Negev

The Negev or Naqab is the name for a desert and semidesert area in southern . Today, it forms the bulk of the Southern District of Israel, whose largest city and administrative capital is , in the north of the Negev.
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Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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is the only city on the Red Sea. is the southernmost town in Israel, isolated from the rest of the country by the Negev desert. It's sandwiched between Taba in Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan, and often used as an access route to those cities because of its large modern Ramon airport.

Photo: Vladi mir, CC BY 3.0.
Be'er Sheva is a desert city of approximately 200,000 inhabitants in southern . It is the eighth-most populous and second largest city in the country and the gateway to the Negev region of Israel.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a magnificently located fortress site in stark , close to the . The last Jewish holdout to fall to Rome in 73 CE, symbolizes the exile of the Jewish nation from the Holy Land.

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Explore places such as Sderot and Mitzpe Ramon.

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is a western Negev city and former development town in the of . In 2024, it had a population of 37,239. is located less than a mile from , and is notable for having been a major target of Qassam rocket attacks from the .

Photo: Tamuz, CC0.
is a small town in the remote Negev of . 190 km south to , and to , 80 km south to , and 150 km north to . Known for Ramon Crater, which is the world's largest erosion cirque.

Photo: Meronim, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small town in the north-eastern Negev desert of . It is the third-largest city in the Negev, with a population of about 34,000. is mostly known for the nearby nuclear research facility, which according to various unofficial publications is the home of Israel's nuclear weapons program.

Photo: Neukoln, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small city in that lies on the border between the Negev desert and the .

Photo: Meronim, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city of 70,000 in the southern Negev region of . It was founded in 1972 as a home for the previously nomadic Bedouin Arabs, who form the large majority of its population. It is the largest Bedouin settlement in the world.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY 2.5.
is a city located in the of , located 8 miles southeast of and 19 miles northwest of . In 2024 it had a population of 56,019.

Photo: momo, CC BY 2.0.
is an oasis in the , near the Dead Sea, between and the caves of . The name refers to Kibbutz and to the nearby nature reserve.

Photo: Tamuz, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a kibbutz in the central Negev, most famous for being the past residence of the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, who moved there after he left his office in order to live his ideals of settling the Negev.

Photo: Felagund, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Yeruham is a town in the of , in the Negev desert. It covers 38,584 dunams, and had a population of 11,989 in 2024. It is named after the Biblical Jeroham.

Photo: Avi1111, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a kibbutz in the Aravah Valley in the far south of . Located near and north of , it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Eilot Regional Council. In 2024 it had a population of 254.

Negev

Latitude of center
30.5° or 30° 30′ north
Longitude of center
34.9167° or 34° 55′ east
Elevation
539 metres (1,768 feet)
United Nations Location Code
IL GEV
Open­Street­Map ID
node 4912182621
Open­Street­Map feature
natural=­desert
Geo­Names ID
294886
Wiki­data ID
Q162843
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikipedia.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Negev from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Arabic to Yue Chinese—“Negev” goes by many names.
  • Arabic: “النقب”
  • Arabic: “صحراء النقب”
  • Armenian: “Նեգև”
  • Asturian: “Négueb”
  • Asturian: “Néguev”
  • Azerbaijani: “Negev”
  • Azerbaijani: “Neqev”
  • Bashkir: “Негев, Негев сүллеге, Негев сүле, Нәҡәп”
  • Bashkir: “Негев”
  • Basque: “Negev”
  • Belarusian: “Негеў”
  • Belarusian: “Нэгеў”
  • Belarusian: “Пустыня Негеў”
  • Belarusian: “Фаран”
  • Bengali: “নেগেভ”
  • Bosnian: “Negev”
  • Breton: “Negev”
  • Bulgarian: “Негев”
  • Catalan: “Desert del Nègueb”
  • Catalan: “Nègev”
  • Catalan: “Nègueb”
  • Catalan: “Neguev”
  • Cebuano: “Negeb”
  • Cebuano: “Negev”
  • Cebuano: “Neguev”
  • Cebuano: “Néguev”
  • Central Kurdish: “نێگێڤ”
  • Chinese: “內蓋夫”
  • Chinese: “内盖夫”
  • Chinese: “内盖夫沙漠”
  • Croatian: “Negeb”
  • Croatian: “Negev”
  • Czech: “Negev”
  • Czech: “Negevská poušť”
  • Czech: “poušť Negev”
  • Danish: “Negev”
  • Dutch: “Negeb”
  • Dutch: “Negev”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “النقب”
  • Esperanto: “Dezerto de Negevo”
  • Esperanto: “Negebo”
  • Esperanto: “Negev”
  • Esperanto: “Negevo”
  • Estonian: “Negev”
  • Estonian: “Negevi kõrb”
  • Finnish: “Negev”
  • Finnish: “Negevin aavikko”
  • Finnish: “Negevin autiomaa”
  • French: “Désert du Neguev”
  • French: “Désert du Néguev”
  • French: “Negeb”
  • French: “Négev”
  • French: “Neguev”
  • French: “Néguev”
  • Galician: “Negev”
  • Georgian: “ნეგევი”
  • German: “An-Naqb”
  • German: “Negeb”
  • German: “Negev”
  • German: “Negew”
  • Greek: “Νεγκέβ”
  • Greek: “Νέγκεβ”
  • Hebrew: “הנגב”
  • Hebrew: “נגב”
  • Hebrew: “נֶגֶב‎”
  • Hindi: “नेगेव रेगिस्तान”
  • Hungarian: “Negev-sivatag”
  • Ido: “Dezerto Negev”
  • Indonesian: “Negev”
  • Italian: “deserto del Negev”
  • Italian: “Deserto del Negev”
  • Italian: “Negev”
  • Italian: “Negheb”
  • Italian: “Neghev”
  • Japanese: “ネゲヴ”
  • Japanese: “ネゲブ”
  • Japanese: “ネゲブ地方”
  • Japanese: “ネゲブ砂漠”
  • Javanese: “Nègèb”
  • Javanese: “Negev”
  • Kabyle: “Nigib”
  • Kazakh: “Негев”
  • Korean: “네게브 사막”
  • Ladino: “Negev”
  • Latin: “Negev”
  • Latvian: “Negevs”
  • Lithuanian: “Negev”
  • Lithuanian: “Negevas”
  • Lithuanian: “Negevo dykuma”
  • Luxembourgish: “Negev”
  • Macedonian: “Негев”
  • Maithili: “नेगेव”
  • Malay: “Naqab”
  • Malayalam: “നെഗേവ്”
  • Manx: “Negev”
  • Mongolian: “Негевийн цөл”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Negev-ørkenen”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Negev”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Negevørkenen”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Negev”
  • Norwegian: “Negevørkenen”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Neguèv”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Nèguev”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܢܐܓܒ”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܢܓܒ”
  • Panjabi: “ਨੇਗੇਵ”
  • Persian: “بیابان نگب”
  • Persian: “صحرای نقب”
  • Persian: “صحرای نگب”
  • Persian: “صحرای نگو”
  • Persian: “نگو”
  • Polish: “Negew”
  • Polish: “Pustynia Negev”
  • Polish: “Pustynia Negew”
  • Portuguese: “Deserto de Negev”
  • Portuguese: “Deserto do negev”
  • Portuguese: “Deserto do neguev”
  • Portuguese: “Negev”
  • Portuguese: “Neguebe”
  • Portuguese: “Neguev”
  • Portuguese: “Negueve”
  • Romanian: “Nagev”
  • Romanian: “Negev”
  • Romanian: “Neghev”
  • Russian: “Негев”
  • Russian: “Пустыня Негев”
  • Russian: “Фаран”
  • Scots: “Negev”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Negev”
  • Serbian: “Negev”
  • Serbian: “Негеб”
  • Serbian: “Негев”
  • Serbian: “Неђев”
  • Serbian: “Пустиња Негев”
  • Serbian: “Пустиња Неђев”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Negev”
  • Slovak: “Negev”
  • Slovak: “Negevská púšť”
  • Slovenian: “Negev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto de Negev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto de Neguev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto de Néguev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto del Negev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto del Neguev”
  • Spanish: “Desierto del Néguev”
  • Spanish: “Negev”
  • Spanish: “Négev”
  • Spanish: “Negueb”
  • Spanish: “Neguev”
  • Spanish: “Néguev”
  • Swahili: “Negev”
  • Swedish: “Negev”
  • Swedish: “Negevöknen”
  • Swiss German: “An-Naqb”
  • Swiss German: “Negeb”
  • Swiss German: “Negev”
  • Swiss German: “Negew”
  • Tagalog: “Al-Naqab”
  • Tagalog: “Naqab”
  • Tagalog: “Negeb”
  • Tagalog: “Negev”
  • Tagalog: “Negueb”
  • Tamil: “நெகேவ்”
  • Tatar: “Нәкаб”
  • Thai: “ทะเลทรายเนเกฟ”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Negev”
  • Turkish: “Necef Çölü”
  • Turkish: “Negef Çölü”
  • Turkish: “Negev Çölü”
  • Turkish: “Negev”
  • Ukrainian: “Негев”
  • Ukrainian: “Неґев”
  • Urdu: “صحرائے نقب”
  • Vietnamese: “Hoang mạc Negev”
  • Vietnamese: “Negeb”
  • Vietnamese: “Negev”
  • Vietnamese: “Sa mạc Negev”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Negev”
  • Welsh: “Negev”
  • Western Frisian: “Negev”
  • Western Panjabi: “صحرائے نقب”
  • Wu Chinese: “内盖夫 (以色列)”
  • Wu Chinese: “内盖夫（以色列）”
  • Yiddish: “נגב”
  • Yue Chinese: “內蓋夫”

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