Eshkol National Park
Eshkol National Park is a national park located in Northern Negev, Israel, near Gaza.History
The 875-acre park offers lawns and shaded picnic areas and boasts at its centre the largest spring in the Nahal Besor/Wadi Ghazzeh basin, known in Hebrew as Ein HaBesor and in Arabic as Ein Shellal. The spring taps the near-surface aquifer, which is fed by the runoff of winter rains.
East of the springs, the mound of Khirbet Shellal dominates the landscape. At Shellal ANZAC troops discovered during the World War I Second Battle of Gaza an elaborate floor mosaic depicting a variety of animals, part of the ruins of a Byzantine church. The mosaic is now displayed in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Shellal is located some 3 km northeast, and across the valley of Nahal Besor/Wadi Ghazzeh, from the more famous biblical archaeological site of Tell el-Farah.
