Ofakim ( ʾŎfāqīm, or אוֹפָקִים ʾŌfāqīm, lit. "horizons") is a city in the Southern District of Israel, 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) west of Beersheba. It achieved municipal status in 1955. It has an area of 10,000 dunams (~3.9 sq mi; 10 km2). In , it had a population of .
Established as a development town in 1955, Ofakim was for many years a major textile manufacturing center. Outsourcing of textile manufacturing outside Israel caused economic stagnation, and Ofakim suffered high poverty and unemployment rates for many years. Since then, new factories have moved in, and the city is currently undergoing major development. Ofakim was the scene of fighting between Hamas fighters who infiltrated the city and Israeli forces in a stand-off during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war; the IDF cleared the city of Hamas fighters the following day.
History
Prior to 1948, the area was known as Khirbat Futais (), a Bedouin hamlet populated by members of Al-Qadirat clan of Al-Tiyaha tribe, located along "Wadi Futeis", a seasonal river that drains into wadi Gaza. The hamlet consisted of several mud houses, and the Bedouin residents were engaged in growing wheat, barley, and melon asw well as raising sheep and goats. The hamlet was located along Beersheba-Gaza highway, a strategic location in land of Bedouin tribes whose inter-tribal clashes were a source of worry, prompted Ottomans to build a military fort nearby, the Patish (Futais) fort. By mid-July, during the 1948 War (Operation An-Far), the village fell to the IDF, and the local Bedouin fled to Al-Muharraqa, from which they were expelled to Gaza Strip. The abandoned Bedouin village was destroyed by the IDF in September or October 1948 for reasons that were described as "military".
Ofakim was established in 1955 as an urban center for the rural communities in the area adjacent to the Ottoman fort and on the site of Khirbat Futais. The first inhabitants were immigrants from Morocco and Tunisia. The population in 1955 was about 600. The inhabitants initially lived in huts and tin shacks, but the construction of permanent housing proceeded rapidly, and the construction industry was the main source of income during the early years. In late 1956, after Jewish refugees expelled from Egypt following the Suez Crisis arrived in Israel, 150 Egyptian-Jewish immigrant families, including some Karaite Jews, came to Ofakim. In the following years, 170 Jewish families from Iran arrived, as did additional immigrants from India and Romania. In 1958, Ofakim was granted local council status.
In the late 1950s, the construction industry was still the main employer, and some residents also worked in agriculture nearby, but industry also began to be established in Ofakim, starting with a diamond polishing plant, followed by two textile factories that opened in 1959. At the same time, the town's streets were paved, public parks were established, and schools were founded. In 1961, the population was 4,600.
As in other development towns, the industrial sector historically played an important part in Ofakim's economy. In 1972, 32% of the salaried workers (754 people) were in this sector, and in 1983—924 people (23%). During this period, the textile industry grew to dominate Ofakim's economy. Numerous textile plants were set up, and the industry employed by far the most workers, ranging from 72% (1982–83) to 82% (1972). The Of–Ar (short for Ofakim–Argentina) textile factory was a major employer. In 1983, the population had grown to 12,600.
Ofakim's economy declined after Israeli textile manufacturers began closing their factories in Israel to move their production to other countries with lower labor costs, mainly in Southwest Asia, and to Egypt and Jordan after Israel signed peace treaties with those two countries. Starting in the mid-1980s, the city's textile mills began to shut down, with the last one closing in 1995, rendering much of the population unemployed. In the early 1990s, during the mass migration of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel, more than 7,000 Soviet immigrants arrived in Ofakim, and were provided with heavily subsidized housing. This fueled further competition for jobs, and due to the fact that Soviet immigrants were typically better educated than the mainly unskilled or semi-skilled veteran population, they were better able to get the few jobs available. The city also absorbed immigrants from Ethiopia during this time. A few more plants moved into the city in the 1990s, including an electronics factory in 1996, but unemployment remained high. Ofakim gained a reputation as an economically depressed city in Israel.