Juhor ad-Dik (Arabic: جحر الديك, lit. 'burrow of the cock') is a Palestinian farming village in the Gaza Governorate, south of Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village had a population of 4,586 inhabitants in 2017. This area is controlled by Israel due to the Israel–Hamas war. In May, 2024, the Washington Post reported that the village had been destroyed in order to construct the Netzarim Corridor.
Juhor ad-Dik | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | جحر الديك |
| • Latin | Juhar ad-Deek (official) |
  Juhor ad-Dik Location of Juhor ad-Dik within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°27′25″N 34°26′24″E / 31.45694°N 34.44000°E | |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Gaza |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Population (2017) | |
| • Total | 4,586 |
History
2009 Israeli invasion
During Israel's 2009 invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops and Palestinian militiamen battled frequently in Juhor ad-Dik, with over 100 of the village's houses having been bulldozed by Israeli forces by the end of the conflict.
2014 Israeli invasion
The village suffered greatly during the 2014 Gaza war, with many of its buildings reduced to ruins. In January 2015, according to The New Arab, there was "not a house left standing" in the village in the aftermath of the war. Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence published an anonymous interview with a first sergeant in the IDF's Armored Corps, who recounted his unit's wholesale destruction of houses and trees in the village using IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozers.
2014–2023
The northern Gaza Strip's largest landfill is located in the Juhor ad-Dik area, about 500 meters from the Gaza border fence. In September 2023, a severe heat wave caused the outbreak of a fire at the landfill site that lasted several days. Amid the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, waste began accumulating throughout the streets of Gaza City, as municipal garbagemen were unable to transport it to the Juhor ad-Dik landfill site due to heavy Israeli bombardment.
2023 Israeli invasion
On 28 October 2023, an IDF raid maneuvered into the Gaza Strip east of al-Bureij refugee camp, in the Juhor ad-Dik area. During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israeli infantry and armour near Juhor ad-Dik were frequently the targets of ambushes, mortar attacks, and anti-tank fire by Hamas's Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Demographics
In the 1997 census by the PCBS, Palestinian refugees made up 72.3% of the population which at the time was 2,275.