Kiryat Gat

Kiryat Gat (Hebrew: קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies 56 kilometres (35 mi) south of Tel Aviv, 43 kilometres (27 mi) north of Beersheba, 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Gaza, and 68 kilometres (42 mi) from Jerusalem. At the end of 2012, the city had a total population of 48,275.

Etymology

Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. In Hebrew, "gat" means "winepress". In the 1950s, archaeologists found ruins at a nearby tell which were mistaken for the Philistine city of Gath. The location most favored for Gath now is Tel es-Safi, thirteen kilometers (8.1 miles) to the northeast.

History

Kiryat Gat was established in 1955 as a development town by 18 families from Morocco. It was founded just west of the ruins of the Palestinian village Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was depopulated in 1949 after the 1948 Palestine war. The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the built-up area of Kiryat Gat. By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also on to the land formerly belonged to the village of Al-Faluja.