| Eshkol National Park | |
| Alt Name: | גן לאומי אשכול |
| Map: | Israel |
| Map Width: | 100 |
| Location: | Southern District, Israel |
| Coords: | 31.3081°N 34.4895°W |
| Url: | Eshkol National Park |
Eshkol National Park is a national park located in Northern Negev, Israel, near Gaza.[1]
The 875-acre park offers lawns and shaded picnic areas and boasts at its centre the largest spring in the Nahal Besor/Wadi Ghazzeh basin, known in Hebrew as Ein HaBesor and in Arabic as Ein Shellal. The spring taps the near-surface aquifer, which is fed by the runoff of winter rains.[2]
East of the springs,[3] the mound of Khirbet Shellal dominates the landscape. At Shellal ANZAC troops discovered during the World War I Second Battle of Gaza an elaborate floor mosaic depicting a variety of animals,[4] part of the ruins of a Byzantine church. The mosaic is now displayed in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.[2] Shellal is located some 3 km northeast, and across the valley of Nahal Besor/Wadi Ghazzeh, from the more famous biblical archaeological site of Tell el-Farah (South).