Bnei Ayish (Hebrew: בְּנֵי עַיִ"שׁ‎), pop. 7,600, is a town (local council), in the Center District of Israel, about ten km from Ashdod and bordering Gedera. Bnei Ayish originally served as a transit camp for immigrants from Yemen in the early 1950s. Before Israeli independence, the area had served as a military base for British Army troops during the British Mandate of Palestine. Today its population is almost entirely made up of Jews of Yemenite descent and immigrants from the former Soviet Union.