Negev junction, 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Beersheba, others from the Turkish train station and Hatzerim. By 09:45, the Egyptian forces were surrounded, and Beersheba was in Israeli hands. Around 120 Egyptian soldiers were taken prisoners, and the remaining civilians, 200 men and 150 women and children, were taken to the police fort. On October 25, the women, children, disabled, and elderly were driven by truck to the Gaza border. The Egyptian soldiers were interned in POW camps. Some men lived in the local mosque and were put to work cleaning but, when it was discovered that they were supplying information to the Egyptian army, they were also deported. Looting on the part of Israeli troops occurred and was criticized by David Ben-Gurion and Dov Shafrir, the first Custodian of Absentees Property.
In the 1950s, Beersheba expanded northward. The majority of Indian Jews emigrated to the newly independent Israel after the 1948 Partition. They were estimated in number around 20,000, and the main place for them to settle was Beersheba. Soroka Hospital opened its doors in 1960, and The Negev University, later renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was established in 1970. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat visited Beersheba in 1979.
Urban development
As part of its Blueprint Negev project, the Jewish National Fund is funding major redevelopment projects in Beersheba. One project is the Beersheba River Walk, a 900-acre (3.6 km) riverfront district with green spaces, hiking trails, a 3,000-seat sports hall, a 15-acre boating lake filled with recycled waste water, promenades, restaurants, cafés, galleries, boat rentals, a 12,000-seat amphitheater, playgrounds, and a bridge along the route of the city's Mekorot water pipes. The plans include building new homes overlooking the park and neighborhood. At the official entrance to the river park will be the Beit Eshel Park, which will consist of a park built around a courtyard with historic
