Nitzan Bet

Nitzan (Hebrew: ניצן, lit. Flower bud) is a religiously observant community settlement in southern Israel. Located within the Nitzanim Sand Dune Reserve north of Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 2,660, including a large concentration of Bnei Menashe (10–20% of the population) from India and Myanmar regions bordering India.

The Battle of Nitzanim was a battle fought between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, on June 7, 1948 (29 Iyar, 5708 in the Hebrew calendar). It was the first major Egyptian victory of the war, and one of the few cases of Israeli surrender. The battle began on the night of June 6–7 with an artillery bombardment of Nitzanim, followed by an aerial bombardment and armored and infantry attacks. The main attack broke through the Israeli defenses at around 11:00; the Israelis retreated to a second position, and finally to a third position at 14:00. At 16:00, 105 Israelis surrendered to the Egyptian Army. Between June 7 and 10, the Battle of Hill 69 was fought nearby. The hill was captured by the Egyptians after a disorganized Israeli retreat. Israelis viewed the surrender of Nitzanim as a humiliation, especially after the Givati Brigade published a leaflet denouncing the defenders. The residents of Nitzanim demanded a probe into the battle, and one was conducted by the General Staff, siding with the residents and coming to the conclusion that surrender was justified.

Nitzanim (Hebrew: נִצָּנִים, lit. 'Flower buds') is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located between Ashkelon and Ashdod on the Nitzanim dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 613.

Beit Ezra (Hebrew: בֵּית עֶזְרָא, lit. House of Ezra) is a moshav in southern Israel. Located between Ashdod and Ashkelon on the Israeli coastal plain, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,105.

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council (Hebrew: מועצה אזורית חוף אשקלון, Mo'atza Azorit Hof Ashkelon, lit. Ashkelon Coast Regional Council) is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel. As of the year 2019, its population is around 18,000.The council is bordered to the north by Be'er Tuvia Regional Council, to the east by the Be'er Tuvia, Lakhish, Shafir and Yoav Regional Councils, to the south by Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council and the Gaza Strip, and to the west by Ashkelon and the Mediterranean Sea. Its average elevation is 54 meters above the sea level.

The Nitzanim Sand Dune Nature Reserve is a 21,600 dunam area within the Nitzanim Sands area between Ashdod and Ashkelon on the Southern Coastal Plain of the Israeli Mediterranean Sea coast.It was declared as a public area in early 1980s by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and designated as a nature reserve on June 2, 2005.The Reserve includes a small settlement of Nitzan located in place of the Nitzanim kibbutz, which was resettled some 3-4 km to the south. The reserve is split in two parts by the Nahal Evtah (Evtach, Avtah) (Hebrew: נחל אבטח) wadi (Wadi el Ibtah) which leads to the Nitzanim Beach by the sea. The beach is a public area not part of the Reserve. The area south of the stream is designated for the IDF recruit training base Batar Nitzanim (Camp Yehoshua) and is closed to public. The northern part is open to public all year round free of charge.In 2005, during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza there was a controversial plan to resettle some Israeli settlers from Gaza Strip to the Nitzanim Dunes area.

Ashdod (Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *ʾašdūd; Hebrew: אַשְׁדּוֹד, romanized: ʾašdōḏ; Arabic: أسدود, romanized: ʾasdūd) or Azotus (Koinē Greek: Ἄζωτος, romanized: azōtos) was an ancient Levantine metropolis situated at Tel Ashdod, an archaeological site co-located with the remains of the former Ottoman-era and now depopulated Palestinian village of Isdud, a few kilometers south of the modern Ashdod in present-day Israel. The first documented urban settlement at Ashdod dates to the 17th century BCE, when it was a fortified Canaanite city, before being destroyed in the Bronze Age Collapse. During the Iron Age, it was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis, and is mentioned 13 times in the Hebrew Bible. After being captured by Uzziah, it was briefly ruled by the Kingdom of Judah before changing hands between the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the later Achaemenid Empire. In the Hellenistic period, following the conquests of Alexander the Great, the city became known as Azotus. It was later incorporated into the Hasmonean kingdom. During the 1st century BCE, Pompey removed the city from Judean rule and annexed it to the Roman province of Syria. Ashdod was a bishopric under Byzantine rule, but its importance diminished over the course of the Medieval period.There was ongoing habitation at the site in the early modern period through to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when the then village of Isdud was depopulated when its population fled or were expelled. Today, the site is an archaeological site that is open to the public, with visible remains of Isdud and earlier historical ruins, thought to date back to the Philistine period.

Isdud (Arabic: إسدود, romanized: ʾisdūd) was a Palestinian village tracing back at least to the Ottoman period of Palestine (region). In 1945, it had a population of 4,620 Arabs and 290 Jews, before it was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when its population all either fled or were expelled. The village of Isdud is documented from the early Ottoman period in Palestine, when it held 75 households. The settlement at this time may or may not form part of a continuity with the town of "Azdud", described up until the 10the century as a postal stop between al-Ramla and Gaza, and equally as a continuation of the ancient city of Ashdod. By 1922, Isdud had a population of 2,566 inhabitants, 2,555 Muslims and 11 Christians; and by 1945, a population of 4,620 Arabs and 290 Jews. Today, the village's ruins form part of the Tel Ashdod archaeological site, which lies within the jurisdiction of the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. The central village mosque stands at the top of the site, as does the khan and the tomb of Sheikh Abu Qubal.

Ashdod Sand Dune is a psammosere ecosystem close to the city of Ashdod on the Israeli Coastal Plain near the Mediterranean sea. It is south of Tel Aviv.

Ezer (Hebrew: עֵזֶר) is a community settlement in southern Israel. Located between Ashdod and Ashkelon near the Mediterranean coast, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 811.

Emunim (Hebrew: אֱמוּנִים, lit. the faithful) is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Ashdod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,011.

Operation Pleshet (Hebrew: מִבְצָע פְּלֶשֶׁת, Mivtza Pleshet) was an Israeli military action near the village of Isdud from May 29 to June 3, 1948 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Isdud was on the Israeli southern front against the Egyptian Army, and the operation was aimed at capturing the village and stopping the Egyptian advance northwards. While only the June 2–3 engagements are officially named Operation Pleshet, the events immediately preceding are historiographically joined with it. The preceding events consisted of an aerial bombardment, followed by small-scale Israeli harassment of the Egyptian lines, and later a ground assault (Operation Pleshet). The original plan was to attack on June 1–2, but this was canceled due to an impending ceasefire, and re-attempted on June 2–3. The Israelis, under the Givati Brigade's umbrella command, attacked in two main forces: one from the north (3 companies) and one from the south (4 reinforced companies). The Israelis had little intelligence on their enemy and were forced to retreat. They failed to capture territory, and suffered heavy casualties. However, following the operation, Egypt changed its strategy from offensive to defensive, thus halting their advance northwards. Two unsettled historiographic debates exist revolving around the operation: whether the Egyptians were intending to advance toward Tel Aviv, which most historians agree was not the case; and whether the operation was a turning point on the Israeli southern front. Traditional Israeli historiography, supported by early Arab accounts, maintains that it was a turning point, while later Arab sources, and New Historians, dispute this.