Simsim, Gaza
| Simsim | |
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 Simsim
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| Arabic | سمسم |
| Name meaning | "Sesame" |
| Also spelled | Sumsum, Semsem |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Coordinates | 31°34′02″N 34°36′26″E / 31.56722°N 34.60722°ECoordinates: 31°34′02″N 34°36′26″E / 31.56722°N 34.60722°E |
| Palestine grid | 112/108 |
| Population | 1,290 (1945) |
| Area | 16,797 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | 12 May 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Gevar'am, Or HaNer |
Simsim (Arabic: سمسم), known to the Crusaders as Semsem, was a Palestinian village, located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) northeast of Gaza. It was depopulated just prior to the outbreak of 1948 Arab-Israeli war. On 12 May 1948, pre-state Israeli forces expelled the villagers, along with those of the neighboring village of Najd.
Simsim contained two archaeological sites known locally as ar-Ras and Sha'fat al-Mughur (the latter of which contained a Roman cemetery).Byzantine ceramics have been found here. The village was known as Semsem to the Crusaders.
Simsim was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and by 1596 it was part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the liwa' (district) of Sanjak of Gaza, and it had a population of 110. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley and fruit trees, as well as on goats and beehives.
In A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1858), Josias Leslie Porter describes the village as standing "amidst a little grove of trees, about a 1/4 mile north of the road." In June 1863 Victor Guérin found the village to contains five hundred inhabitants. Surrounded by trees, the village had tobacco and sesame plantations. A oualy, dedicated to Neby Danyal, was internally decorated with two ancient columns. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 69 houses and a population of 119, though the population count included only men.
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