza Strip. Its district capital is Khan Yunis. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the governorate had a population of 426,0 ...

in the southern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, located between Khuza'a and

Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...

. It sits on the eastern side of the Sufa Crossing road, just west of the border with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

.Israel's Unlawful Destruction of Property During Operation Cast Lead

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

. May 2010. pp-104-105. In the 1997 census by the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

(PCBS), it had a population of 2,616, rising to an estimated 6,443 in 2017.Fukhkhari Profile

Jerusalem Media and Communications Center The Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre (JMCC; ) is a Palestinian non-governmental organization based in East Jerusalem, which provides information about events in Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem to journalists, researchers an ...

(JMCC). During the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections, the

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

party and Independents won the majority of seats in al-Fukhari's municipal council. The town's mayor is Hasan al-Amouri. Al-Fukhari's total land area consists of 4,767 dunams of which 37.3% is built-up (overwhelmingly residential) and most of the remainder used for agricultural purposes.Administrative Divisions of Governorates
. Palestinian State Information Services.

Effects of Gaza War

During Israel's 2008-09 offensive against the

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

government in the Gaza Strip, 13 houses in al-Fukhari belonging to a total of 85 people, mostly members of the extended Amouri and Eid families, were destroyed by the

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

according to a

report. The Amouri family claimed that 30

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of their olive trees were razed while the Eid family reported that a large part of their 20-dunam wheat farm were flattened by Israeli military vehicles. Just outside al-Fukhari, the Abu Sita concrete factory and 13 company vehicles were also destroyed. HRW concluded the factory and its equipment had been bulldozed by the Israeli military. The Amouri family stated that there were no militants active in the area at the time of the Israeli incursion and that militants had commandeered their homes previously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukhari, al- Towns in the Gaza Strip Municipalities of Palestine