Idnibba may have been built on the site of the
Roman settlement of Danuba. The
Crusaders also called it Danuba. In 1838,
Edward Robinson noted
Idhnibbeh as a Muslim village located in the Gaza district. In 1863
Victor Guérin found the village to be situated on a low hill, and with a population of 600. He also noted a
well which was built with ancient blocks, and olives gardens surrounding the village. An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that the village (calling it
ed-denube) had a population of 265, in a total of 74 houses, though the population count included men, only. In 1882 the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Idnibba as a village built of stone and
adobe and situated on high ground. It was surrounded by cactus hedges and had a
fig tree orchard to the south.
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities,
Idnebbeh had a population of 275
Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census to 345, still all Muslims, in a total of 87 houses. Most villagers worked in agriculture and animal husbandry. In the
1945 statistics the population was 490, all Muslims, while 25 dunams were classified as built-up public areas. with Idnibba in distance
1948 and aftermath On 16 July 1948, during
Operation An-Far,
Givati HQ informed General Staff\Operations that "our forces have entered the villages of
Qazaza,
Kheima,
Jilya, Idnibba,
Mughallis, expelled the inhabitants, [and] blown up and torched a number of houses. The area is at the moment clear of Arabs." There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. The settlement of
Kefar Menachem, built in 1937, is about 2 km southwest of the village site. Palestinian historian
Walid Khalidi described the remains of Idnibba in 1992: "The site and the surrounding lands have been converted into pastures and woods. A large area has been leveled by bulldozers. Demolished walls and the remnants of stone houses lie at various points on the site. There are natural caves with artificial, arched entrances on the upper, western edge of the site." ==See also==