Kissufim () is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in the northwestern

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert in

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 ...

. Located adjacent to the

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 ...

at an altitude of 92 meters above sea level, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of .

History

The village was established in 1951 by

Zionist youth movement A Zionist youth movement () is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideology, ideological development, including a belief in Zionism, Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel. Yout ...

members from the

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and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. One of the founders of the kibbutz was Ami Saull, who was born in Manhattan 1932 (nephew of Israel Galili and father of filmmaker Dror Shaul). Kissufim is part of the Shalom bloc of Israeli settlement meant to secure Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip from the numerous Palestinian Fedayeen infiltrations. The government financed reinforced concrete rooms for each home which serve as bomb shelters. In 1999, Dror Shaul, who was born and raised on Kissufim, filmed a satirical comedy, ''Operation Grandma'', based on life in the kibbutz. In 2023, Keren Nechmad released her film '' Kissufim'', shot on location, and which won awards at several film festivals. Through the Kissufim gate, humanitarian aid is transferred to the Gaza Strip by Israel and other entities. Hamas has attacked Kissufim with rocket attacks several times in the 2010s and 2020s. In 2023 Hamas perpetrated the Kissufim massacre.

2023 Hamas attack

On 7 October 2023,

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 ...

launched an attack on Kissufim during a large-scale Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Hamas militants perpetrated a massacre in Kissufim during the attack, murdering 9 residents and 6 foreign workers including hostage Shlomo Mansour, and abducting several other residents. Kissufim has since been depopulated, with the residents living in temporary housing in

Omer Omer may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem * The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar People * A variant spelling of the g ...

Economy

The kibbutz economy relies on

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

poultry farming Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion c ...

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

groves and an

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

orchard which constitutes one of the kibbutz's primary sources of income. Kissufim had a factory that produced plastic frames for eyeglasses. The Kissufim dairy has 380 cows with an average milk production of 12,800 liters.

Archaeology

Tell Jemmeh is a major archaeological site located about 5 kilometers east-northeast of Kissufim, on the southern bank of HaBesor Stream. In June 1977, a tractor-driver preparing a new field discovered mosaics believed to be part of the floor of a mid-sixth century Byzantine church. According to archaeologists it was built on the plan of an early Christian Basilica during the reign of Constantine in 313 C.E. Kibbutz Kissufim houses an archaeology museum showcasing artifacts discovered the area. In 1961, a stone fragment bearing a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

inscription was discovered near Kissufim. The inscription mentions the priestly course of Petaḥia. It is believed to date back to the 5th or 6th century CE.

Kissufim crossing

The nearby crossing into the Gaza Strip, named for the kibbutz, was the main route for traffic into the

Gush Katif Gush Katif () was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces removed the 8,600 Israeli residents from their homes after a decision from the Cabinet of Israel. The communities were demo ...

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

bloc. It was permanently closed to inbound Israeli civilian traffic on 15 August 2005 as part of the disengagement plan. The last Israeli soldier left the Gaza Strip and closed the gate at dawn of 12 September 2005, completing the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Israel reopened the crossing on 12 November 2024 in response to US demands to open another crossing into the Gaza Strip. The demands were intended to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Notable people

* Avihu Medina, composer, arranger, songwriter and singer * Dror Shaul, filmmaker

References

External links

Official website

Kissufim
Negev Information Centre
15-minute movie on Kissufim in the 1950s

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

Jewish Film Archive
Kissufim
Bo HaBayta article

Archaeology links

* * * Regarding Early Paleolithic flint tools of Acheulean technology in the Kissufim museum. {{Authority control American-Jewish culture in Israel Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1951 Gaza envelope Populated places in Southern District (Israel) South American-Jewish culture in Israel 1951 establishments in Israel