๐ฎ๐ฑ Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat, is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies 56 km south of Tel Aviv, 43 km north of Beersheba, 45 km and 68 km from Jerusalem. The city hosts one of the most advanced semiconductor fabrication plant in the world, Intel's Fab 28 plant producing 7 nm process chips and the currently under construction Fab 38 planned to open in 2024 and to produce 5 nm process using EUV lithography.
History Kiryat Gat was founded in 1954, initially as a ma'abara. The following year it was established as a development town by 18 families from Morocco. It was founded just west of the ruins of the Palestinian Arab village of Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was depopulated in 1949 after the 1948 ArabโIsraeli War. The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the built-up area of Kiryat Gat. By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also onto the land that formerly belonged to the village of Al-Faluja.
The population of Kiryat Gat rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, mostly Jewish immigrants from North Africa. The economy was initially based on processing the agricultural produce of the Lachish region, such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gat's municipal status was upgraded and it became Israel's 31st city.
During the 1990s, the mass immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500 by 1995. The development of the Rabin industrial zone on the eastern edge of the city, and the opening of Highway 6 further improved the economy of the city.
Demographics In 2012, the ethnic makeup of the city was 93.8 percent Jewish. In its early years, Kiryat Gat was populated mainly by Jews of Sephardi/Mizrahi origin. Since the mass immigration of Soviet Jews, approximately one third of the inhabitants hail from the former Soviet Union.
Economy The Polgat textile factory was the main employer in the town until it closed in the 1990s. In 1999, Intel opened a chip fabrication plant, known as Fab 18, to produce Pentium 4 chips and flash memories. Intel received a grant of $525 million from the Israeli government to build the plant. In February 2006, the cornerstone was laid for Intel's second Kiryat Gat plant, Fab 28. Despite this, Kiryat Gat has one of Israel's highest unemployment rates. In 2021, Intel announced a $10 billion investment in new manufacturing in Kiryat Gat.
The headquarters and small-arms (guns) manufacturing facility of Israeli Weapons Industries is now located in Kiryat Gat.
Transport Kiryat Gat is served by the Kiryat Gat Railway Station on the Tel Aviv - Be'er Sheva inter-city line of Israel Railways. Kiryat Gat is situated between two major highways, Highway 40 to the west of the town and Highway 6.
Schools and education Kiryat Gat has 25 schools with an enrollment of 10,676. Of these schools, 18 are elementary schools with a student population of 5,498, and 13 are high schools with a student population of 5,178. In 2001, 54.7% of Kiryat Gat's 12th grade students graduated with a matriculation certificate. Kiryat Gat has a Pedagogic Center, science centres, a computerized library and a centre devoted to industry, art and technology. In 2012, a high school student from Kiryat Gat won first prize in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics competition.
Kiryat Gat has a population of over 57,105 people. Kiryat Gat also forms one of the centres of the wider Southern District which has a population of over 1,244,200 people. Kiryat Gat is situated 43 km north of Beersheba.
To set up a UBI Lab for Kiryat Gat see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Twin Towns, Sister Cities Kiryat Gat has links with:
๐บ๐ธ Buffalo, USA ๐ท๐ธ Kruลกevac, Serbia๐จ๐ณ Changshu City 31.656
๐บ๐ธ Nacogdoches 31.6
๐ต๐ธ Beit Lahia 31.55
๐ฎ๐ฑ Tel-Aviv-Yafo 34.78
๐ฎ๐ฑ Tel Aviv-Yafo 34.783
๐ฎ๐ฑ Be'er Sheva 34.794
๐ฎ๐ฑ Nes Ziyyona 34.8
Locations Near: Kiryat Gat 34.7677,31.6146
๐ฎ๐ฑ Ashquelon 34.567,31.667 d: 19.9
๐ฎ๐ฑ Ashkelon 34.565,31.663 d: 20
๐ฎ๐ฑ Ashdod 34.643,31.788 d: 22.6
๐ฎ๐ฑ Bet Shemesh 34.983,31.733 d: 24.3
๐ฎ๐ฑ Beit Shemesh 34.991,31.738 d: 25.2
๐ฎ๐ฑ Rehovot 34.8,31.883 d: 30
๐ฎ๐ฑ Yavnรฉ 34.733,31.883 d: 30.1
๐ต๐ธ Beit Lahia 34.5,31.55 d: 26.4
๐ต๐ธ Jabalia 34.467,31.517 d: 30.5
๐ฎ๐ฑ Nes Ziyyona 34.8,31.933 d: 35.6
Antipodal to: Kiryat Gat -145.232,-31.615
๐ต๐ซ Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 18390.1
๐ฆ๐ธ Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16787.2
๐น๐ด Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16822.1
๐ผ๐ธ Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16668.4
๐บ๐ธ Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 14210.4
๐บ๐ธ Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 14074.2
๐บ๐ธ Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 14055.2
๐บ๐ธ Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 14054.5