Ofakim

Ofakim

A town of transformation

Ofakim, in the northern Negev, was founded in the 1950s as a development town for new immigrants, many of them Jews from North Africa and Asia. It grew with farms and small factories, and an annual pomegranate festival celebrates local agriculture. On October 7, 2023, Hamas gunmen entered the town, and residents were held in their homes for many hours before Israeli forces cleared the area. The town has since worked to recover, and it remains a quiet place, a few kilometers from the Gaza border region.

Glossary: Ofakim