Avvim

The Avvim were one of the original pre-Israelite peoples of the southern coastal plain, named in Joshua 13:3 among the territories unconquered at Joshua's death — alongside the five Philistine lords of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. Deuteronomy 2:23 records their earlier displacement by the invading Caphtorim (Philistines from Crete). A separate Avvim town also appears in Joshua 18:23 as a Benjaminite settlement — possibly a remnant community of the same people. The Avvim mark the layers of conquest beneath the surface of Israel's settlement of the land.