Tell el-Ajjul

Tall al-Ajjul or Tell el-'Ajul (Arabic: تل العجول, lit. 'mound of the calf') is an archaeological mound or tell in the Gaza Strip. The fortified city excavated at the site dates as far back as ca. 2000–1800 BCE and was inhabited during the Bronze Age. It is located at the mouth of Wadi Ghazzah just south of the city of Gaza. Tell el-Ajjul was likely established as a replacement for the nearby settlement of Tell es-Sakan, and in turn replaced by Tell es-Sanam. The nearby contemporary settlement of al-Moghraqa may have functioned as a satellite of Tell el-Ajjul.

The tell measured around 11 to 13 hectares (27 to 32 acres) in the 1930s when it was first excavated. The early excavation discovered three gold hoards which are now in the collections of the British Museum and the Rockefeller Museum. Archaeologists again conducted fieldwork at Tell el-Ajjul in 1999 and 2000. In the interim farming practices had eroded part of the archaeological site. Tell el-Ajjul was one of many heritage sites that were damaged during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip in 2023–25.