al-Jiyya

The village was situated on a sandy spot, surrounded by hills, on the southern coastal plain. Several wadis descended around it and periodically subjected it to flooding. This perhaps explains its name, which means 'water collector' in Arabic, as well as its circular layout. The village has been identified with a town referred to in Crusader records as Algie. The coastal highway and railway line ran close to the village on its western side. The inhabitants reported that their village had been ruined at one point and then rebuilt by Muhammad Abu Nabbut, the governor of Jaffa and Gaza between 1807 and 1818.

Al-Jiyya's population was Muslim and the village had its own mosque. Children attended school in the neighboring village of Barbara. The villagers installed a pump on one of the wells in the area to draw water for domestic use. The community worked primarily in agriculture, planting various types of grain, especially corn. In 1944/45 a total of 189 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 8,004 dunums were allocated to cereals; 26 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Al-Jiyya also was known for its cheese and other dairy products which were sold in Gaza and the city of al-Majdal. Among the archaeological remains found in al-Jiyya were a stone column and the remains of a Roman mill.