14 October 2024 Al-Aqsa Hospital attack

Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital (English: al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital) is the only hospital located in the middle area of the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah and was founded in 2001. As of 2018, this hospital is one of fifteen public hospitals in the Gaza Strip and is managed by UNRWA, The Ministry of Health, and various NGOs. The hospital serves an estimated 18,000 patients each month. According to The Ministry of Health, the hospital's emergency department had over 11,000 visits. In 2018, the hospital had 166 beds.

Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah (Arabic: دير البلح, lit. 'Monastery of the Date Palm') is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir el-Balah Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is located over 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The city is known for its date palms, after which it is named. Deir al-Balah dates back to the Late Bronze Age when it served as a fortified outpost for the New Kingdom of Egypt. A monastery was built there by the Christian monk Hilarion in the mid-4th century AD and is currently believed to be the site of a mosque dedicated to Saint George, known locally as al-Khidr. During the Crusader-Ayyubid wars, Deir al-Balah was the site of a strategic coastal fortress known as "Darum" which was continuously contested, dismantled and rebuilt by both sides until its final demolition in 1196. Afterward, the site grew to become a large village on the postal route of the Mamluk Sultanate (13th-15th centuries). It served as an episcopal see of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem in Ottoman times until the late 19th century. Under Egyptian control Deir al-Balah, whose population tripled through the influx of refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was a prosperous agricultural town until its capture by Israel in the Six-Day War. After 27 years of Israeli occupation, Deir al-Balah became the first city to come under Palestinian self-rule in 1994. Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, it has witnessed frequent incursions by the Israeli Army with the stated aim of stopping Qassam rocket fire into Israel. Ahmad Kurd, a Hamas member, was elected mayor in late January 2005.

The Palestine Technical College (Arabic: كلية فلسطين التقنية, romanized: Kullīyat Filasṭīn al-Tiqniyah) is a college in Deir El-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine. The college offers bachelor degree programs and 2-year associate degrees in technical education at the post-secondary level, as well as programmers for different target groups through continuing education. It is a governmental college that was established in 1993. Currently there are more than 1800 student enrolled in the college in 20 diploma programs and 8 B.Sc. programs. The main college campus is located at the city of Deir El-Balah. The college has a branch campus in the north of Gaza City. In the academic year 2015/2016, PTC employed around 200 full time employees of which 120 were academic staff. In 2023 it was used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and its buildings were damaged by Israeli military strikes.

The Deir al-Balah Governorate (Arabic: محافظة دير البلح Muḥāfaẓat Dayr al Balaḥ), also referred to as Central Gaza Governorate (Arabic: محافظة الوسطى) is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine in the central Gaza Strip which is administered by Palestine aside from its border with Israel, airspace, and maritime territory. Its total land area consists of 56 sq. kilometers. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, in mid-year 2022 it had a population of 310,820 inhabitants distributed between eight localities.

The Deir El Balah War Cemetery was established in March 1917. After the Armistice of Mudros ended the Ottoman Empire's participation in the First World War, some graves were relocated from nearby to the Deir El Balah War Cemetery. It was used until 1919. In 1998, names of casualties from the Indian Army that were interred at the cemetery were added to the cemetery's register; previously there was a memorial that did not name the casualties. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which is responsible for maintaining the cemetery, about 10% of the headstones had been damaged as a result of the Gaza war by June 2025. The Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim memorials had also sustained damage. A report by the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation noted that the bombing and fire were the main causes of the damage. The cemetery contains 724 graves of Commonwealth soldiers, including an Indian section with 64 burials, and 35 Australians.

Az-Zawayda (Arabic: الزوايدة), also spelled Zawaida, is a Palestinian town in the Gaza Strip, in the Deir al-Balah Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is located about three kilometers northeast of the city of Deir al-Balah and just west of Maghazi refugee camp. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) 2017 census, there were 23,841 residents.

Al-Musaddar (Arabic: المُصَدّر) is a Palestinian village in the central Gaza Strip, part of the Deir al-Balah Governorate east of Deir al-Balah, south of the Maghazi refugee camp and west of the border with Israel. In the 1997 census its population was 1,277. Al-Musaddar had a population of 2,587 in 2017 according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 suicide attack on an Israeli bus carrying civilians and soldiers to Kfar Darom, an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip. The attack killed seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian. The Shaqaqi faction of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. A United States Federal district judge ruled that the Iranian Government had provided financial aid to the group that carried out the attack and were therefore responsible for the murder of the U.S. citizen. The court ordered the Government of Iran to pay the victim's family $247.5 million in damages.

Kfar Darom (Hebrew: כְּפַר דָּרוֹם, lit. South Village), was a kibbutz and an Israeli settlement within the Gush Katif bloc in the Gaza Strip.

Deir al-Balah Camp (Arabic: مخيّم دير البلح) is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Deir al-Balah Governorate of the southern Gaza Strip, located one kilometer northwest of the center of Deir al-Balah city, of which it practically forms part. The camp consists of concrete buildings and has eight schools, sewers, and other municipal services. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the camp had a population of 6,985 in 2017. It is the smallest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Deir al-Balah Camp is built on an area of 0.16 square kilometers (16 hectares; 39 acres (160,000 m2); ). As of March 2005, the population registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was 19,534 persons.

Maghazi (Arabic: مخيم المغازي) is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip. It was established in 1949. The camp is built on 559 dunums (0.6 km2). In July 2023, the UNRWA reported its population to be 33,000. During the first months of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, its population tripled and faced repeated airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Al-Maghazi refugee camp was struck several times.