Beit Guvrin is a kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 in the Lakhish

Lakhish

Lakhish or Lachish may refer to:*Lachish, a biblical city in Israel*Lakhish, Israel, a moshav in south-central Israel*Lakhish Regional Council, a regional council in south-central Israel*Lakhish River, a river in the area...

 region, west of the ancient city of Beit Guvrin

Maresha

Tel Maresha , also Marissa, is an antiquity site in Israel's southern lowlands. The tel was first excavated by the British archaeologists Bliss and Macalister on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund...

, for which it is named. It belongs to Yoav Regional Council

Yoav Regional Council

Yoav Regional Council is a regional council in the South District of Israel. It is located near the cities of Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malakhi and Ashkelon...

. It is about 14 km east of Kiryat Gat, the nearest city. Its area is about 20,000 dunams.

Beit Guvrin was founded in 1949 by people who left the Palmach

Palmach

The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...

, on the land of the depopulated Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 Arab village Beit Jibrin, whose residents fled after a military assault by Jewish forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

.

Nearby is the ancient city of Eleutheropolis

Eleutheropolis

Eleutheropolis was the Greek name of a Roman city in Israel, some 53 km southwest of Jerusalem. Its remains still straddle the ancient road to Gaza. The site— already rendered as Baitogabra in Ptolemy's Geography— was called Beit Guvrin and Bet Gubrin in the Talmud...

.