Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: אַשְׁקְלוֹן‎ , ʾAšqəlōn, [aʃkeˈlon]; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 *ʾAšqalōn), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: Ασκαλων, Askalōn; Arabic: عَسْقَلَان‎, ʿAsqalān), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the border with the Gaza Strip.

The modern city is named after the ancient seaport of Ashkelon, which was destroyed in 1270 and whose remains can now be seen at the archaeological site known as Tel Ashkelon on the southeastern edge of the modern metropolis. These ruins date back to the Neolithic Age, and saw the passage of numerous civilizations, including the Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hasmoneans, Romans, Persians, the Arabs and Crusaders. The Palestinian village of Al-Jura was formerly immediately adjacent to the ruins.

The modern urban development of the area began approximately 4 km inland from the ancient site as the Palestinian town of al-Majdal (Arabic: الْمِجْدَل‎ al-Mijdal; Hebrew: אֵל־מִגְ׳דַּל‎ ʾĒl-Mīǧdal). Its inhabitants were exclusively Muslims and Christians; on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the inhabitants numbered 10,000 and in October 1948, the city accommodated thousands more Palestinian refugees from nearby villages. The town was conquered by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948, by which time much of the Arab population had fled, leaving some 2,700 inhabitants, of which 500 were deported by Israeli soldiers in December 1948 and most of the rest were deported by 1950. Today, the city's population is almost entirely Jewish.

Migdal was initially repopulated by Jewish immigrants and demobilized soldiers. It was subsequently renamed multiple times, first as Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon, until in 1953 the coastal neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the name "Ashkelon" was adopted for the combined town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. In 2021 the population of Ashkelon was 149,160, making it the third-largest city in Israel's Southern District.