Archaeologists say they are 'absolutely' certain they have found the lost biblical city where Jesus fed the 5,000

A team led by Dr. Steven Notley has declared with certainty that el-Araj, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, is the lost biblical city of Bethsaida — the site of miracles attributed to Jesus, among them the feeding of 5,000 people. Now in their 10th season of excavation, the team has recovered lamps, coins, make-up tools, Roman-period walls and a basalt grinding stone, with Notley saying the accumulated evidence paints an ever-clearer portrait of the ancient site. The site reportedly 'perfectly matches' the biblical location, while a separate discovery in Ramat Gan has also unearthed a sprawling 1,300-year-old commercial complex near Jaffa, the city of Jonah and St Peter.

The Bethsaida-Julias team also found Herodian lamps made only in Jerusalem before 70 CE — definitive proof Jewish people lived there.

Hints of an even earlier Hellenistic settlement were found beneath the Roman-period ruins at el-Araj.

A separate Israeli dig in Ramat Gan uncovered a 1,300-year-old planned complex with shops, kilns and intersecting streets that 'exceeded all expectations.'