Yo'av Fortress (Metzudat Yo'av) – A Museum and Memorial Site for the Giv'ati Brigade
Located on route 35, between Qiryat Gat and Ashqelon, next to the entrance to Kibbutz Negba and opposite Kibbutz Sedeh Yo'av.
A Tegart Police Fort built by the British in 1938. Similar police forts were built at various strategic locations around the country. The police cast dread on everyone around it, and was also known as “the monster on the hill”. The families of British and Arab police officers lived at the fort. When the British left Palestine, on May 12 1948, the fort was handed over to the Arabs and when the Egyptians invaded Israel, they took it. They turned it into a fortified stronghold and it was an important base for the forces of the invaders. From there they advanced into the interior of Israel and subjected the neighboring Kibbutz Negba to heavy firing.
In Arabic, the fortress was called Iraq Suidan, after the nearby Arab village.
The Giv'ati Brigade tried to take the fortress seven times, and was repelled at a heavy cost in life. The fortress was finally taken on November 9 1948 by the Eighth Armored Division under the command of Yitzhak Sadeh. The taking of the fortress signaled the defeat of the Egyptian army in the Negev.
The name of the fortress was changed to Yo'av, after the underground nickname of the late Yitzhak Dubno, the first commander of Negba in the War of Independence, and who fell in its defense.
Today the building houses a museum which documents the history of the Giv'ati Brigade and its operations during the War of Independence, and up to the present day. There is a memorial center for the Giv'ati fallen there, a display of arms and an education center.
