Jabalia Camp

Jabalia Camp is the largest of the eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. It was established in 1948. The camp is located northeast of Gaza City, near the village of the same name, approximately one kilometer from the main Gaza–Jaffa road. It is bordered to the west and south by the villages of Jabalia and Al-Nazla, to the north by the village of Beit Lahia, and to the east by citrus groves extending into the boundaries of the Jabalia Al-Nazla and Beit Lahia village councils.

Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, approximately 35,000 Palestinian refugees settled in the camp, most of whom had been forcibly displaced from villages in southern Palestine.

At the time of its establishment, the camp covered an area of approximately 1,403 dunams, which later expanded to 1,448 dunams. Its population at that time was estimated at around 37,800 people, comprising 5,587 families. Most of the refugees originated from the areas of Simsim, Ashdod, Na'ilya, Al-Majdal, Jaffa, Lydda and Ramle, and Beersheba. By 1995, the population had reached approximately 80,137 registered refugees according to the UN agency's records, in addition to approximately 36,884 people registered outside the camps.

In 1970, Israel forcibly relocated approximately 975 families from the camp to the Beit Lahia and Al-Nazla housing projects adjacent to the camp. In 1971, the occupying authorities demolished and removed more than 3,600 rooms occupied by 1,173 families, leaving them homeless. The authorities claimed that the demolitions were necessary to widen the camp's roads and facilitate access for military vehicles, making it easier to pursue members of the resistance.

The United Nations agency, in coordination with the Palestinian National Authority, oversees the various relief, educational, health, and social services provided to the camp's residents.

Jabalia remains one of the largest refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. According to estimates by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, its population stood at approximately 59,574 refugees in mid-2023.