Kissufim Tower
Description: A wide, convenient stairway ascends to the top of the 15-meter-high white-painted metal tower. There is a wide, shaded observation deck at the top of the tower, with room for 50 people at once. The cities of Netivot and Sderot can be seen easily from the tower, and beyond them Kiryat Gat. In the east you can see Ofakim, Kiryat Gat and Beersheba. On the horizon are the Lahav Hills and the southern plain and the Hebron Mountains. At the foot of the tower, you can see the fields of Kibbutz Kissufim and beyond them the Gaza Strip. Slightly north of the Gaza Strip are the chimneys of the Ashkelon power station protrude and south of them Gaza and the villages surrounding it.
 
The cities of Deir al Balah and Khan Younes in the Gaza Strip are to the west of the observation tower. The Gush Katif settlements were formerly located beyond them. Before the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, some 8,600 Jews lived in the 18 Gush Katif settlements and four other settlements in the Gaza Strip. The relocated Gush Katif settlers climb the tower and remember with longing their homes that they were compelled to leave.
 
Directions: Before the gate of Kibbutz Kissufim, turn right on the dirt road, which bypasses the kibbutz fence from the north. The tower is clearly visible from the east, 200 m from the kibbutz fence. Due to the activity of the defense forces, there is a good road to the tower (Gush Katif observation tower, Kissufim)
Photograph: Yaakov Shkolnik, KKL-JNF Photo Archive