Tzohar () is a

community settlement A community settlement (, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of town or village in Israel and in the West Bank. In an ordinary town, anyone may buy property, but in a community settlement, the village's residents are organized in a cooperative an ...

and regional center in southern

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 in

Hevel Eshkol Hevel Eshkol (, lit. Eshkol ''region'') is an area in the western Negev close to Israel's border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Sinai. Hevel Eshkol is bordering the Gaza Strip and the Egypt–Israel barrier, Israel–Egypt bord ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Eshkol Regional Council Eshkol Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Ezorit Eshkol'') is a regional council in the north-western Negev, in Israel's Southern District. The regional council's territory lies midway between Ashkelon and Beersheba, bounded on the west by the Gaza St ...

. In it had a population of .

History

The settlement was founded in 1970 as a regional center for the villages in Hevel Eshkol. It was named after a son of

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...

mentioned in Genesis 46:10, as the neighbouring moshav Ohad was named after his brother, mentioned in the same Bible verse. In the 1990s it absorbed many immigrants from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, many of whom lived in

mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabrication, prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or ...

s. On 7 October 2023 Hamas attackers tried to infiltrate the settlement. The security team of Tzohar succeeded in "defending the road to Zohar, the terrorists retreated, leaving behind a dozen of their dead."

References

External links

Tzohar
Negev Information Center {{Authority control Community settlements Ethiopian-Jewish culture in Israel Populated places established in 1970 Gaza envelope Populated places in Southern District (Israel) 1970 establishments in Israel Russian-Jewish culture in Israel