Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya () is a city in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59,540 in mid-year 2006. Hamas political party is still administering the city, together with the entire Gaza Strip, after winning the 2005 municipal elections. Geography The word "Lahia" is Syriac and means "desert" or "fatigue". It is surrounded by sand dunes, some rise to above sea level. The area is renowned for its many large sycamore fig trees. The city is known for its fresh, sweet water, berries and citrus trees. According to Edward Henry Palmer, "Lahia" was from "Lahi", a personal name. History Beit Lahia has an ancient hill and nearby lay abandoned village ruins. It has been suggested that it was Bethelia, home town of Sozomen, where there was a temple. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have been found. A mihrab, or mosque alcove indicating the direction of salaah (prayer), is all that remains of an ancient mosque to the west of Beit Lahia dating to the end of the Fatimid period and beginning of the Ayyubid Dynasty of Saladin, and two other mosques dating to the Ottoman period. Yaqut al-Hamawi († 1229) described "Bait Lihya" as being located "near Ghazzah", and he further noted that "it is a village with many fruit-trees". Mamluk period A marble slab, deposited in the maqam of Salim Abu Musallam in Beit Lahia is inscribed in late Mamluk naskhi letters. It is an epitaph over four sons of the Governor of Gaza, Aqbay al-Ashrafi, who all died in the month of Rajab 897 (=29 April-9 May 1492 CE). It is assumed that the children died of the plague, described by Mujir al-Din, which ravaged Palestine in 1491–2. Ottoman Empire In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596, Beit Lahia appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the Gaza Sanjak. It had a population of 70 Muslim households and paid a fix tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives. In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Beit Lehia as a Muslim village, located in the Gaza district. In May 1863 Victor Guérin visited the village. He described