Lakhish Regional Council

Al-Qubayba (Arabic: القبيبة, قبيبة ابن عوّاد), also known as Gbebah, Qubeiba or Qobebet Ibn 'Awwad, was a Palestinian village, located 24 kilometers northwest of Hebron. It was ethnically cleansed in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Highway 35 is a highway in south-central Israel. It runs roughly from west to east. It begins in Ashkelon, passes through the Lakhish region and Kiryat Gat, crosses the Green Line and terminates at a junction with Highway 60 between Hebron and Halhul. Highway 35 is 58 km long. The road follows the "Lachish Road", an ancient east–west trade route connecting the Via Maris and the Way of the Patriarchs.

Tel Maresha (Hebrew: תל מראשה) is the tell (archaeological mound) of the biblical Iron Age city of Maresha, and of the subsequent, post-586 BCE Idumean city known by its Hellenised name Marisa, Arabised as Marissa (ماريسا). The tell is situated in Israel's Shephelah region, i.e. in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of Beit Gubrin. Maresha was first excavated in 1898–1900 by the British archaeologists Bliss and Macalister on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund and again after 1989 by Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Excavations revealed that Maresha was inhabited (not necessarily continuously) during the Iron Age, the Persian period, and the Hellenistic period. Most of the artifacts of the British excavation are to be found today in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. This site is now protected as part of Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park and its burial caves are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a national park in central Israel, containing a large network of caves recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The national park includes the remains of the historical towns of Maresha, one of the important towns of Judah during the First Temple Period, and Bayt Jibrin, a depopulated Palestinian town known as Eleutheropolis in the Roman era. However, Maresha and Bayt Jibrin are not part of the UNESCO site, which covers only the cave network.Archaeological artifacts unearthed at the site include a large Jewish cemetery, a Roman-Byzantine amphitheater, a Byzantine church, public baths, mosaics and burial caves.It is located 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat.

Yoav Regional Council (Hebrew: מועצה אזורית יואב, Mo'atza Azorit Yoav) is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel. It is located near the cities of Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malakhi and Ashkelon. It was founded in 1952, covering an area of 230,000 dunams (230 km2), with a population of about 5,300. The council is named after Yitzhak Dubnov, who was nicknamed "Yoav", and who fell while defending Negba in the 1947–1949 Palestine war. Operation Yoav and Metzudat Yoav, which is located in the council's area, are also named after him. The council contains two parts which are not contiguous geographically. The main part is bordered on the north by Nahal Sorek Regional Council, on the west by Be'er Tuvia Regional Council and Shafir Regional Council, on the south by Lakhish Regional Council and Kiryat Gat, and on the east by Matte Yehuda Regional Council. The western portion of the council, which includes the kibbutzim Negba and Sde Yoav, is bordered on the north and east by Shafir Regional Council, on the west by Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, and on the west by Lakhish Regional Council.

Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin (Arabic: بيت جبرين; Hebrew: בית גוברין, romanized: Beit Gubrin), known between 200-400 CE as Eleutheropolis (Greek, Ἐλευθερόπολις, "Free City"; Arabic: إليوثيروبوليس), was a historical town, located in central Israel near the 1949 ceasefire line, 21 kilometres (13 mi) northwest of the city of Hebron. Abandoned in 1948, the town had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or 56.1 km2 (13,900 acres), of which 0.28 km2 (69 acres) were built-up while the rest remained farmland.During the 8th century BCE, the nearby village of Maresha was part of the Kingdom of Judah. During the days of Herod the Great, a Jewish ruler of the Herodian Kingdom, the town was the administrative center for the district of Idumea. After the turmoil of the First Jewish–Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt, the town became a thriving Roman colony and a major administrative centre of the Roman Empire under the name of Eleutheropolis. Eleutheropolis became one of the most important cities in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. The city was then inhabited by Jews, Christians and pagans. Under the British Mandate of Palestine, Bayt Jibrin again served as a district centre for surrounding villages. It was captured by Jewish forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, causing its Arab inhabitants to flee eastward. Today, many of the Palestinian refugees of Bayt Jibrin and their descendants live in the camps of Bayt Jibrin (ʽAzza) and Fawwar in the southern West Bank. The kibbutz of Beit Guvrin was established to the north of Bayt Jibrin, on the villages' lands, in 1949. The archaeological sites of Maresha and Beit Guvrin, including their ancient burial caves, are today an Israeli national park known as Beit Guvrin National Park. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Eleutheropolis remains a titular see in the Roman Catholic Church.

Beit Guvrin (Hebrew: בֵּית גֻּבְרִין, lit. House of Men in Aramaic) is a kibbutz in the Lakhish region, west of the ancient city of Beit Guvrin, for which it is named. Located 14 kilometres east of Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 447.

Tel Zayit (Hebrew: תל זית, Arabic: Tell Zeita, Kirbat Zeita al Kharab) is an archaeological tell in the Shephelah, or lowlands, of Israel, about 30 km east of Ashkelon. The site had previously been known as the Arab village of Zayta; its population was moved 1.5 km north during the period of Mandatory Palestine, and depopulated by Israel’s Givati Brigade in 1948.

Gal On (Hebrew: גַּלְאוֹן, גל און, lit. Wave of Strength) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 603.The kibbutz is associated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement and its Kibbutz Artzi settlement organisation (now part of the Kibbutz Movement). Established as part of the 1946 11 points in the Negev settlement drive, it is located approximately ten kilometers north east of Kiryat Gat and two kilometers east of Beit Guvrin. The kibbutz is administered as part of the Yoav Regional Council.

Zayta (Arabic: زيْتا Zaytā) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict in Mandate Palestine. During Crusader rule in Palestine, the village is mentioned as forming part of the landholdings of the Order of St. John. At the time of the rule of the Ottoman Empire, according to the 1596 census, Zayta had a population of 165. Mentioned by Western travellers to the region in the 19th century, it is described by one as, "a picturesque Arab village"; by 1945, its population was 330 inhabitants. Until the period of Mandatory Palestine, the village was located at what is known in modern Israel as Tel Zayit; its population was moved 1.5 km north due to the nearby stagnant waters. In 2005, archeologists discovered the Zayit Stone in an excavated limestone wall. The new Zayta village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between July 17–18, 1948. Its inhabitants became refugees, ending up the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All that remains of the village structures is the well that served as its main water source.

Beit Nir (Hebrew: בֵּית נִיר, lit. House of tilled soil) is a kibbutz in the Lakhish region of south-central Israel. Beit Nir falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council and is a member of the Kibbutz Movement. In 2021 its population was 617.

Dayr Nakhkhas (Arabic: دير النخّاس, Deir Nakh-khâs) was a Palestinian Arab village located 20 km northwest of Hebron, overlooking Wadi Bayt Jibrin to the north.