Beersheba

Overview

Beersheba is a city in southern Israel and a regional center for the Negev. Its history spans prehistoric settlement, the biblical accounts of Abraham and Isaac, the Israelite kingdoms, Ottoman redevelopment, British rule and the establishment of the modern Israeli city after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Wells and the need for dependable water shaped the settlement from its earliest periods. The Hebrew name is associated with the Well of the Oath and Abraham’s agreement with Abimelech. In biblical usage, Beersheba marked the southern reach of the land described by the expression “from Dan to Beersheba.”

The present city grew around an Ottoman administrative center established in 1900. British forces captured it on October 31, 1917, during World War I. After Israel declared independence in 1948, the invading Egyptian army used Beersheba as its Negev headquarters. Israeli forces captured the town in Operation Moshe on October 21 of that year. Jewish immigrants settled there after the war, and Beersheba expanded into a center of government, education, medicine and transport. It is home to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka Medical Center. The city has also experienced deadly attacks and rocket and missile strikes, including attacks by Hamas and missiles launched by Iran’s ruling regime.

Geography

Beersheba stands in the northern Negev, where settled areas meet the desert farther south. Its position made it a gateway to the region and a point of connection between routes through southern Israel. Water was central to the choice of settlement: wells served inhabitants and travelers, while seasonal waterways and underground supplies supported the ancient town. The biblical site, Tel Sheva, lies several kilometers east of the modern city. Its location beside a dry riverbed gave inhabitants access to floodwater in winter and to an aquifer close enough to the surface to provide water throughout the year.

The distinction between Tel Sheva and the modern city matters to Beersheba’s history. Remains of the fortified Israelite town occupy the mound, while remains from Roman and Byzantine periods have also been found at the site of the present city. The ancient settlement’s water systems, streets and defenses show how its inhabitants adapted to a position on the southern edge of the kingdom of Judah. Modern Beersheba developed across a much larger area after 1948. Its growth made it a service and employment center for communities throughout the Negev, including development towns, kibbutzim and Bedouin communities.

Hatzerim lies just outside Beersheba. It was the first air base built by Israel and serves the Israeli Air Force. Its location illustrates the wider Negev area’s role in Israel’s transport and defense networks. Beersheba’s connections to settlements and institutions beyond its municipal boundaries also explain why its university, hospital and public services have regional importance.

Ancient and biblical history

The Beersheba area was first settled during the Chalcolithic period. Archaeological remains include cave dwellings whose inhabitants raised cattle and made metal tools. Pottery, stone vessels and carved objects provide further evidence of their work. These finds establish a history of habitation long before the Israelite city described in biblical texts. They also show that the area’s early inhabitants used its land and water resources for both herding and craft production.

The biblical accounts place Abraham and Isaac in the Beersheba area around the beginning of the second millennium BCE. Both are associated with digging wells and making agreements with Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Abraham’s oath with Abimelech gives the city its traditional name, the Well of the Oath. The Hebrew element sheva is connected in the biblical account with both an oath and seven ewes set aside to affirm the agreement. Isaac and Jacob also lived in the area. These accounts made Beersheba a lasting place in Jewish historical memory, with its wells representing the settlement and agreements of the patriarchs.

During King David’s reign, the Israelites conquered Beersheba. It became a city associated with the tribe of Simeon and was later incorporated into Judah. The city served as the capital of Negev Yehuda and as a southern center of Israelite settlement. Biblical references to Beersheba as the southern counterpart of Dan reflect its significance as a boundary marker. Its position was geographical and political: control of Beersheba helped connect the settled kingdom to routes and communities on the edge of the desert.

Excavations at Tel Sheva have revealed successive Israelite settlements. Early remains include rock-hewn dwellings and a deep well. By the end of the eleventh century BCE, the settlement had defenses formed partly by houses arranged around the hill. A larger fortified and planned city developed in the monarchic period. Archaeologists have identified a gate, streets, storage buildings and systems designed to collect and retain water. The eighth-century BCE city is a particularly clear example of planning in a provincial town of Judah. Its defenses and administrative structures show the importance of Beersheba to the kingdom’s southern frontier.

Jewish history

Beersheba’s Jewish history continued through periods of destruction, absence and return. The ancient town suffered during the later history of the kingdom of Judah and stood deserted for many years after the Babylonian conquest. Jews resettled Beersheba after returning from Babylon, as reflected in the biblical account of the return. Archaeological remains from later periods indicate that settlement at and around the ancient site did not follow a single uninterrupted course. Beersheba’s place in Jewish history therefore rests on both the early Israelite town and the later return to its southern location.

After 70 CE, Beersheba formed part of Roman frontier defenses against attacks by the Nabateans. It remained important as a garrison location after Rome annexed the Nabatean kingdom. Remains from the Roman and Byzantine periods include mosaics and Greek inscriptions at the site of the modern city; a synagogue inscription is among the evidence of Jewish life in that era. Beersheba was abandoned during the Arab period. The ancient name nevertheless endured, and the biblical site remained identifiable near the later town.

Jewish settlement returned during Ottoman redevelopment around 1900. Some Jewish families lived in the new town before World War I, and more residents arrived as it became a military base during the war. Under the British Mandate, Jewish workers planted a nursery and eucalyptus grove and experimented with crops. In 1922, 98 Jews lived among Beersheba’s 2,356 residents. Their number had fallen to 11 by 1931, and most Jews left during the 1936–39 Arab riots. Efforts to buy Negev land for Jewish settlement intensified in the 1940s, before the city became part of Israel in 1948.

Early in 1949, Jewish settlers, many of them new immigrants, established themselves in Beersheba. The first arrivals occupied existing houses, while new neighborhoods began to extend the city from 1951. Immigrants from North Africa, Iraq, India, Europe and South America contributed to its growth. Beersheba’s population reached 25,500 in 1956 and exceeded 70,000 by 1968. The ancient city received UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in 2005, preserving a major physical record of Beersheba’s Israelite past alongside the modern city.

Modern history

The Ottoman Empire redeveloped Beersheba in 1900 as an administrative center for the southern district. The government established municipal institutions and planned streets in an area where wells had long served Bedouin herders. Bedouin leaders held seats on local councils. Growth was initially slow, but Beersheba’s strategic position became more important during World War I. Ottoman and German forces used it as a base for operations connected to the Sinai front, constructed defenses and linked the town to a railway.

British forces under General Edmund Allenby captured Beersheba on October 31, 1917. Australian and New Zealand units played a prominent part in the battle. It was the first place in Israel captured by British forces during World War I. The town continued to grow under the British Mandate, although its wartime military importance diminished and the railway built for the campaign was dismantled. Its economy remained tied to its role as a center serving the surrounding Negev.

After Israel declared independence in 1948, the invading Egyptian army made Beersheba its headquarters in the Negev. Israeli forces captured the city in Operation Moshe on October 21, 1948. Its inhabitants had left by the time Israeli forces took the town. Settlement by Jewish immigrants followed, and the municipality expanded well beyond the Ottoman-built center. By the 1950s and 1960s, new residential districts, industry and transport links had transformed Beersheba into the administrative center of Israel’s Southern District.

Beersheba also figured in the change from war to peace between Israel and Egypt. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat visited the city on May 26, 1979, during the launch of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. His visit followed the treaty’s signing that March and placed Beersheba, once an Egyptian military headquarters, within the new relationship between the two states. The city’s subsequent development centered increasingly on its university, hospital, public institutions and role as a hub for the Negev.

Security

Beersheba has been a target of terrorist attacks. On August 31, 2004, two suicide bombers sent by a Hamas network in Hebron blew themselves up on buses in the city. Sixteen people were killed and about 100 were injured. The coordinated bombings were among the deadliest attacks carried out in Beersheba. The central bus station was later the intended target of another plot: Khaled Bin Khalil Abu Ruqaiq planned a suicide bombing there, but the attack was never carried out.

On March 22, 2022, Muhammad Abu al-Qi’an killed four people in Beersheba using a vehicle and a knife. He identified with Islamic State and had served four years in prison for attempts to join the terrorist organization. Islamic State later claimed the Beersheba attack. Israeli security researchers found no evidence that the organization had directed its planning. On March 31, 2024, a separate stabbing attack at Beersheba’s central bus station lightly wounded two people.

Hamas, a terrorist organization, also fired rockets at Beersheba from Gaza. On May 10, 2024, it launched 14 rockets toward the city: nine from Rafah and five from central Gaza. Four rockets from the central Gaza group fell in open areas, and Iron Dome intercepted one. A woman was lightly wounded. The Israeli Air Force struck two Hamas launch sites in Rafah after the attack. Beersheba’s location in the Negev placed a major inland city within range of rockets fired from Gaza.

On June 20, 2025, missiles launched by Iran’s ruling regime struck Beersheba. One missile damaged 18 houses and several vehicles and lightly wounded six people. Another dispersed 26 smaller explosives, damaging a daycare center and two homes; no casualties were reported from that strike. The attacks brought damage to residential buildings and civilian facilities during Iran’s missile barrages against Israel.

Present day

Beersheba serves as a gateway to the Negev and as a center for southern Israel’s education, health care and public services. Its modern role developed from post-1948 population growth and the establishment of institutions serving a region much larger than the city itself. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has campuses in Beersheba and Sde Boker. Founded as the University of the Negev in the late 1960s, it later took the name of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister and a leading advocate of developing the Negev.

The university’s health sciences work illustrates Beersheba’s regional role. Its medical and health training began at Soroka Medical Center in 1974. Students learn through community care in Beersheba, development towns, kibbutzim and Bedouin encampments. This approach links the city’s hospital and university to communities across the Negev. Soroka Medical Center and the university became major sources of employment as Beersheba expanded, reinforcing its position as a regional center.

Beersheba’s older and newer landscapes remain closely connected. Tel Sheva preserves the planned Israelite city and its water works; the Ottoman center records the town’s redevelopment around 1900; and the neighborhoods built after 1948 reflect decades of immigration and growth. Together, these places show how a settlement known for its wells became a major city of Israel’s south.