{{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Al-Mawasi | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = المواصي | type = Municipality type D (Village council) | image_skyline = An aerial view of Al-Mawasi area where displaced Palestinians live in tents, Gaza Strip.jpg | image_caption = An aerial view of the Al-Mawasi area where Palestinians displaced by the Gaza war live in tents, January 2025 | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 13 | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_caption = | image_map = | map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|31|19|44|N|34|13|48|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}} | grid_name = Palestine&nbsp;grid | grid_position = | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Rafah | established_title = Founded | established_date = | government_footnotes = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags --> | government_type = Village council | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_total_dunam = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = 9,000 | population_est = 600,000<ref name="TOE-GC">{{Cite news |date=2025-08-04 |title=Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ comes to a close, with promised goals unfulfilled |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/operation-gideons-chariots-comes-to-a-close-with-promised-goals-unfulfilled/ |access-date=2025-08-05 |work=The Times of Israel |language=en-US |issn=0040-7909}}</ref> | pop_est_as_of = 2025 | population_as_of = 2023 | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Al-Mawasi''' ({{langx|ar|المواصي}}) is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roskin |first=Joel |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=1 September 2021 |title="He who revives dead land": groundwater harvesting agroecosystems in sand along the southeastern Mediterranean coast since early medieval times |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42990-021-00058-5 |journal=Mediterranean Geoscience Reviews |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=293–318 |doi=10.1007/s42990-021-00058-5 |issn=2661-8648|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is along the coast and has many sand dunes.<ref name=":0" /> Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> It is a Palestinian Bedouin town and prior to the 2005 unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was a Palestinian enclave within the Israeli settlements of Gush Katif. Al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in the middle of 2006.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=11 August 2014 |title=Al-Mawasi area |url=https://archive.unescwa.org/al-mawasi-area |access-date=16 November 2024 |website=United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia |language=en}}</ref> Prior to the Gaza war, al-Mawasi had a population of 9,000. It has a number of buildings with a maximum of 100 structures.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Al-Mughrabi |first=Nidal |date=10 September 2024 |title=Gaza's Al-Mawasi: What is the 'humanitarian zone' struck by Israel's military? |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-is-gazas-al-mawasi-region-struck-by-israels-military-2024-09-10/ |website=Reuters}}</ref>

== Region == The region's name derived from a traditional form of Palestinian dune agriculture, mawāṣī (مواصي). Al-Mawasi is known as the "Basket of Food" because of its fertile soil, underground water, and agricultural conditions.<ref name=":0" />

== History ==

===Gaza war (2023-present)=== ====Designation as safe zone==== In December 2023, during the Gaza war, the Israel Defense Forces had designated Al-Mawasi as one of the only safe areas in the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Stack |first1=Liam |last2=Bayoumy |first2=Lara |date=6 December 2023 |title=Gazans Find Scant Aid at Village Where They Were Advised to Relocate |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/world/middleeast/gaza-al-masawi.html}}</ref> Hundreds of thousands of people had fled there, and found only a barren strip of land with no basic resources such as food, water, or sanitation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zhou |first=Li |date=6 December 2023 |title=An "apocalyptic" humanitarian situation in Gaza is only getting worse |url=https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/12/6/23990868/gaza-humanitarian-crisis-evacuate-safe-zones |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=Vox |language=en}}</ref> In February 2024, as the IDF announced plans to expand operations into Rafah where hundreds of thousands had come to as a last refuge, Israeli authorities called Al-Mawasi a "safer zone".<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Miriam |last2=Loveluck |first2=Louisa |date=12 February 2024 |title=Panic mounts in Rafah over looming Israeli offensive after night strikes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/12/israel-rafah-strikes-panic-offensive/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240212203637/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/12/israel-rafah-strikes-panic-offensive/#selection-435.0-435.72 |archive-date=12 February 2024 |access-date=12 February 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> In an interview with Channel 4 News, Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levi, when pressed to confirm if civilians displaced northwards once more would be safe from further bombardment, stated that "it will not be safe" until Gaza was free from Hamas.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 February 2024 |title=Until Gaza is free from Hamas 'it will not be safe', says Israeli government spokesman |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/until-gaza-is-free-from-hamas-it-will-not-be-safe-says-israeli-government-spokesman |access-date=12 February 2024 |website=Channel 4 News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

By late-August 2024, the United Nations estimated there were between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometre in Al-Mawasi.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Burke |first1=Jason |title=People in Gaza forced to stay in areas at risk of Israeli attack as 'safe zone' full |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/21/gaza-safe-zone-overcrowding-israel-attack-risk |website=The Guardian |date=21 August 2024 |access-date=9 September 2024}}</ref> Food and water grew scarce as the area became increasingly overcrowded.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Frankel |first1=Julia |title=Israeli evacuation orders cram Palestinians into shrinking 'humanitarian zone' where food is scarce |url=https://apnews.com/article/gaza-hamas-war-displacement-palestinians-israel-f4833f8faf3cdb683e2ddd964767b438 |website=Associated Press |access-date=17 September 2024}}</ref>

====Attacks==== {{see also|May 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack|June 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack|13 July 2024 al-Mawasi attack|September 2024 al-Mawasi strike}} {{excerpt|Gaza Strip evacuations#Attacks}}

==See also== * Agriculture in the State of Palestine * May 2024 Al-Mawasi refugee camp attack

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070127081342/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/3822b5e39951876a85256b6e0058a478/4579d76b4856f10185256fd600562ba2!OpenDocument UNICEF Brings Critical Supplies to the Isolated Children of Al-Mawasi] * [http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200303_Al_Mawasi.asp Al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip: Impossible Life in an Isolated Enclave] B'Tselem publication

{{Rafah Governorate}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mawasi, al-}} Category:Villages in the Gaza Strip Category:Rafah Governorate Category:Palestinian bedouins Category:Populated coastal places in Palestine Category:Municipalities of Palestine Category:Former enclaves