Gaza Sanjak

Gaza Sanjak (سنجق غزة), known in Arabic as Bilād Ghazza (the Land of Gaza), was a sanjak of the Damascus Eyalet, Ottoman Empire centered in Gaza, northwards up to the Nahr al-‘Awja/the Yarkon River. In the 16th century it was divided into nawahi (singular: nahiya; third-level subdivisions): Gaza in the south and Ramla in the north along the Nahr Rūbīn/Wādī al-Ṣarār.

Gaza Sanjak "formed a passageway connecting Egypt and the Levant, precipitating bi-directional trade, conquest and population movements". Situated in the southern part of the Levantine coastal plain, Gaza Sanjak received less precipitation and was more prone to drought and nomadic incursion than more northerly regions.

Marom and Taxel have shown that during the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, nomadic economic and security pressures led to settlement abandonment around Majdal ‘Asqalān, and the southern coastal plain in general. The population of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, while the lands of abandoned settlements continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.

List of settlements (1596)
In the 1596- daftar, the sanjak contained the following nahiyah and villages/town

Gaza Nahiyah

 * Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya, Bayt Tima,  Hamama, Al-Tina, Yibna, Isdud, Arab Suqrir, Deir al-Balah, Burayr, Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Al-Majdal, Askalan, Bayt 'Affa, Najd, Ni'ilya,  Bayt Jirja,  Hiribya, Qatra, Iraq Suwaydan, Kawkaba, Beit Jimal Monastery,  Al-Batani al-Sharqi, Al-Qubayba, Al-Faluja, Bayt Daras,  Al-Maghar,  Hatta, Jusayr, Zikrin, Zayta,  Barqa,  Beit Hanoun, Dayr Sunayd, Simsim, Al-Jaladiyya, 'Ajjur, Al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya,  Julis,  Karatiyya,  Bayt Jibrin,  Iraq al-Manshiyya,  Qastina,  Ibdis, Idnibba,  Jilya,  Rafah,  Al-Jura,  Tell es-Safi,  Abasan al-Kabera,   Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya,   Summil,   Barbara,   Al-Muharraqa,   Mughallis,   Yasur

Ramla Nahiyah

 * Qula, Dayr Tarif,  Jaffa, Jimzu,  Kharruba,  Barfiliya,  Sarafand al-Amar,  Artuf,  Bayt Susin,  Islin, Al-Khayriyya,  Khulda,  Al-Tira,  Dayr Ayyub,  Qibya,  Bayt Nabala,  Budrus,  Bnei Brak,  Imwas,   Aqir,  Deir Qaddis, Yalo, al-Midya, Shuqba, Salama, Sar'a, Saqiya, Lod, Jisr Jindas,  Bayt Dajan,  Al-Safiriyya,  Al-'Abbasiyya,  Yazur,  Innaba,  Rantiya,  Bir Ma'in,  Bayt Shanna,  Ni'lin,  Kharbatha Bani Harith,  Kasla, Aboud,  Beit Sira,  Kafr 'Ana