The village was built on undulating terrain on the coastal plain, overlooking a broad, flat area to the north and west. Dirt paths linked it to the highway between Gaza and the Ramla-Jerusalem highway, as well as to five neighboring villages. In the late nineteenth century, al-Khayma was a village built of adobe bricks, situated on low ground, with a well to the east. 
During the Ottoman period, the Bir al-Sabi'-Ramla railroad line passed along the west side of the village, but the line was discontinued during the Mandate. AI-Khayma was composed of two rectangular clusters of adobe brick buildings that were perpendicular to each other; the northern cluster was oriented from east to west. AI-Khayma was classified as a hamlet at this time by the Palestine Index Gazetteer. The villagers, who were predominantly Muslim, worshipped in the mosque of the nearby village of al-Tina, where they also sent their children for primary-school education. Agriculture in al-Khayma was based primarily on grain, although vegetables and fruit trees also were planted in small areas in the north. Most of the crops were watered by rainfall but the fruit orchards were irrigated from several wells. In 1944/45 a total of 5,007 dunums was allocated to cereals; 4 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The villagers also raised livestock.
