Al-Mawasi, Rafah

Al-Mawasi
Arabic transcription(s)
  Arabicالمواصي
An aerial view of the Al-Mawasi area where displaced Palestinians live in tents, January 2025
Al-Mawasi
Location of Al-Mawasi within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°19′44″N 34°13′48″E / 31.32889°N 34.23000°E / 31.32889; 34.23000
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateRafah
Government
  TypeVillage council
Population
 (2023)
  Total
9,000
  Estimate 
(2025)
700,000

Al-Mawasi (Arabic: المواصي) is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip. It is along the coast and has many sand dunes. Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip. It is a Palestinian Bedouin town and prior to the 2005 unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was a Palestinian enclave within the Israeli settlements of Gush Katif. Al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in the middle of 2006. Prior to the Gaza war, al-Mawasi had a population of 9,000. It has a number of buildings with a maximum of 100 structures.