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Jabalia, also spelled Jabalya (), is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, located north of Gaza City, in the North Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 172,704 in 2017. In addition to Jabalia, the city municipality contains the Jabalia refugee camp and the town of Nazla, the latter of which was an independent village council before being merged with Jabalia.
During the Byzantine period, there was a church at Jabalia. The church was likely established in the 5th century and used into the 8th century. No contemporary settlement nearby had been identified, and the archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Humbert suggested that the church may have been part of a necropolis for Gaza. Byzantine ceramics have also been found in Jabalia.Dauphin, 1998, p. 883
Jabalia was known for its fertile soil and citrus trees. The Bahri dynasty Governor of Gaza Sanjar al-Jawli ruled the area in the early 14th century and endowed part of Jabalia's land to the al-Shamah Mosque he built in Gaza.
Until 2014, Jabalia also had the ancient Omari Mosque. The site was believed to have housed a mosque since the 7nth century, and its portico and minaret dated back to the 14th century, but the Omari was destroyed by bombings in 2014. The portico consists of three arcades supported by four stone . The arcades have pointed arches and the portico is covered by crossing vaults. Travel in Gaza MidEastTravelling.
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Jebalia as a Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 118
In 1863, Victor Guérin found in the mosque fragments of old constructions, and at the well some broken .Guérin, 1869, pp. 175-176; as referred by Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 251 He further noted: "This village, towards the west, borders on the dunes of the coast. It is surrounded, on the other three sides, by fertile gardens, separated from each other by hedges of cacti and other thorny shrubs. Cultivated with care, they are planted with fig, pomegranate, almond, apricot, lemon and orange trees. There are also a few apple trees. Residents go to sell their fruit in Gaza's various markets."Guérin, 1869, pp. 176: "Ce village, vers l'ouest, touche aux dunes de la côte. Il est entouré, des trois autres côtés, de fertiles jardins, que separent entre eux des haies de cactus et d'autres arbustes épineux. Cultivés avec soin, ils sont plantés de figuiers, de grenadiers, d'amandiers, d'apricotiers, de citronniers et d'orangers. On y aperçoit aussi quelques pommiers. Les habitants vont vendre leurs fruits aux divers marchés de Gaza."
An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that the village had a population of 828, in a total of 254 houses, though the population count included men, only.Socin, 1879, p. 153Hartmann, 1883, p. 129, noted 253 houses In the Palestine Exploration Fund's 1883 Survey of Western Palestine, Jabalia was described as being a large adobe village, with gardens and a well on the northwest. It had a mosque named Jamia Abu Berjas.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 236
During the early months of First Intifada on 27 March 1989 Fares S'aid Falcha, aged 50, was beaten by Israeli army. He died 3 weeks later in the Makassed Hospital. A report was compiled by the Military Police Investigators and details were passed on to the Chief Military Prosecutor.Talmor, Ronny (translated by Ralph Mandel) (1990) The Use of Firearms - By the Security Forces in the Occupied Territories. B'Tselem. download p. 75 MK Yair Tsaban to defence ministers Yitzhak Rabin & Yitzhak Shamir, p.81 Rabin's reply
Reconstruction work on the Salah al-Din Road in 1996 led to the discovery of a Byzantine church at Jabalia and its excavation by Ayman Hassouna and Yasser Matar. In late 2006, Jabalia was the scene of mass protests against airstrikes on homes. Israel contacted the residences of several Hamas members who launched missiles at Israeli civilians from the houses, warning them of an airstrike within the next 30 minutes. Neighbors responded by forming a human shield and successfully stalled the demolition. In 2021, seven people were killed by a Hamas rocket.
After a multi-year restoration project, the Byzantine church at Jabalia opened to the public in January 2022. The following month a Roman cemetery was discovered during the construction of a housing project; archaeologists led by René Elter subsequently found 135 graves in what became known as the Ard-al-Moharbeen necropolis, making it the largest cemetery to have been discovered in Palestine.
The Battle of Jabalia began on 8 November 2023 as part of the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and ended its first phase in late January 2024 with an Israeli withdrawal. Following this, Palestinian forces and the IDF intermittently clashed in Jabalia. The mayor of Jabalia stated Israel had destroyed 75 percent of Jabalia's Well by March 2024.
A May 2024 IDF offensive into the city ended on 31 May 2024 with an IDF withdrawal after over two weeks of intense fighting and more than 200 airstrikes. Palestinian officials said that 70% of the refugee camp was destroyed. The Israeli military said that it had destroyed over 10 kilometers of underground tunnels that it says the militants used. The Israeli military also said that it had destroyed a number of weapons production sites and rocket launchers. During the weeks-long operation, troops recovered the bodies of seven Israeli hostages.
Having failed to dismantle Hamas in Jabalia, the IDF reinvaded the city after four months on 5 October 2024.
After the 10 October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas allegedly redeployed members in Jabalia and the refugee camp, where they supposedly launched a crackdown on the Israeli-backed and Popular Forces-affiliated Popular Army – Northern Forces (also known as the People's Army – Northern Forces), allegedly arresting and killing its members. On 14 October 2025, the group's leader, Ashraf Al-Mansi, released a video where he denied the alleged Hamas crackdown. Al-Mansi proclaimed that PANF controls several areas in northern Gaza, and warned Hamas from entering their territory.
A number of male pseudohermaphrodite births have been reported in Jabalia. Jehad Abudaia, a Canadian-Palestinian pediatrician and Urology, has suggested that consanguinity due to accounts for the prevalence of pseudohermaphrodite births. In the Gaza Strip, pseudohermaphrodite conditions often go undetected for years after birth due to the region's lower standards of medical treatment and diagnostics.Watson, Ivan. " Rare Gender Identity Defect Hits Gaza Families." CNN. December 17, 2009. Retrieved on December 17, 2009.
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