View source for Kiryat Gat

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Kiryat Gat
| native_name        = {{Lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|קריית גת}}|rtl=yes}}
| settlement_type    = [[List of cities in Israel|City]]
| translit_lang1     = Hebrew
| translit_lang1_type1 = [[ISO 259]]
| translit_lang1_info1 = Qiryat Gatt
| image_skyline      =
{{center|{{Photomontage
  |photo1a = PikiWiki Israel 16194 kiryat gat.jpg
  |photo1b = PikiWiki Israel 16188 Architecture of Israel.jpg
  |photo2a = War Memorial in Kiryat Gat, Israel.jpg
  |photo2b = PikiWiki Israel 16189 kiryat gat.jpg
  |photo3e = Kiryat Gat Aerial View.jpg
  |size    = 280
  |color   = transparent
  |border  = 0
  }}}}
| image_flag         = Flag of Qiryat Gat.svg
| image_blank_emblem = Kiryat Gat COA.svg
| blank_emblem_type  = Coat of arms
| pushpin_map_alt    = 
| pushpin_map        = Israel ashkelon#Israel
| pushpin_mapsize    = 
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Kiryat Gat in Israel
| coordinates        = {{coord|31|36|22|N|34|46|18|E|region:IL|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type   = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name   = {{ISR}}
| subdivision_type1  = 
| subdivision_name1  = 
| subdivision_type2  = [[Districts of Israel|District]]
| subdivision_name2  = [[Southern District (Israel)|Southern]]
| subdivision_type3  = Subdistrict
| subdivision_name3  = [[Ashkelon Subdistrict|Ashkelon]]
| established_title  = Founded
| established_date   = 1954
| leader_title       = Mayor
| leader_name        = [[Kfir Swisa]]<ref name="Local_elections2024">{{cite web |author = |url = https://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-retake-beit-shemesh-former-haifa-mayor-yona-yahav-returns-to-office/ |title = Ultra-Orthodox retake Beit Shemesh, former Haifa mayor Yona Yahav returns to office |language = en |website = www.timesofisrael.com |date = |access-date = 2024-04-13 }}</ref>
| unit_pref          = dunam
| area_total_dunam   = {{formatnum:17,102|R}}
| population_footnotes = {{Israel populations|reference}}
| population_total   = {{Israel populations|Qiryat Gat}}
| population_as_of   = {{Israel populations|Year}}
| population_density_km2 = auto
| demographics_type1     = Ethnicity
| demographics1_footnotes = {{Israel populations|reference}}
|  demographics1_title1    = [[Israeli Jews|Jews]] and [[Israelis|others]]
|  demographics1_info1     = 64,338
|  demographics1_title2    = [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arabs]]
|  demographics1_info2     = 100
| blank_name_sec1    = Name meaning
| blank_info_sec1    = City of [[Gath (city)|Gat]]
| website            = {{url|www.qiryat-gat.muni.il}}
}}
'''Kiryat Gat''' ({{langx|he|קריית גת||City of [[Gath (city)|Gat]]}}) also spelled '''Qiryat Gat''', is a city in the [[Southern District (Israel)|Southern District]] of [[Israel]]. It lies {{convert|56|km|mi|0|abbr=in}} south of [[Tel Aviv]], {{convert|43|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} north of [[Beersheba]], and {{convert|68|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} west southwest of [[Jerusalem]]. In {{Israel populations|Year}} it had a population of {{Israel populations|Qiryat Gat}}.{{Israel populations|reference}} The city hosts one of the most advanced [[semiconductor fabrication plant]]s in the world, [[Intel]]'s Fab 28 plant producing [[7 nm process]] chips.

==Etymology==
Kiryat Gat was mistakenly named for [[Gath (city)|Gath]],<ref name=Hadassah>{{cite web | title=Israeli Life: Name Calling | website=[[Hadassah Magazine]] | date=2005-02-22 | url=https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2005/02/22/israeli-life-name-calling/ | quote= Sometimes even the experts can be wrong however. Example: the southern town of Kiryat Gat. A mistake was discovered years after the name was registered and placed on the official record. “They…thought that the biblical Tel Gat was in that region. It turned out that this wasn’t the case…but we couldn’t change the name,” Bitan said.}}</ref><ref name=Rainey11>{{cite journal |last=Rainey|first=A.F.|author-link=Anson Rainey|title=The Toponymics of Eretz-Israel|journal=[[Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research]]|publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] on behalf of The [[American Schools of Oriental Research]]|issue=231 |pages=1–17|date=1978|doi=10.2307/1356743|jstor=1356743 |s2cid=163634741|language=en}}: "Today there are Hebrew names not only for modern communities such as kibbutzim, settlement towns, etc., but for topographical features (hills, water sources, etc.), and antiquity sites as well. The majority of these are Hebraized forms of the former Arabic name, e.g., Arabic Tell 'Arâd is [[Tel Arad|Tel ʿArad]], Tell Jezer is now [[Gezer|Tel Gezer]], Khirbet Mešâš has become [[Tel Masos]]. Frequently, the new Hebrew form is not really cognate to the Arabic but was chosen for its general resemblance; Tell el-Fâr: "The Mound of the Mouse" has been promoted to [[:he:תל פר|Tel Par]]: "The Mound of the Bull." The earlier enthusiasm for restoring biblical names to their ancient sites has cooled down somewhat, especially after Tell [[Iraq al-Manshiyya|(ʿArâq) el-Menšîyeh]], changed to Tel Gat, was proved not to be a suitable candidate for [[Gath (city)|Gath of the Philistines]]. Now the site is called [[Tel Erani|Tel ʿErani]] after the epithet of Sheikh Ahmed el-ʿAreinī, whose tomb is located there."</ref> one of the five major cities of the [[Philistines]]. In Hebrew, "gat" means "winepress". In the 1950s, archaeologists found ruins at a nearby [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] named [[Tel Erani]] and identified it as the Philistine city of Gath. Later archeologists proved this to be incorrect, but not before Kiryat Gat had been named in 1954. It proved too difficult to subsequently change the city’s name.<ref name=Hadassah/> This event cooled earlier enthusiasm for [[Hebraization of Palestinian place names|restoring biblical names]] more widely across the region. <ref name=Rainey11/>

The location most favored for Gath now is  [[Tell es-Safi|Tel es-Safi]], thirteen kilometers ({{convert|13|km|abbr=off|disp=output only}}) to the northeast.<ref name=Harris>{{cite journal | author = Horton Harris | title = The location of Ziklag: a review of the candidate sites, based on Biblical, topographical and archaeological evidence | journal = Palestine Exploration Quarterly | volume = 143 | issue = 2 | year = 2011 | pages = 119–133 | doi=10.1179/003103211x12971861556954| s2cid = 162186999 }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:KiryatGat.png|thumb|left|Historical setting of Kiryat Gat]]
Kiryat Gat was founded in 1954, initially as a [[Ma'abarot|ma'abara]]. The following year it was established as a [[development town]] by 18 families from [[Morocco]].<ref name="Partnership 2000">{{cite web|url=https://www.juf.org/p2g/kiryat_gat.aspx|title=Partnership 2000, Kiryat Gat|publisher=[[Jewish United Fund]]|access-date=2008-10-20}}</ref> It was founded just west of the ruins of the [[Palestinians|Palestinian Arab]] village of [[Iraq al-Manshiyya]]. The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the built-up area of Kiryat Gat.<ref name=SImap>Sheet ''Hebron'' of 100,000 topological map series, Survey of Israel, 1956.</ref> By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also onto the land that formerly belonged to the village of [[Al-Faluja]].<ref>Khalidi, 1992, p. 97</ref>

The population of Kiryat Gat rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, mostly Jewish immigrants from [[North Africa]]. The economy was initially based on processing the agricultural produce of the [[Lachish]] region, such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gat's municipal status was upgraded and it became Israel's 31st city.<ref name="Ref_">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Kiryat Gat|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]] (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0)|year=1997|editor=Ed. [[Cecil Roth]]|publisher=Keter Publishing House|isbn=965-07-0665-8}}</ref>

During the 1990s, the [[Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1990s|mass immigration of Soviet Jews]] to Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500 by 1995.<ref name="Ref_2005">{{cite web|title=Kiryat Gat- Municipality Profile|publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]]|year=2005|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications/local_authorities2005/pdf/255_2630.pdf|access-date=2007-06-27|language=he|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033311/http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications/local_authorities2005/pdf/255_2630.pdf|archive-date=2007-09-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> The development of the Rabin industrial zone on the eastern edge of the city, and the opening of [[Highway 6 (Israel)|Highway 6]] further improved the economy of the city.

In 2018, the first residents began moving into Carmei Gat, a new neighborhood to the north of Kiryat Gat. The area has attracted a diverse population, including a significant Anglo community.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jewishlink.news/a-new-community-in-the-south-building-a-shul-in-carmei-gat/|title=A New Community in the South: Building a Shul in Carmei Gat|work=The Jewish Link|date=2024-11-14|access-date=2025-09-28}}</ref> It has grown to approximately 10,000 housing units, with plans underway to double the city’s population in the coming years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/real-estate/article-840739|title=Carmei Gat’s rise north of Kiryat Gat|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=2024-03-19|access-date=2025-09-28}}</ref>

== Climate ==
Kiryat Gat has a borderline hot-summer [[Mediterranean climate]] (Csa) and a hot [[semi-arid climate]] (Bsh). winters are moderately rainy and mild, and summers are hot and dry. the annual amount of precipitation is around 405 mm, mostly falls in winter. Mean daily maximum in January is 17 celsius degrees, while in August it is 33 celsius degrees. 

== Demographics ==
In 2012, the ethnic makeup of the city was 93.8 percent [[Jews|Jewish]].<ref name="cbs-Qiryat Gat">{{cite web|script-title=he:הרשויות המקומיות בישראל 2012, פרסום מס' 1573. קריית גת|title= Local Authorities in Israel 2012, Publication No. 1573. Kiryat Gat|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications14/local_authorities12_1573/pdf/303_2630.pdf|publisher=הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]]|access-date=2014-07-16|language=he}}</ref> In its early years, Kiryat Gat was populated mainly by Jews of [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]]/[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] origin. Since the [[1990s post-Soviet aliyah|mass immigration]] of [[History of the Jews in the Soviet Union|Soviet Jews]], approximately one third of the inhabitants hail from the former [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Rosenthal">{{cite book|author=Rosenthal, Donna|title=The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land|url=https://archive.org/details/israelis00donn|url-access=registration|publisher=New York: Free Press|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/israelis00donn/page/124 124–126]|isbn=0-684-86973-X}}</ref>

== Economy ==
[[File:Intel factory, Kiryat Gat industry zone.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], [[Intel]], and [[Micron Technologies|Micron]] production plants in Kiryat Gat]]
The [[Polgat]] textile factory was the main employer in the town until it closed in the 1990s. In 1999, [[Intel]] opened a chip [[fabrication plant]], known as Fab 18, to produce Pentium 4 chips and [[Flash memory|flash memories]]. Intel received a grant of $525 million from the Israeli government to build the plant. In February 2006, the cornerstone was laid for Intel's second Kiryat Gat plant, Fab 28. Despite this, Kiryat Gat has one of Israel's highest unemployment rates.<ref name="Rosenthal"/><ref name="Gazzar2006">{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Features/Article.aspx?id=9321|title=Intel's Inside|date=2006-01-05|publisher=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|author=Gazzar, Brenda|access-date=2012-07-08}}</ref> In 2021, Intel announced a $10 billion investment in new manufacturing in Kiryat Gat.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sonnenfeld |first=Daniel |date=2021-05-03 |title=Intel to Invest $10B in New Israeli Manufacturing Site |url=https://themedialine.org/life-lines/intel-to-invest-10-billion-in-new-israeli-manufacturing-site/ |access-date=2021-09-14 |website=The Media Line |language=en-US}}</ref>

The headquarters and small-arms (guns) manufacturing facility of Israeli Weapons Industries is located in Kiryat Gat.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Etsion |first=Udi |date=2019-09-05 |title=Scoot Over, Uzi, There’s a new Gun in Town |url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3769777,00.html |access-date=2021-07-02 |website=CTECH}}</ref>

== Transportation ==
Kiryat Gat is served by the [[Kiryat Gat Railway Station]] on the Tel Aviv - Be'er Sheva inter-city line of [[Israel Railways]]. Kiryat Gat is situated between two major highways, [[Highway 40 (Israel)|Highway 40]] to the west of the town and [[Highway 6 (Israel)|Highway 6]].

== Education ==
[[File:View of Kiryat Gat from Tel Erani.jpg|thumb|View of Kiryat Gat's industrial area from Tel Erani]]
Kiryat Gat has 25 schools with an enrollment of 10,676. Of these schools, 18 are elementary schools with a student population of 5,498, and 13 are high schools with a student population of 5,178. In 2001, 54.7% of Kiryat Gat's 12th grade students graduated with a  matriculation certificate. Kiryat Gat has a Pedagogic Center, science centers, a computerized library and a center devoted to industry, art and technology.<ref name="Partnership 2000"/> In 2012, a high school student from Kiryat Gat won first prize in the [[First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics]] competition.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/kiryat-gat-teen-wins-first-prize-in-international-physics-competition.premium-1.465686 Kiryat Gat teen wins first prize in international physics competition], [[Haaretz]]</ref>

==Twin towns — sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Israel}}
Kiryat Gat is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:

*{{flagicon|USA}} [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], [[United States|United States of America]] (1998)<ref name=JUF>{{cite web|title=Partnership Together|url=https://www.juf.org/p2g/Our-Partnership-Kiryat-Gat-Lachish-Shafir.aspx|publisher=Jewish United Fund|access-date=2023-08-08}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|USA}} [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[United States|United States of America]] (1977)<ref name=Buffalo>{{cite web|title=Buffalo, New York & Kiryat Gat, Israel|url=http://www.sister-cities.org/interactive-map/relationship/Buffalo,%20New%20York/Kiryat%20Gat,%20Israel|publisher=Sister Cities International|access-date=2014-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726212202/http://www.sister-cities.org/interactive-map/relationship/Buffalo,%20New%20York/Kiryat%20Gat,%20Israel|archive-date=2014-07-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|SRB}} [[Kruševac]], [[Serbia]] (1990)<ref name=krusevac>{{cite web|title=Градови побратими|url=http://www.krusevac.rs/sr_cir/krusevac/licna-karta/gradovi-pobratimi.html|publisher=Град Крушевац|access-date=2014-07-16}}</ref>

==Notable people==

*[[Adi Nes]] (born 1966), photographer
*[[Miri Regev]] (born 1965), politician and a former Brigadier General. She is a member of the Cabinet as the Minister of Culture and Sport from 2015–2020 and the Minister of Transportation since 2020<ref>{{cite web |url=https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/mk/government/Pages/governments.aspx?govid=35 |title=All Governments of Israel |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=main.knesset.gov.il|publisher=The Knesset |access-date=20 March 2021 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=831 |title=Knesset Member, Miri Regev |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website= knesset.gov.il|publisher=The Knesset |access-date=20 March 2021 |quote=}}
</ref> 
*[[Miki Zohar]] (born 1980), politician. He is a former member of the Kiryat Gat City Council, a member of Knesset from 2015 to 2023, and a member of Cabinet as the Minister of Culture and Sport since 2022.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/MK/APPS/mk/mk-personal-details/922 |title=All Past and Present MKs |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=main.knesset.gov.il|publisher=The Knesset |access-date=8 August 2023 |quote=}}</ref> 
*[[Ninet Tayeb]] (born 1983), singer and actress

==See also==
* [[Kefar Shihlayim]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Kiryat Gat}}
* [http://www.qiryat-gat.muni.il/ Official website] {{in lang|he}}

{{Southern District (Israel)}}
{{Largest Israeli cities}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Kiryat Gat| ]]
[[Category:Cities in Israel]]
[[Category:Cities in Southern District (Israel)]]
[[Category:1954 establishments in Israel]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1954]]