Bureij


title: "Bureij" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-established-in-1949", "palestinian-refugee-camps-in-the-gaza-strip", "deir-al-balah-governorate", "1949-establishments-in-all-palestine-(gaza)"] topic_path: "general/populated-places-established-in-1949" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureij" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameBureij Camp
translit_lang1Arabic
translit_lang1_typeArabic
translit_lang1_infoمخيّم البريج
translit_lang1_type1Latin
translit_lang1_info1Breij (official)
al-Burayj (unofficial)
typeRefugee Camp
image_skyline2018 Gaza border protest.jpg
image_caption2018 Gaza border protests, Bureij
pushpin_mapPalestine
pushpin_map_captionLocation of Bureij Camp within Palestine
image_mapNuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps in the OCHA OpT September 2023 map of the Gaza Strip.png
map_captionMap of the camp, as well as the two other adjacent camps of Nuseirat and Maghazi
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
subdivision_typeState
subdivision_nameState of Palestine
subdivision_type1Governorate
subdivision_name1Deir al-Balah
established_titleFounded
government_footnotestags --
government_typeRefugee Camp (from 1949)
unit_prefdunam
area_total_km20.5
area_total_dunam529
population_footnotes
population_total43515
population_as_of2017
population_notePopulation total includes both the population of the camp and the Bureij municipality
population_density_km2auto
::

::callout[type=note] the Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip ::

| name = Bureij Camp | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = مخيّم البريج | translit_lang1_type1 = Latin | translit_lang1_info1 = Breij (official) al-Burayj (unofficial) | type = Refugee Camp | image_skyline = 2018 Gaza border protest.jpg | image_caption = 2018 Gaza border protests, Bureij | pushpin_map = Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Bureij Camp within Palestine | image_map = Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps in the OCHA OpT September 2023 map of the Gaza Strip.png | map_caption = Map of the camp, as well as the two other adjacent camps of Nuseirat and Maghazi | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Deir al-Balah | established_title = Founded | established_date = | government_footnotes = tags -- | government_type = Refugee Camp (from 1949) | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 0.5 | area_total_dunam = 529 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = 43515 | population_as_of = 2017 | population_note = Population total includes both the population of the camp and the Bureij municipality | population_density_km2 = auto | website = | footnotes =

Bureij () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the central Gaza Strip east of the Salah al-Din Road in the Deir al-Balah Governorate. The camp's total land area is 529 dunums and in 2017, it had a population of 28,024 with 28,770 registered refugees. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) 2017 census listed a population of 15,491 in the surrounding Bureij municipality apart from the camp population.

The camp was established in 1949 with a population of 13,000 Palestinians from the broader Gaza area. A small percentage of the refugees were housed in the British army barracks but the bulk of them were housed in tents. The UNRWA built concrete homes in 1950 to replace the tents.

Most of the refugees today, like those in most camps in the Gaza Strip today, live in densely populated buildings. The camp does not have a sewage system and most waste accumulates in the Wadi Gaza, a stream north of the camp, and as a result poses a health hazard. Most of the camp's water comes from an Israeli water company.

Bureij has six primary and two secondary schools with a population of 9,306 pupils at the end of 2004. All schools are operated by the UNRWA.

Incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Main article: Attacks on refugee camps in the Gaza war#Al-Bureij

According to a UN report, on the night of 28 August 1953 bombs were thrown through the windows of huts in Bureij where refugees were sleeping and, as they fled, they were attacked by small arms and automatic weapons. According to Gelber, after one month of Unit 101 starting training "a patrol of the unit [] infiltrated into the Gaza Strip as an exercise, encountered [Palestinians] in al-Bureij refugee camp, opened fire to rescue itself and left behind about 30 killed Arabs and dozens of wounded." According to Bishara 43 Palestinian civilians with seven women amongst them were killed, and 22 wounded. The Mixed Armistice Commission report put the total at 20 killed, 27 seriously wounded, and 35 less seriously wounded. Unit 101 suffered two wounded soldiers. Ariel Sharon, who had personally led the attack wrote in his report: :"The enemy opened fire on me from the northwest. ... I decided that it was better to pass through the camp and slip out the other side than to go back the way I came, because crops, gardens, barbed wire and guards made it difficult to move in that direction. ... I also decided that offensive action was better than giving the impression that we were attempting to escape... Therefore I invaded the camp with my group." The raid was heavily condemned by the Mixed Armistice Commission, who called it “an appalling case of deliberate mass murder”, the raid was publicly criticized in the Israeli cabinet by at least one minister. The Mixed Armistice Commission, in an emergency meeting, adopted by a majority vote a resolution according to which the attack was made by a group of armed Israelis. Major General Bennike Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization stated that it was "probable in view of the fact that a quarter of the Israel complaints during the preceding four weeks referred to infiltration in this area" that the likely explanation was a "ruthless reprisal raid".

On 22 August 1988, Hani al-Shami from Bureij was killed by Israeli soldiers from the Givati Brigade. Maher Mahmud al-Makadma was shot and killed by IDF troops while painting slogans on 4 October 1989. On 20 September 1990, an Israeli soldier, Amnon Pommerantz, took a wrong turn into Bureij, panicked when stones were thrown, hit and wounded two children in a waggon while reversing, accidentally rammed a mosque and then got out and laid his rifle down and begged for mercy. He had to get back into his vehicle to shield himself from stones, and was knocked unconscious. Three youths doused the car with petrol and set it alight, incinerating Pommeranz. The culprits were identified by photos, and one turned himself in when the Shin Bet kidnapped his 5-year-old brother and threatened to send the boy to a detention camp where he would be raped, unless his elder brother surrendered. In retaliation, a large part of the Bureij camp was bulldozed in a collective punishment measure.

On 11 March 2002, a mass round-up of Palestinians took place when tanks entered the Bureij refugee camp killing two people. An IDF raid on 6 December 2002 by Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships led to 10 people being killed. A UN investigation found that eight of those killed in the attack were unarmed civilians. Of those, two were UN employees. On 6 March 2004 an Israeli raiding force was ambushed and came under fire.

An IDF raid on Bureij refugee camp in July 2007 by approximately 10 tanks and two bulldozers backed by helicopters was ambushed by members of Hamas's armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades killing an IDF soldier. On 6 October 2007, Israeli forces breaking into the eastern part of the camp with the cover of Israeli aircraft led to armed clashes in the camp.

An extrajudicial assassination occurred on 27 February 2008 in the camp. During the Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip in January 2009 ten people were injured at a UN health centre in the Bureij refugee camp and four people killed with 16 others wounded in a market.

References

References

  1. (February 2018). "Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017". [[State of Palestine]].
  2. [https://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/gaza/bureij.html Camp Profiles: Bureij] {{webarchive. link. (June 24, 2007 , UNWRA.)
  3. Morris, Benny, (second edition 2004 third printing 2006) ''The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN. 0-521-00967-7 p 467
  4. [[Dawn Chatty]] and Gillian Lewando Hundt (2005) ''Children of Palestine: Experiencing Forced Migration in the Middle East'' Berghahn Books, {{ISBN. 1-84545-120-1 p 257
  5. [https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-176158/ Attacks on West Bank village Qibya, Gaza Bureij camp – UNTSO report (Bennike), SecCo debate, SecGen statement – Verbatim record], UN
  6. [http://www.aisisraelstudies.org/2006papers/Gelber%20Yoav%202006.pdf Yoav Gelber, 2006, "Sharon's Inheritance"] {{webarchive. link. (June 5, 2013)
  7. [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/654/op2.htm A lifetime credo, Azmi Bishara, Al-Ahram, 4-10 September 2003] {{webarchive. link. (7 August 2009)
  8. Benny Morris. (1993). "Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War". [[Oxford University Press]].
  9. [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/017eefb458011c9d05256722005e5499!OpenDocument UN Doc S/630] {{webarchive. link. (February 9, 2008 of 27 October 1953)
  10. Noam Chomsky, Donaldo P. Macedo (2004) ''Chomsky on Miseducation'', Rowman & Littlefield, {{ISBN. 0-7425-2978-9 p 70–71
  11. [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/f45643a78fcba719852560f6005987ad/efc1e49dda5fdb2885256b7600762de0!OpenDocument UN Doc]{{Dead link. (October 2018)
  12. Yossi Gurvitz, [https://mondoweiss.net/2019/05/poisoned-calculus-education/ 'The poisoned calculus (the army education of Yossi Gurvitz),'] [[Mondoweiss]] 23 May 2019
  13. Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council: supplement 1989-1992 by United Nations: Department of Political Affairs Published by United Nations Publications, 2008 {{ISBN. 92-1-137030-2 p 789
  14. [https://archive.today/20070725182222/http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=140036&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0 Haaretz] IDF masses around Gaza refugee camp; 14 Palestinians killed By [[Amos Harel]] and [[Amira Hass]], ''Haaretz'', 11 March 2002
  15. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-helicopter-attack-on-gaza-kills-two-un-workers-610136.html Independent]{{dead link. (August 2021)
  16. [http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.2003.G.20.En?Opendocument UN Doc] E/CN.4/2003/G/20 17 December 2002, Letter dated 10 December 2002 from the Permanent Observer for Palestine to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  17. [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Terrorism%20and%20Islamic%20Fundamentalism-/IDF%20activity%20in%20El-Bureij%20refugee%20camp%207-Mar-2004.htm Israeli MFA]
  18. [https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/881199.html ''Haaretz''] "IDF soldier killed in Gaza; IDF kills armed Palestinian in West Bank", by Amos Harel, 12/07/2007
  19. [http://www.imemc.org/article/50738 IMEMC]
  20. [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/95a08c9dbfd79c7a852574080047b76d!OpenDocument UN Doc]{{dead link. (November 2016)
  21. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814054.stm BBC News] "Strike at Gaza school 'kills 40'", 7 January 2009
  22. [http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3490995,00.html Ynetnews] "Report: IDF kills 2 civilians in Gaza". 6 January 2009

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

populated-places-established-in-1949palestinian-refugee-camps-in-the-gaza-stripdeir-al-balah-governorate1949-establishments-in-all-palestine-(gaza)