2 New Sheqalim Gamla and the Vultures

Gamla, a fortified city on the Golan Heights, fell to Roman forces under Vespasian in 67 CE after one of the more desperate sieges of the Jewish–Roman War. Ancient sources, including Josephus, record that thousands of defenders threw themselves from the city's cliffs rather than submit to capture — a detail that lends the site a grim parallel to Masada, though Gamla receives considerably less popular attention. The city was never rebuilt or reoccupied, leaving its archaeology unusually intact.

The Griffon Vulture colony at Gamla is today one of Israel's conservation successes, reestablished after the species was functionally extinct in the region for decades.