Elkosh

Elkosh belongs to the Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council and lies within the group of northern communities two to five kilometers from Lebanon.[6] Its distance from the border has been given more precisely as 3.77 kilometers.[4]

The modern moshav was founded in 1949.[1][2] Archaeological publications concerning Elqosh include studies of a fourth-century CE burial cave and coins from the locality.[3][7]

During the northern-border fighting, Elkosh was among the Ma’ale Yosef communities that had not been officially evacuated in November 2023, when security authorities were not recommending their evacuation despite a government decision permitting evacuation within five kilometers of the border.[8] Sirens sounded near Elkosh on December 9, 2023, although the day otherwise passed generally quietly.[9]

By January 2024, the evacuation framework had expanded from an initial two-kilometer border zone to a five-kilometer range, but the defense minister retained responsibility for determining the timing and extent of evacuation on operational grounds.[5] At that time, he had not ordered Elkosh’s evacuation.[5]

A June 2024 report included Elkosh among the home communities of 15 families, totaling more than 200 people, who had stayed at Jerusalem’s Yehuda Hotel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.[10] The families came from several northern communities and were told to leave the hotel by July 1 and return to settlements near the Lebanese border.[10]

Elkosh resident Shlomi Ziv worked as an usher at the Nova festival, was abducted on October 7, 2023, and returned to Israel in the June 2024 hostage rescue.[11]

Elkosh was subsequently listed among communities covered by a NIS 33 million Jewish National Fund plan for 22 northern border communities.[6] Under the plan, each evacuated community in the two-to-five-kilometer border group that had not already received support was to receive NIS 1.5 million for infrastructure rehabilitation and development.[6]

The provisional 2023 locality figures recorded 267 inhabitants in Elkosh, comprising 261 Israeli residents and six foreign residents.[2] An earlier population table recorded 354 inhabitants on December 31, 2004; that figure describes the population at that date rather than a current estimate.[1]

Elkosh is near Fassuta, a Maronite Christian village in the Upper Galilee.[12] Nearby travel routes include approaches from the Mitzpe Abirim area toward Nahal Kziv and Goren Park; the Mount Meron area is accessible by car from Elkosh.[12]

A burial cave at Elqosh is the subject of Fanny Vitto’s article “A burial cave from the fourth century CE at Elqosh, Upper Galilee.”[3] Related articles listed for the journal ‘Atiqot include that study and “The coins from Elqosh”; the journal’s catalog record identifies the Israel Antiquities Authority among its contributors.[7]

The biblical designation “Elkoshite,” associated with the prophet Nahum, has prompted several proposed geographical identifications, none of which establishes that the modern moshav is the biblical Elkosh.[13] Proposals include a Galilean village mentioned by Jerome, locations east of the Jordan, and a place near Mosul associated with a grave said to be Nahum’s.[13][14] The designation itself has also been interpreted as either ethnic or patronymic.[14]