Ktzi'ot Prison
Ktzi'ot Prison is an Israeli detention facility located in the Negev desert 45 miles south-west of Beersheba. It is Israel's largest detention facility in terms of land area, encompassing 400,000 square metres (99 acres). It is also the largest detention camp in the world.
During the First Intifada, Ktzi'ot was the location of the largest detention camp run by the Israeli army. It held three quarters of all Palestinians held by the army, and over half of all Palestinians detained in Israel. According to Human Rights Watch, in 1990 it held approximately one out of every 50 West Bank and Gazan males older than 16. Amongst Palestinians it was known as Ansar III after a similar prison camp set up in South Lebanon by Israel during the South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000). Ktzi'ot camp was opened in March 1988 and closed in 1995. It was re-opened in 2002 during the Second Intifada.
On September 28, 1953 the Israel Defense Forces established a fortified settlement, Ktzi'ot, overlooking the al-Auja junction. Despite housing soldiers in civilian clothes and engaging in little farming activity the Israelis maintained it was a pioneering farm settlement which did not break the Egyptian-Israeli Armistice Agreement relating to the 145 km2 Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) around al-Auja. The remaining members of the 'Azazme tribe, who depended on the well at al-Auja, were attacked and driven across the border into Egypt.
On 6 October 1954 a member of the Ktzi'ot kibbutz drove a water truck across the border into Egypt and gave himself up to the Egyptians at Abu Aweigila. When questioned in the presence of a UN military observer he said that all the inhabitants of the kibbutz were soldiers: one captain, four NCOs, 65 men soldiers and fifteen women soldiers. They were armed with rifles, sub machine guns, light machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.
In early 1956, prior to Israel taking full control of the al-Auja DMZ, Ktzi'ot included twelve squad tents and had a small runway with light aircraft visiting almost daily. Later that year the DMZ was used as the point of entry for the IDF invasion of the Sinai Peninsula. It served the same function in 1967.
...
Wikipedia