Gaza Strip (GPS: 31 25 N, 34 20 E) is located in the Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Israel. The country’s area measurements are total: 360 sq km; land: 360 sq km, water: 0 sq km. This sovereign state is slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC. The total irrigated land is 240 sq km (2012).
One of the Gaza Strip’s essential features: A strategic strip of land along Mideast-North African trade routes has experienced an incredibly turbulent history. The town of Gaza itself has been besieged countless times in its history. There are no Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip settlements were evacuated in 2005.
It’s significant, and at the same time, the principal city, N/A’s GPS coordinates are N/A. N/A’s local time is N/A. The capital’s time difference: N/A.
Inhabited since at least the 15th century B.C., the Gaza Strip has been dominated by many different peoples and empires throughout its history; It was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. The Gaza Strip fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of the British Mandate of Palestine. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip; Israel captured it in the Six-Day War in 1967. Under a series of agreements known as the Oslo accords signed between 1993 and 1999, Israel transferred to the newly-created Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank. In 2000, a violent intifada or uprising began, and in 2001 negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled.
Subsequent attempts to re-start negotiations have not resulted in progress toward determining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s final status. Israel by late 2005 unilaterally withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers. It dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip, but it controls the Gaza Strip’s land and maritime borders and airspace. In early 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) won most in the Palestinian Legislative Council election. Attempts to form a unity government between Fatah, the dominant Palestinian political faction in the West Bank, and HAMAS failed, leading to violent clashes between their respective supporters and HAMAS’s violent military seizure and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Since HAMAS’s takeover, Israel and Egypt have enforced tight restrictions on movement and access of goods and individuals into and out of the territory. Fatah and HAMAS have since reached a series of agreements to restore political unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but have struggled to enact them; A reconciliation agreement signed in October 2017 remains unimplemented.
In July 2014, HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups engaged in a 51-day conflict with Israel, culminating in late August with an open-ended truce. Since 2014, Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces have exchanged projectiles and airstrikes, sometimes lasting multiple days, resulting in numerous deaths on both sides. Egypt, Qatar, and the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process have negotiated numerous ceasefires to avert a broader conflict. Since March 2018, HAMAS has coordinated weekly demonstrations along the Gaza security fence, many of which have turned violent, resulting in one Israeli soldier dead and several Israeli soldier injuries as well as more than 200 Palestinian deaths and thousands of injuries.
Gaza Strip’s names conventional long form: none, traditional short form: Gaza Strip, local long form: none, local short form: Qita’ Ghazzah, etymology: named for the largest city in the region, Gaza, whose settlement can be traced back to at least the 15th century B.C. (as “Ghazzat”).
Gaza Strip’s terrain is typically flat to rolling, sand- and dune-covered coastal plain. The country’s mean elevation: N/A, elevation extremes; lowest point: the Mediterranean Sea 0 m, highest point: Abu ‘Awdah 105 m.
The country’s general climate is temperate, with mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers.
The total number of border countries is 2, Egypt 13 km, Israel 59 km are the neighboring nations with the indicated border lengths. Gaza Strip’s coastline is 40 km, while its marital claims are: see entry for Israel. Note: effective 3 January 2009, the Gaza maritime area is closed to all maritime traffic and is under a blockade imposed by the Israeli Navy until further notice. Waterways: N/A. Land use: N/A.
The population in Gaza Strip 1,836,713 (July 2018 estimate), urban population: 75.3% of total population (2015), major urban area’s population: N/A, while Gaza Strip has a population concentrated in major cities, particularly Gaza City in the north. Their spoken languages are Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by many Palestinians), English (widely understood). The main religions in Gaza Strip are Muslim 98.0 – 99.0% (predominantly Sunni), Christian. The nation uses N/A. It is a(n) N/A, National holiday(s) N/A.
Economic overview for the country: Movement and access restrictions, violent attacks, and the slow pace of post-conflict reconstruction continue to degrade economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, the smaller of the two areas comprising the Palestinian territories. Israeli controls became more restrictive after HAMAS seized control of the region in June 2007. Under Hamas control, Gaza has suffered from rising unemployment, elevated poverty rates, and a sharp contraction of the private sector, which had relied primarily on export markets. Since April 2017, the Palestinian Authority has reduced payments for electricity supplied to Gaza and cut salaries for its employees, exacerbating poor economic conditions. Since 2014, Egypt’s crackdown on the Gaza Strip’s extensive tunnel-based smuggling network has exacerbated fuel, construction material, and consumer goods shortages in the territory. Donor support for reconstruction following the 51-day conflict in 2014 between Israel and HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups has fallen short of post-conflict needs.
Natural resources of Gaza Strip: arable land, natural gas.
Main export partners for Gaza Strip, Middle East are N/A for strawberries, carnations, vegetables, fish (small and irregular shipments, as permitted to transit the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing), while the main import partners for the country are: N/A for food, consumer goods, fuel.
When you visit this country in the Middle East, consider the natural hazards in Gaza Strip: Droughts, while infectious diseases are N/A. Also, note that Gaza Strip faces the following environmental issues: Soil degradation, Desertification, water pollution from chemicals and pesticides, Salination of freshwater, Improper sewage treatment, a water-borne disease, depletion, and contamination of underground water resources.
You may also be interested in the countries next to Gaza Strip around its total: 72 km border, like Egypt, Israel.
