Karmia 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 southern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Located between Ashkelon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

 and the Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council

Hof Ashkelon Regional Council is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel.The council is bordered to the north by Be'er Tuvia Regional Council, to the east by the Be'er Tuvia, Lakhish, Shafir and Yoav Regional Councils, to the south by Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council and the Gaza...

. In 2006 it had a population of 464.

The kibbutz was established on 20 May 1950 by a Nahal

Nahal

Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...

 gar'in of Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...

 members from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 who had been trained in Beit Zera

Beit Zera

Beit Zera is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 697....

. It was established around a school which had been built by the British authorities for the Arab

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...

 village of Hiribya

Hiribya

Hirbiya was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza, located northeast of Gaza along the southern coastal plain of Palestine. In 1945, it had a population of 2,300 inhabitants, of which 2,240 were Arabs and 60 were Jews.-History:...

, which was depopulated 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...

. Its name is derived from the Hebrew for vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 , which were common in the area.

In 1972 a blanket factory was established in the kibbutz.

The kibbutz absorbed 54 families from Elei Sinai

Elei Sinai

Elei Sinai was an Israeli settlement in the north of Gaza Strip. It was established in 1982 by a group who had been evicted from Yamit. It was named for the yearning to return to the Sinai desert, where Yamit was located....

 and Nisanit

Nisanit

Nisanit was the largest Israeli settlement in the northern tip of the Gaza Strip in a mini-settlement bloc including Elei Sinai and Dugit. While Nisanit was under the municipal authority of the Hof Aza Regional Council it was not physically in the Gush Katif bloc where the bulk of the 'Gush Katif'...

, which were evacuated as part of the disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...

. Since 2006 it has been repeatedly hit by Qassam rocket

Qassam rocket

The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....

s fired from the Gaza Strip, including one that landed on its football pitch.