In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “palestinian arab village in the district of gaza”. Today it says “palestinian village in the gaza subdistrict”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “palestinian arab village in the district of gaza”. Today it says “palestinian village in the gaza subdistrict”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2015 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2015
Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict .1 It was depopulated and destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine . It was located 29 km northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village. The village had a census in 1596, which recorded 143 inhabitants in the village. In 1945, there were 700 people. The population probably left their homes following the capture of the village by the Israeli army around 9 July 1948. The Egyptian army drove the Israelis out a few days later and the village was not re-taken until Operation Yoav in the second half of October. The village was destroyed. The village had a khirba which contained the remains of walls made of ancient columns, uncut stones and a well.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 663271704.
The opening as it stood in 2010
former Arab villages in Palestine Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza . It was depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War on January 10, 1948 as part of Operation Barak . It was located 29 km northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village. The village had a census in 1596 which recorded 143 inhabitants in the village. In 1945 there were 700 people. The village had a khirba which contained the remains of walls made of ancient columns, uncut stones and a well.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364436337.
The opening as it stood in 2020 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Place in Gaza, Mandatory Palestine Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict . It was depopulated and destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine . It was located 29 km (18 mi) northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village.Morris gives both cause and date for depopulation as "Not known"
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964925857.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Former village in Gaza, Mandatory Palestine Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict . It was depopulated and destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine . It was located 29 km (18 mi) northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village. Morris gives both cause and date for depopulation as "Not known"
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295851942. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “palestinian arab village in the district of gaza”. Today it says “palestinian village in the gaza subdistrict”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
palestinian arab village in the district of gaza
Now
palestinian village in the gaza subdistrict
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
