| Beit Hanoun | |||
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| Other transcription(s) | |||
| • Arabic | بيت حانون | ||
| • Also spelled | Beit Hanun (official) Bayt Hanun (unofficial) |
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Beit Hanoun
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Governorate | North Gaza | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | City | ||
| • Head of Municipality | Mohamad Nazek al-Kafarna | ||
| Area | |||
| • Jurisdiction | 12,500 dunams (12.5 km2 / 4.8 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| • Jurisdiction | 32,187 | ||
| Website | www.beithanoun.ps | ||
Beit Hanoun (Arabic: بيت حانون) is a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 32,187 in mid-year 2006.[1] It is administered by the Palestinian Authority. It is located by the Hanoun stream, just 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) away from the Israeli town of Sderot.
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According to local legend, Beit Hanoun was the capital of the Philistine King Hanoun who fought the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE. The Ayyubids defeated the Crusaders at a battle in Umm al-Nasser hill, just west of Beit Hanoun, and built the Umm al-Naser Mosque ("Mother of Victories Mosque") there in commemoration of the victory. A Mamluk post office was located in Beit Hanoun as well.[2]
In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the vicinity of Beit Hanoun, and later Beit Hanoun itself, served as a tactical wedge (Beit Hanoun wedge), stuck by the Israel Defense Forces to disrupt the movement of the Egyptian army from Majdal to its forces to the south in the area that later became the Gaza Strip.
While under control of Egyptian authorities Egypt complained to the Mixed Armistice Commission that on the 7 and 14 October 1950 Israeli military Forces had shelled and machine-gunned the Arab villages of Abasan al-Kabera and Beit Hanoun in Egyptian controlled territory of the Gaza strip. This action caused the death of seven and the wounding of twenty civilians.[3]
The infrastructure of Beit Hanoun was heavily damaged during an incursion by Israeli forces in 2005.[4] This town is also notable for the 2006 shelling of Beit Hanoun where 19 Palestinians were killed by IDF shelling. According to Israeli authorities it was in response for its use as a base from which Palestinian militant groups have fired Qassam rockets into the northern Negev towns like Sderot, as well as the former Gush Katif settlements.
In December 2006, the UN appointed a fact-finding commission led by Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to investigate the attack. However, Tutu and the other members were not granted permission to travel by Israel and the investigation was cancelled.[5] Tutu's final report to the United Nations human rights council[6] concluded, however, that "[I]n the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli military – who is in sole possession of the relevant facts – the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime."[7]
According to the Palestinian Authority, prior to the November 2006 incident, at least 140 Palestinians were killed by Israeli Forces in Beit Hanoun from September 2000 to November 2006.[8]
On March 27. 2007, sewage water flooded the northern Umm al-Nasser suburb of Beit Hanoun, killing five people.[9]
Beit Hanoun had a population of 885 in a 1922 British Mandate census.[10] The population more than doubled by 1945. In that year, a land and population survey recorded 1,730 inhabitants including 50 Jews.[11] In 1961, the population rose to 3,876.[10]
In the first official census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Beit Hanoun had a total population of 20,780. Over 90% of the residents were Palestinian refugees.[12] There were 10,479 males and 10,301 females. The age distribution was as follows: People 14 years of age or younger constituted the majority at 65.6%, people between the ages of 20 and 44 was 26.8%, 45 to 64 was 5.7% and residents above the age of 65 was 1.9%.[13]
There are twelve secondary, primary and agricultural schools in Beit Hanoun and an agricultural college which is related to al-Azhar University - Gaza. There is a medical center and hospital in the city and several clinics mostly managed by the United Nations.[14]
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