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Welcome To Hamama - حمامه (חמאמה)

District of Gaza
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Hamama Village - Palestine: : Aerial photo of Hamama from January 1945
 Gallery (14)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date November 4, 1948
Distance From District 24 (km) North East of Gaza
Elevation 25 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Pre-Nakba Aerial Viewwhat's new
Pre-Nakba Aerial View
Map Location See location #13 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Third stage of the Israeli army's Operation Yo'av.
Attacking Units Giva'ti Brigade
Defenders Egyptian Army
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains The village was completely obliterated.
Ethnically Cleansing Hamama inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 26,855
Jewish 1,693
Public 12,818
**Total 41,366
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 961 395
Irrigated & Plantation 4,325 134
Planted W/ Cereal 27,726 1,164
Built up 167 0
Arable 33,012 1,693
Non-Arable 6,494 0
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1596 462
1922 2,731
1931 3,405
1945 5,070 (60 Jewish)
1948 5,812 (60 Jewish)
Est. Refugees 1998 35,689
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 865
1948 1,476
Near By Townswhat's new
Isdud
↑
(N)
Bayt Daras
↗        
Mediterranean  ←
Hamama
→   Julis
            ↙
al-Jura
↓
al-Majdal Asqalan
↘           
Bayt Tima
Town's Name Through History During Byzantine period Hamama was known by Peleia.
Schools Hamama had two elementary schools:- the 1st was a school for boys which was founded in 1921, and in 1945 it had an enrollment of 338 boys; and the 2nd school was for girls which was founded in 1946 and it had enrollment of 46 girls.
Local Council The village had council which administered its local affairs.
Places of Warship One mosque
Archeological Sites The village contained Khirbat Khawr al-Bayk and Khirbat Shaykh 'Awad.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Nitzanim, Nitzanim-Kefar ha-No'ar, Beyt 'Ezra, & Eshkolot
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on flat land on the coastal plain, about 2 km from the seashore, bordered by two long sand dunes on the east and west sides. The coastal highway and railway line ran a short distance to the east of it. Hamama (which means 'dove' in Arabic) was built on the site of Tall Mishqafa, identified as Peleia (also meaning 'dove') in an early fifth-century Byzantine source. It was near the site of a battle between the Crusaders and Muslims in 1099 that ended in the triumph of the former. The Mamluk sultan, al-Ashraf Barsbay, was reported to have passed through it in 1432. Hamama was also said to have been the birthplace of Ahmad al-Shafi'i (1406–1465), a renowned Muslim scholar, teacher, and preacher at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. In 1596, Hamama was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 462. It paid taxes on goats and beehives. The Sufi traveler al-Bakri al-Siddiqi, who passed through the region in the mid-eighteenth century, reported that he visited the village of Hamama after he left al-Jura.

Most of the village residents were Muslims. They built their houses along the roads connecting Hamama to other villages, which resulted in a star-shaped pattern of construction.' Its longest extensions were to the north and northwest. The village had a mosque and two elementary schools: one for boys, opened in 1921, and another for girls, opened in 1946. In 1946, 338 students were enrolled in the boys' school and 46 in the girls'. A village council administered local affairs. The villagers cultivated a wide variety of crops: grain, citrus, apricots, almonds, figs, olives, watermelons, and cantaloupes. Because of sand dunes, particularly on the north side, the community planted trees on parts of the land to prevent soil erosion and sand encroachment. In 1944/45 a total of 961 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 20,990 dunums were planted in cereals; 4,325 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. In addition to agriculture, the inhabitants engaged in fishing. The area around Hamama contained numerous archaeological sites with visible ruins. These included Khirbat Khawr al-Bayk and Shaykh Awad.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Reports in the Palestinian newspaper Filastin show that Hamama was first drawn into the war by a number of hit-and-run strikes beginning in January 1948. On 22 January, a group of workers from the village laboring in the fields between Hamama and Isdud were attacked by Jewish settlers from nearby Nitzanim. The attack left fifteen of the Arab workers wounded, two seriously, according to the report. Two days later, another unit from the settlement opened fire on villagers from Hamama, this time killing one and wounding another. The following month, on 17 February, a group of villagers waiting for the bus on the main road between Hamama and Isdud were fired upon and two were wounded. The paper again wrote that the attackers withdrew to Nitzanim.

Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that the village was occupied in the third stage of the Israeli army's Operation Yoav , on 28 October. By the beginning of the operation, Hamama had a large refugee population, created by the military offensives launched during the previous months. Nearby Isdud (5 km to the north) came under naval and aerial attack at the beginning of Operation Yoav and fell into Israeli hands in the third stage of the operation. The New York Times stated on 18 October that Israeli air force bombers had flown 'practically unhindered' to their targets for three nights in succession and that these targets included Isdud. The bulk of the remaining population fled with retreating Egyptian columns before the Israeli entry on 28 October.

In the third stage of Operation Yoav, the successes of the previous stages were used to occupy more territory. Al-Qubayba and Hamama were captured around 28 October 1948. The third stage was marked by 'panic flight' and 'some expulsions,' according to Morris. When the Yiftach Brigade entered Hamama, the unit's intelligence report stated that it was 'full of refugees' from Isdud and elsewhere. Morris adds: 'The remaining Hamama population and the refugees in the town either fled southwards after the [Israeli army] conquest or were urged or ordered to do so by troops.' One of the larger, little-known massacres of the war was committed on 29 October 1948 during this stage at al-Dawayima ( 25 km to the east). Morris claims that it precipitated a massive flight of people from the area.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Two settlements were established in the 1940s northeast of the village on village lands, although not close to the site: Nitzanim, in 1943, and Nitzanim–Kefar ha-No'ar in 1949. Beyt Ezra was built on village land in 1950. A farm called Eshkolot was established on village land in the 1950s.

Village Today

No traces of village houses or landmarks remain. The site is overgrown with wild vegetation, including tall grasses, weeds, and bushes. It also contains cactuses. The surrounding land is unused.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.
Related Maps Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
خرائط للقضاء توضح حدود القرى والاودية
Town's map on MapQuest
View from satellite
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Bibliography and References

Want to browse more? 80,000 pictures were grouped in these gallaries:

Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
Eman Hany أبو هاني القليوبية, مصر
Emad AlDaqsha Al-Masri Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip
Basil Ezzeddin أبو عرقوب -
النورس المهاجر عزام -
Reem Owda بني كلاب , ال أبوعودة Gaza , Palestine
ALI Shehada شحادة -
MHMD-MUH - -
Wesam Izzeddin Abo Arqoub Abha, Saudi Arabia
ايمن ابو فول كلالبه السعوديه
مروان حرب - الجزائر
محمد الحجة الحجه جـــده, جده
الحجه - Jeddah, KSA
جمال علي محمد عبدالباري عبدالباري جدة- السعودية, السعودية
ابو صفيه الشوام جده
احمد عبدالباري - جده, السعوديه
Mohamed Abou samaan al omari vienna, austria
Samer Kabar - -
الهباش الهباش جدة, السعودية
اسامه عبد الباري عبد الباري غزه , فلسطين
Moneer ELalawi ELALAWI- Vic, Australia
al3sqlne - خانيونس
ايمن مقداد مقداد -
MOHAMMAD ABUFOUL kalalbah -
محمد محيسن - -
salah eldanaf eldanaf -
نبيل محمد عاشور محيسن محيسن مكة/المملكة العربية السعودية, مكة/المملكة العربية السعودية
TAMER ABDEBARI عبدالباري -
اسماعيل دحلان دحلان الرياض, السعودية
أحمد سعيد مقداد مقداد الرياض, السعودية
searcher alnajjar gaza, palestine
راويه الخواجه الخواجه -
معتصم مقداد مقداد الوكرة, قطر
نادر hgpskd riyadh, saudi arabia
أحمد شحادة شحـــــادة غــزة, فلسطيـن
hamouda حمودة دبي, الامارات
Khaled Eissa Abu-Arquob Gaza Strip, Palestine
العمري Alomary Manchester, UK
Monther Abusultan Abu Sultan MT, USA
Moh'd Kalalba Slovakia EU
Muhannad AboSultan AboSultan Slovakia
Mohd_Miqdad hamama Jordan, Jordan
ali miqdad - amman, jordan
Bader Elshareif Shareif/Khawaja -
Abu Riala Aburiala gaza, Palestine
gehan alkoka egypt
Eyad Radwan - Tayef, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed dahman abusultan abualwalid sweden, sweden
ALI ALKOKA KALALBEH TN, USA
nidal awad -
Islam Inshassi inshassi amman, Palestine
Obai Radwan Radwan Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ayman Abu-Nabhan Kalaleba Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Kaoud - -
ALI LARKEM - ALGERIA, ALGERIA
Hatem Ezz Eddin Abu-Arqoub Abha, KSA
Ahmed Abu Safia Shwam Quebec, Canada
Hassan Shaaban Abu Sultan Abu Sultan Gaza, Palestine
Yaser Ezz Eddin Abu Arqoub Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Abu Saleh Shehada Egypt, Egypt
muhdi Enshassi -
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