Gaza, which flourished in ancient times as a commercial center on the Mediterranean coast where Asia meets Africa, has been inhabited for thousands of years and has been fought over by the Egyptian pharaohs, Babylonians, Philistines, Macedonian Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mongols, Crusaders, Ottomans, and even Napoleon. It was part of an ancient confederation of Philistine cities consisting of five towns along the coastal plain, and it is mentioned in the Bible.
**Alexander the Great** besieged the city of Gaza, capturing it and killing the men while enslaving the women and children. During the Roman era, Christianity spread there, and Christians still live in Gaza, their church having been damaged during the current round of Israeli bombings on the territory. Islam entered the region about 1400 years ago. Gaza remained part of the Ottoman Empire for most of the period from the sixteenth century until 1917 when British forces captured it during World War I. Over the past century, Gaza transitioned from British military rule to Egyptian military rule to Israeli military rule. It is now a pocket surrounded by a wall, home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, most of whom are descendants of refugees.
Here are some key milestones in its modern history:
*1948 - End of British Rule*: With the end of British colonial rule in Palestine in the late 1940s, violence between Jews and Arabs intensified, culminating in the war between Israel and Arab states in May 1948. The Egyptian army took control of a narrow coastal strip 40 kilometers long from Sinai to the south of Ashkelon. Tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from Israel sought refuge there, increasing the population threefold to nearly 200,000.
*The 1950s and 1960s - Egyptian Military Rule*: Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip for two decades under military rule, allowing Palestinians to work and study in Egypt. Palestinian "fedayeen," many of whom were refugees, launched attacks inside Israel in response. The United Nations established the Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which today provides services to about 1.6 million registered Palestinian refugees in Gaza, as well as Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.
*1967 - War and Israeli Military Occupation*: Israel occupied the Gaza Strip during the 1967 war. An Israeli census that year showed Gaza's population to be 394,000, at least 60 percent of whom were refugees. With the departure of the Egyptians, many workers in Gaza found jobs in agriculture, construction, and services inside Israel, which they could enter easily. Israeli forces continued to administer the land and guard settlements that Israel built in the following decades.
*1987 - The First Palestinian Intifada and the Establishment of Hamas*: Twenty years after the 1967 war, the first intifada erupted when an Israeli truck collided with a vehicle carrying Palestinian workers in the Jabalia camp in Gaza, killing four. This was followed by protests, with demonstrators throwing stones, strikes, and closures.
*1993 - Oslo Accords and Palestinian Self-Government*: Israel and the Palestinians signed a historic peace agreement in 1993 that led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Under this interim agreement, Palestinians were granted limited control in Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank for the first time. Arafat returned to Gaza after spending decades in exile. The Oslo process granted the newly formed Palestinian Authority some autonomy and called for the creation of a state within five years. However, that never occurred. Israel accused Palestinians of stepping back from security agreements, and Palestinians were angered by the continued construction of Israeli settlements. Hamas and another armed group, Islamic Jihad, carried out bombings in an effort to disrupt the peace process, leading Israel to impose further restrictions on the movement of Palestinians outside Gaza. Hamas also focused on the growing Palestinian criticisms of corruption, nepotism, and economic mismanagement by Arafat's inner circle.
*2000 - The Second Palestinian Intifada*: Israeli-Palestinian relations plummeted in 2000 with the outbreak of the second intifada, ushering in a period of suicide bombings, armed attacks by Palestinians, Israeli airstrikes, demolitions, area closures, and curfews. Among the casualties during this period was Gaza International Airport, opened in 1998, which symbolized the Palestinians' frustrated hopes for economic independence, while Israel viewed it as a security threat, destroying its control tower and runways a few months after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Other victims included Gaza's fishing industry, a source of income for tens of thousands, which Israel restricted by shortening the fishing zone on the pretext of preventing vessels from smuggling weapons.
*2005 - Israel Evacuates Settlements in Gaza*: In August 2005, Israel evacuated all its forces and settlers from Gaza, then encircled it with a complete fence to separate it from the outside world. Palestinians demolished abandoned buildings and turned the infrastructure into scrap. The evacuation of the settlements allowed for more freedom of movement within Gaza, leading to the flourishing of the "tunnel economy," as armed groups, smugglers, and businessmen quickly dug dozens of tunnels to Egypt. However, the Israeli withdrawal also removed settlement factories, greenhouses, and workshops that employed some Gaza residents.
*2006 - Isolation Under Hamas Administration*: Hamas achieved a surprising victory in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, then seized full control of Gaza, ousting forces loyal to Arafat's successor, President Mahmoud Abbas. Many countries cut the aid they were providing to Palestinians in areas controlled by Hamas, considering Hamas a terrorist organization. Israel restricted entry for tens of thousands of Palestinian workers, cutting off an important source of income. Citing security concerns, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, and Egypt tightened border measures, affecting the movement of people and goods through Gaza crossings. Israeli airstrikes crippled Gaza's only power station.
*Cycle of Conflict*: Gaza's economy has suffered in a cycle of conflict and retaliation between Israel and armed Palestinian groups.
*2023 - Surprise Attack*: While Israel believed that Hamas was exhausted from conflict and was working to provide economic incentives for Gaza's workers, Hamas fighters were training and digging in secrecy. On October 7, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, storming towns in its south, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and returning to Gaza with over 200 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas, imposing a total blockade on Gaza and bombarding it with airstrikes. Gaza's health authorities, run by Hamas, report that more than 8,300 people have been killed, including over 3,400 children. Israeli forces, supported by tanks, are pressing on the Palestinian enclave with a ground assault, anticipating strong resistance from Hamas and other Palestinian militants who have dug a network of tunnels stretching hundreds of kilometers under Gaza.
