Gaza City, April 29, 2025 – The Gaza Strip, a narrow coastal enclave along the southern Mediterranean shore of historic Palestine, spans approximately 1.33% of its total area. Encompassing 360 square kilometers with a length of 41 kilometers and a width ranging from 6 to 12 kilometers, this strategically vital region is bordered by Israel to the north and east, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and Egypt to the southwest. Named after Gaza City, the second-largest Palestinian urban center after Jerusalem, the Strip’s modern history reflects a complex legacy of British Mandate rule, Egyptian administration, Israeli occupation, and, since 2007, a stringent blockade following Hamas’s takeover.
Demographic Overview
According to the General Administration of Civil Status under Gaza’s Interior Ministry, the Strip’s population reached 2,375,259 by the end of 2022. This includes 1,204,986 men (50.7%) and 1,170,273 women (49.3%). The population is densely concentrated, with Gaza Governorate leading at 893,932 residents, followed by Khan Yunis Governorate (463,744), North Gaza Governorate (388,977), Central Gaza Strip (331,945), and Rafah Governorate (296,661). A significant majority of residents are refugees displaced since 1948, living across 44 population centers, including Gaza City, Rafah, Khan Yunis, Bani Suheila, Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira, Abasan al-Jadida, Deir al-Balah, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia.
Recognized as one of the world’s most densely populated areas, Gaza averages 26,000 residents per square kilometer, with refugee camps reaching densities of approximately 55,000 per square kilometer. This overcrowding exacerbates the humanitarian challenges faced by its inhabitants.
Historical Context and Conflict
Until 1948, the Gaza Strip fell under British Palestine’s control. Following Israel’s formation, it came under Egyptian military administration from 1948 to 1956, briefly occupied by Israel for five months during the 1956 Tripartite Aggression against Egypt. Israel withdrew in March 1957, restoring Egyptian oversight until the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel reoccupied the Strip alongside the Sinai Peninsula, maintaining control until a partial withdrawal in September 2005 that included dismantling settlements. The 1993 Oslo Accords granted the Strip limited self-governance, but internal Palestinian strife led to Hamas seizing control on June 14, 2007.
Since then, Israel has imposed a suffocating blockade, restricting access to fuel, construction materials, and essential goods, rationing supplies, and banning deep-sea fishing. This has crippled Gaza’s economy, halting exports and imports, destroying dozens of factories during military operations, and driving unemployment to over 70%—among the highest globally. The blockade has also caused severe shortages of medicine and medical equipment, compounded by the complete cessation of construction amid widespread home destruction from ongoing conflicts.
Military Engagements
Israel has launched multiple military operations in Gaza since 2008, each triggering significant casualties and destruction. Operation Cast Lead began on December 27, 2008, met with Palestinian resistance through Operation Al-Furqan. In 2012, Operation Pillar of Defense (November 14–21) faced the Palestinian response of Operation Stones of Sijil. The 2014 Operation Protective Edge (July 7–August 26) saw 60,000+ Israeli raids, countered by a similar-named Palestinian operation, lasting 51 days. On November 12, 2019, an Israeli drone strike killed Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior Islamic Jihad commander, in Shujaiya. The 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls—renamed by Israel from the Palestinian “Sword of Jerusalem”—followed settler encroachments in Sheikh Jarrah and military incursions at Al-Aqsa Mosque. In August 2022, another Islamic Jihad commander was targeted in a drone strike in Al-Rimal.
Resistance Leaders and Legacy
Gaza has been a stronghold for Palestinian resistance, producing notable figures like Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas’s founder and a symbol of the 20th-century Palestinian national movement, assassinated in a 2004 missile strike. Dr. Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi, another Hamas co-founder and Gaza leader, was killed in a 2004 car missile attack. Islamic Jihad’s Secretary-General Ramadan Shallah, Salah Abu Hassanein (killed in a 2014 Rafah airstrike), and Khader Habib, alongside other political, scientific, and cultural figures, have also shaped the region’s resistance narrative.
The Gaza Strip remains a focal point of geopolitical tension, its residents enduring a humanitarian crisis marked by poverty, unemployment, and restricted access to basic services, all intensified by decades of conflict and blockade.
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