Editing Hamama (section)

===British Mandate era===
Under the [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate in Palestine]], a village council was established to administer local affairs, and Hamama had a [[mosque]], and two primary schools for boys and girls established in 1921.<ref name="Khalidi3">Khalidi, 1992, p. 99</ref> British Mandate Ḥamāma had pre-planned new communities erected around the original village nucleus, with crisscrossed pathways separating the new residential quarters.<ref name=":0" /> 

In the [[1922 census of Palestine]], conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Hamama had a population of 2,731; 2,722 Muslims and 9 Christians,<ref>Barron, 1923, Table V,  [[Gaza Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine|Sub-district of Gaza]], p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n10/mode/1up 8]</ref> where all the Christians were Orthodox.<ref>Barron, 1923, Table XIII, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n46/mode/1up 44]</ref> The population had increased in the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]] to 3,405; 3,401 Muslims and 4 Christians, in a total of 865 houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 3]</ref>

[[File:Hamama 1930.jpg|thumb|Hamada 1930 1:20,000]]
[[File:Isdud 1945.jpg|thumb|Hamada 1945 1:250,000 (lower left)]]

In the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1945 statistics]] Hamama had a population of 5,070; 5,000 Muslims, 10 Christians and 60 Jews,<ref name=DoS1945p31/> with a total of 41,366 [[dunam]]s of land, according to an official land and population survey.<ref name=Hadawi45/>  Of this, 1,356 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 4,459 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 28,890 for cereals,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Gaza/Page-086.jpg  86]</ref> while 167 dunams were built-up (urban) land.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Gaza/Page-136.jpg  136]</ref>

In the 1940s, British officials paved the road to the village for year-round automobile access.<ref name=":0" /> 

In 1946, the boys' school had an enrollment of 338, and the girls' school an enrollment of 46. Its inhabitants engaged primarily in fishing and agriculture, cultivating grain, citrus, apricots, almonds, figs, olives, watermelons, and cantaloupes. Due to the existence of sand dunes in the north part of the town, trees were planted on parts of those lands to prevent soil erosion.<ref name="Khalidi3" /> 

In addition to agriculture, residents practiced animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the village. In 1943, they owned 405 heads of cattle, 310 sheep over a year old, 172 goats over a year old, 228 camels, 11 horses, 9 mules, 567 donkey, 2963 fowls, 454 pigeons.<ref name=":0" />