Al-Khisas, Gaza

Not to be confused with the village in Safad District: Al-Khisas.

Al-Khisas (Arabic: خربة الخِصاص, Khirbat al-Khiṣāṣ) was a Palestinian Arab village in Palestine, located 18.5 kilometers (11.5 mi) northeast of Gaza near the modern city of Ashkelon.^[6]

al-Khisas خربة الخِصاص Khirbat al-Khiṣāṣ
Village
Etymology: the ruin of booths or reed huts[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Khisas, Gaza (click the buttons)
al-Khisas Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°38′53″N 34°33′40″E
Palestine grid	108/117
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Gaza
Date of depopulation	November 4–5, 1948[2]
Area [3]
• Total	6,269 dunams (6.269 km2 or 2.420 sq mi)
Population  (1945)
• Total	150[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Ashkelon[5]

Location

Al-Khisas was located just west of Ni'ilya, south of Al-Jura.

Al-Khisas, called Khisas, was inhabited in the 15th century. Mamluk records show that in 1459 CE it was endowed was a waqf.^[7]

History

Late Ottoman period

In 1838, in the late Ottoman era, el Khusas was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted", located in the Gaza district.^[8]

An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Chasas had 6 houses and a population of 35, though the population count included men, only.^[9][10]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found at Khurbet el Khesas "a few heaps of stones with a well near".^[11]

British Mandate period

The modern village was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetter, and was built after World War I.^[5] Farmers from neighboring areas first built temporary huts at the site to shelter themselves during the harvest, gradually they settled and built adobe houses.^[5] The population relied on neighboring villages Al-Jura and Ni'ilya for medical, educational and administrative services.^[5]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khesas had a population of 102 inhabitants, all Muslims,^[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 133, still all Muslims, in 26 houses.^[13]

In the 1945 statistics, Al-Khisas had a population of 150 Muslims^[4] with a total of 6,269 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.^[14] Of this, 191 dunums of village land were used for citrus and bananas, 419 for cereal farming, 2,671 irrigated or used for orchards,^[15] while 10 dunams were built-up land.^[16]

1948 war; State of Israel

The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between November 4–5, 1948, at the end of Operation Yo'av.^[5] The Israeli army found about 150 people in Al-Khisas and nearby Ni'ilya; they were all expelled to Beit Hanoun on the Gaza strip.^[17]

In 1992 the village site was described as being "engulfed by the Israeli town of Ashkelon".^[5]