Roman period Beit Lahia has an ancient hill and nearby lay abandoned village ruins. An eremitic center was founded around the year 360 in the village, housing around four
anchorites who were disciples of Hilarion.
Early Islamic period A
mihrab, or mosque alcove indicating the direction of
salah (Muslim daily prayers), is all that remains of an ancient mosque to the west of Beit Lahia dating to the end of the
Fatimid Caliphate and beginning of the
Ayyubid dynasty of
Saladin, and two other mosques dating to the
Gaza Sanjak of the
Ottoman era.
Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) described "Bait Lihya" as being located "near
Ghazzah", and he further noted that "it is a village with many fruit-trees".
Mamluk period A marble slab, deposited in the
maqam of
Salim Abu Musallam in Beit Lahia is inscribed in late
Mamluk naskhi letters. It is an
epitaph over four sons of the
Governor of Gaza, Aqbay al-Ashrafi, who all died in the month of
Rajab 897 AH (29 April–9 May 1492 CE). It is assumed that the children died of the
plague, described by
Mujir al-Din, which ravaged Palestine in 1491–1492.
Ottoman Empire In 1517, the village was incorporated into the
Damascus Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596, Beit Lahia appeared in
Ottoman tax registers as being in the
nahiyah (subdistrict) of the Gaza Sanjak. It had a population of 70
Muslim households and paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Beit Lahia experienced a significant process of settlement decline due to
Bedouin pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages. In 1838,
Edward Robinson noted
Beit Lehia as a Muslim village located in the Gaza district. In May 1863,
Victor Guérin visited the village. He described it: An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Lahia had a population of 394, with a total of 118 houses, though the population count included men only. In 1883 the
Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as a "small village with fine gardens and groves of large and ancient olives in the middle of the sand. It has a well to the south [..] There is a small mosque in the village."
Mandatory Palestine In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Bait Lahia had a population of 871 inhabitants, all
Muslims, increasing by the
1931 census to 1,133, still all Muslim, in 223 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population of Beit Lahiya consisted of 1,700 Muslims and the land area was 38,376
dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 134 dunams were designated for citrus and bananas, 1,765 for plantations and irrigable land, 15,185 for cereals, while 18 dunams were built-up areas.
2004–2023 On 4 January 2005, seven civilian residents of Beit Lahia, including six members of the same family, were killed, with the incident blamed on shelling by
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of the agricultural area where they were working. On 9 June 2006, eight civilians were killed by IDF shells
while picnicking on the northern Gaza beach in Beit Lahia. The dead included seven members of the Ali Ghaliya family. The IDF disputed they were responsible. The town was a frequent target of airstrikes by Israel during the
Gaza War (2008–2009) and has been a battlefield between Israel and
Hamas. The
Ibrahim al-Maqadma Mosque missile strike occurred on 3 January 2009 as part of the Gaza War when an Israeli missile hit the Ibrahim al-Maqadna Mosque during
evening prayer. Witnesses said over 200
Palestinians were praying inside at the time.
Gaza war (2023–present) In December 2023, the Israel Defence Forces began their offensive in Beit Lahia. Israel launched airstrikes on targets Hamas militants. Though they launched several assaults on the city, Israel did not fully occupy Beit Lahia. Rather, they had encircled the town and occupied the surrounding villages and farmland. In January 2024, Israel withdrew from the majority of North Gaza, and a ground connection between Palestinian-controlled Gaza City was re-established. Around this time, the
Gaza Soup Kitchen was established in Beit Lahia to provide food to Palestinians at risk of
famine. In April 2024, Israel withdrew all territories in the Gaza Strip except for the
Netzarim Corridor, returning the northern villages such as
As-Siafa back to Palestinian control until the second Israeli invasion of northern Gaza in May 2024 as a result of Hamas regrouping in some areas there. By June 2024, Gaza's Civil Defence stated the destruction in Beit Lahia "defies imagination". On 29 October 2024, nearly 100 civilians, including over 20 children, were
killed in a bombing of a five-story building by Israeli Forces. The Gaza Health Ministry reported over 90 casualties, including 25 children, with numerous individuals trapped under the rubble. On 26 March 2025,
The Guardian reported that hundreds of Palestinians, mostly male, had gathered in Beit Lahia, chanting
anti-Hamas slogans. == Demography ==