History of the Jews in Gaza City
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The history of the Jews in Gaza City was intermittent, spanning from the second century BCE until the 1929 Palestine riots and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Jewish community in the city produced rabbis and notable figures throughout its history.[citation needed] The Jewish presence in Gaza City was characterized by periods of coexistence, economic challenges, and occasional tensions with other communities.
During the Middle Ages, for around three centuries, the area of Gaza had a thriving Jewish community, until the Crusaders destruction of Gaza and its proximate cities in the 12th century. In the Ottoman period, under the leadership of Nathan of Gaza in the 17th century, Gaza became a centre for Jewish mysticism and the birthplace of the biggest modern Jewish Messianic movement. The events of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War marked a significant turning point, leading to the evacuation of the Jewish population from Gaza. The Israeli Jewish communities established in the Gaza Strip post-1967 Six-Day War, which were later evacuated in 2005, did not encompass a Jewish community within Gaza City itself.