Mateh Yehuda Regional Council

Tirosh (Hebrew: תִּירוֹשׁ, lit. Grape juice) is a moshav in central Israel. Located between Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 454.

Mughallis (Arabic: مٌغلّس) was a Palestinian Arab village located 30.5 kilometers (19.0 mi) northwest of Hebron. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between July 9–10, 1948 as part of Operation An-Far.

Jilya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. The Romans referred to it as Jilya by Galla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War by the Givati Brigade of the first stage of Operation Dani on July 9, 1948. It was located 17 km south of Ramla.

Qazaza (Arabic: قزازة) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located 19 kilometers (12 mi) south of Ramla. It was depopulated in 1948.

Sajad (Arabic: سجد) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict. It was located sixteen kilometers south of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.

Sdot Micha Airbase (in Hebrew: שדות מיכה‎) is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) missile base and depot, whose existence Israel neither confirms nor denies. It is situated in the center of Israel, halfway from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea and extends nearly 13 km from southeast to northwest. The center of the base is located 1.5 km north of moshav Sdot Micha and it has neither a runway nor a visible heliport. Its facilities can now be clearly seen on satellite images. Nuclear warheads are supposed to be stored at the base, which can also be fired by the missiles there.

Timnath or Timnah was a Philistine city in Canaan that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Judges 14 and in connection with Samson. Modern archaeologists identify the ancient site with a tell lying on a flat, alluvial plain, located in the Sorek Valley ca. 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north-west of Beit Shemesh, near moshav Tal Shahar in Israel, known in Hebrew as Tel Batash (תל בטש) or Teluliot Batashi (plural), and in Arabic as Tell Butashi or Teleilat Batashi (plural). The site is not to be confused with either the as yet unidentified Timna from the hill country of Judah (Josh 15:57), nor with the southern copper-smelting site of Timna in the Arabah near Eilat. The Tel Batash mound was discovered in the 19th century by C. Clermont-Ganneau, who identified it as a Roman military camp. In subsequent years, the site was uncovered through 1977–1989, in 12 seasons of excavations, by Amihai Mazar and George L. Kelm while Kelm was serving as professor of Biblical backgrounds and archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, on a dig sponsored by the Seminary.

Sdot Micha or Sedot Mikha (Hebrew: שְׂדוֹת מִיכָה, lit. Micha Fields) is a moshav (agricultural settlement) in central Israel. Located to the west of Beit Shemesh, it is under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 390.

Al-Burayj or Bureij, lit. 'little tower', was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 19, 1948, during the first phase of Operation Ha-Har. The village was located 28.5 km west of Jerusalem.

Tell es-Safi (Arabic: تل الصافي, romanized: Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī, "White hill"; Hebrew: תל צפית, Tel Tzafit) was an Arab Palestinian village, located on the southern banks of Wadi 'Ajjur, 35 kilometers (22 mi) northwest of Hebron which had its Arab population expelled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war on orders of Shimon Avidan, commander of the Givati Brigade. Archaeological excavations show that the site (a tell or archaeological mound) was continuously inhabited since the 5th millennium BCE. It appears on the Madaba Map as Saphitha, while the Crusaders called it Blanche Garde. It is mentioned by Arab geographers in the 13th and 16th centuries. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the district of Gaza. In modern times, the houses were built of sun-dried brick. The villagers were Muslim and cultivated cereals and orchards. Today the site, known as Tel Tzafit, is an Israeli national park incorporating archaeological remains which some have identified as the Philistine city of Gath, mentioned in the Bible. The remains of the Crusader fort and the Arab village can also be seen on the tell.

The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" (Biblical Hebrew: הַשְּפֵלָה hašŠǝfēlā, also Modern Hebrew: שְׁפֵלַת יְהוּדָה‎, Šǝfēlat Yəhūda, the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel stretching over 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) between the Judaean Mountains and the Coastal Plain. The different use of the term "Judean Plain", as either defining just the Coastal Plain segment stretching along the Judaean Mountains, or also including, or only referring to, the Shfela, often creates grave confusion. Today the Shfela is largely rural with many farms, but the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Rehovot, Beit Shemesh, and Kiryat Gat roughly surround it. The Bible assigned land in the Shfela to the tribes of Judah and Dan.

Gath or Gat (Hebrew: גַּת, romanized: Gaṯ, lit. 'wine press'; Latin: Geth, Philistine: 𐤂𐤕 *Gīt) was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis during the Iron Age. It was located in northeastern Philistia, close to the border with Judah. Gath is often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and its existence is confirmed by Egyptian inscriptions. Already of significance during the Bronze Age, the city is believed to be mentioned in the El-Amarna letters as Gimti/Gintu, ruled by the two Shuwardata and 'Abdi-Ashtarti. Another Gath, known as Ginti-kirmil (Gath of Carmel) also appears in the Amarna letters. The site most favored as the location of Gath is the archaeological mound or tell known as Tell es-Safi in Arabic and Tel Zafit in Hebrew (sometimes written Tel Tzafit), located inside Tel Zafit National Park, but a stone inscription disclosing the name of the city has yet to be discovered. Archaeologists believe it was the largest city of the Southern Levant during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. Recent excavations have uncovered dramatic evidence of a siege and subsequent destruction of the site in the late 9th century BCE, which can be related to the biblical verse that mentions its capture by Hazael of Aram Damascus. A Gittite is a person from Gath.