Al-Jura was a Palestinian village that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, located approximately two kilometers south of Askelon in present-day Israel. In 1945, the village had a population of approximately 2,420 mostly Muslim inhabitants. Though defended by the Egyptian Army, al-Jura was nevertheless captured by Israel's Givati Brigade in a November 4, 1948 offensive as part of Operation Yoav. A 1998 estimate of the population of refugees today who are descendants of those who fled al-Jura, placed the figure at 17,000. The founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas organization Ahmed Yassin was born in al-Jura.
