Village memory · Palestine
Hiribya
هِرِبْيا
Hiribya — the Crusaders' Forbie, Yaqut's Firbiya — stood among the sand dunes fourteen kilometers north of Gaza, an oasis of citrus, grapes, bananas and sugar cane, and the site of a battle in 1244 that historians rank second only to Hittin. A planned attack during Operation Yoav was called off when a large Egyptian force was found quartered there; the village probably fell in early November 1948. The mosque, now a warehouse, and one house are all that survive.
- 2,240 residents before 1948