Kawfakha

The village was located in a undulating sandy spot in the northern Negev and a network of secondary roads connected it to the public roads between Gaza and Julis, which passed along the coastal highway, 19 kilometers from Gaza and at an average elevation of 150 meters above sea level. In 1945, the population of the village reached 500 people, all of whom were Muslims. In the center of the village, there was a well-known mosque that was built during the days of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

The Displacement
On the night of May 27-28, 1948, units of the Negev Brigade attacked the village. The New York Times reported in its May 30 issue that the village of Kowfakha and the neighboring village of Mahraka had fallen. The residents of Kofkha were expelled from their village, although they had repeatedly offered to surrender and accept Jewish rule in exchange for being allowed to remain there, but to no avail. Their request to remain in the village was rejected by the Israeli authorities because such requests were either dishonest or unreliable.

Colonization
In 1953, the Nir Akiva colony was established on the village lands to the southwest of its location.

The village today
All that remains of it is its mosque, which is now used as a storehouse for animal feed and a horse stable. It is a stone building with arched entrances and windows on all sides, and its roof is topped by three low domes. Rubble, cactus and other desert plants cover the site. It is fenced and used as a pasture for livestock. There is a citrus orchard on part of the adjacent land.

Reference: Walid Al-Khalidi, Lest We Forget, pp. 569-572.