Gush Katif

‘I never knew my father’: Avichai Ayubi on loss, Israel’s orphaned generation, and moving forward

Avichai was born five months after his father's death. But that is not to say his father's presence has not played an important role in his life.

Avichai Ayubi.
An Israeli flag flutters, with Ma'aleh Adumim is visible in the background, in the West Bank, August 14, 2025.

Israel grants legal status to 19 West Bank settlements, including two vacated in 2005 disengagement

 OPPONENTS OF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan face IDF troops as they secure the fence of Kfar Maimon in July 2005 after police blocked them from marching to the Gush Katif communities to protest against their demolition.

This week in Jewish history: The 2005 Gaza Disengagement

The Jerusalem Dispatch

The Jerusalem Dispatch: 20 years since disengagement


PM says Gush Katif evacuees akin to Palestinian refugees

“This is a very welcome and important change, and we support it,” Netanyahu said of the American decision regarding UNRWA.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a school in Yad Binyamin

Sweet fruit from the West Bank sent to Israel lovers worldwide

Loss of land and losing a son in a war did not deter Yehoshua Meshulami from growing dates that reach people across the globe.

Yehoshua Meshulami and one of his children working on the dates orchard

Don't destroy the Netiv Avot homes

A deadline looms, residents of the neighborhood, along with the community of Elazar as a whole, have been holding a series of demonstrations calling on the state to intervene and somehow influence.

Bulldozers and earthmoving equipment demolish homes in the former Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, in the Gaza Strip August 31, 2005.

MK Shaffir: Why are 400 Gaza evacuee families still homeless 10 years on?

A government representative admits "the government decided to evacuate, but did not decide how to rehabilitate" and most of the planning was for the short term.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

Terror: Sometimes it is just easier to be numb

The Jerusalem Post

Disengagement Trauma

Ten years on, many former Gush Katif residents are still mourning the loss of their homes.

Opponents of the disengagement from Gush Katif confront Border Policemen at the Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom as the pullout was underway, August 18, 2005

This Week in Israeli History: Last Residents of Gush Katif Evicted, Guy Hever MIA and Emmanuel Moreno

The Jerusalem Post

Former chief of staff: Ariel Sharon designed Gaza disengagement to save West Bank settlements

Former US President George W. Bush promised Sharon that the settlement blocs would be included within Israel’s final borders after revealing the Gaza disengagement plan, says Dov Weisglass.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

The humans behind the headlines

Orit Arfa's novel 'The Settler' aims to give the reader a better sense of the picture and human faces behind the disengagement of the Gaza Strip in 2005.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

10 years since losing their home- and almost their religion

Three Gush Katif evacuees open up about the loss of their home, their faith, and their return to the roots that were never uprooted

Residents in Gush Katif argue with a policeman after being sprayed with colored water cannon on August 18, 2005.