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Gaza Strip: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is a narrow sliver of land, no wider than 40 kilometers at its broadest point, yet it holds the distinction of being the most densely populated territory on Earth. Before the war that began in 2023, nearly 2 million people lived within this 365-square-kilometer enclave, creating a population density that rivals the most crowded cities in the world. This extreme concentration of humanity exists within a territory that has been under varying degrees of military control and blockade for decades. The area is bordered by Egypt to the southwest and Israel to the east and north, creating a geographic reality where the sea is the only open horizon for its inhabitants. Despite the small size, the Strip has been the stage for some of the most intense and prolonged conflicts in modern history, serving as a focal point for Palestinian nationalism and resistance. The population is overwhelmingly young, with nearly half of all residents under the age of 18, creating a demographic profile that is both a source of vitality and a source of immense pressure on the territory's crumbling infrastructure. The history of this place is written in the blood of refugees, the rubble of destroyed homes, and the political maneuvering of regional powers.
From Ottoman Sands to British Mandate
For centuries, the land that would become the Gaza Strip was part of the Ottoman Empire, governed from distant capitals in Istanbul. The modern boundaries of the territory were drawn in 1906, when the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire agreed on the international border with Egypt. Following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned, and the British deferred the governance of the Gaza Strip area to Egypt, which declined the responsibility. Britain itself kept and ruled the territory it occupied in 1917 and 1918, from 1920 until 1948 under the internationally accepted frame of Mandatory Palestine. During that period, villages along the Gaza coastal plain expanded significantly, with both demographic increase and intensified agricultural production. The area was a hub of trade and agriculture, with citrus cultivation being a lucrative industry that connected Gaza to Western markets. However, the political landscape was shifting rapidly, and the arrival of the British Mandate brought new tensions and administrative changes that would set the stage for future conflicts. The population grew steadily, and the economy flourished until the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which would fundamentally alter the fate of the region.
The 1948 Exodus and Refugee Crisis
During the 1948 Palestine war, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled or were expelled to the Gaza Strip, transforming the demographic makeup of the territory overnight. By the end of the war, 25% of Mandatory Palestine's Arab population was in Gaza, though the Strip constituted only 1% of the land. This massive influx of refugees created a humanitarian crisis that has persisted for decades. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established to administer various refugee programmes, providing essential aid to the displaced population. On the 22nd of September 1948, in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza City, the Arab League proclaimed the All-Palestine Protectorate, partly to limit Transjordan's influence over Palestine. The All-Palestine government was quickly recognized by six of the Arab League's then-seven members, but it was accused of being little more than a façade for Egyptian control, with negligible independent funding or influence. It subsequently moved to Cairo and dissolved in 1959 by decree of Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser. The refugees who fled to Gaza were issued All-Palestine passports, but Egypt did not offer them citizenship, leaving them in a state of limbo. The influx of over 200,000 refugees from former Mandatory Palestine resulted in a dramatic decrease in the standard of living, as the Egyptian government restricted movement to and from Gaza, and its inhabitants could not look elsewhere for gainful employment.
The Gaza Strip is the most densely populated territory on Earth, with nearly 2 million people living within its 365-square-kilometer area before the 2023 war. This extreme concentration of humanity exists within a territory that has been under varying degrees of military control and blockade for decades.
When were the modern boundaries of the Gaza Strip established?
The modern boundaries of the Gaza Strip were drawn in 1906 when the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire agreed on the international border with Egypt. Following World War I, the British ruled the territory from 1920 until 1948 under the internationally accepted frame of Mandatory Palestine.
Who took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007?
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 during the Battle of Gaza, seizing government institutions and replacing Fatah and other government officials with its own. By the 14th of June, Hamas fully controlled the Gaza Strip, and the territory became a de facto one-party state.
How many Palestinians were killed in the 2008 Gaza War?
A total of 1,100 to 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war that began on the 3rd of January 2009. The conflict damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes, 15 of Gaza's 27 hospitals, and 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities.
What happened to the Gaza Strip on the 7th of October 2023?
On the 7th of October 2023, paramilitaries in Gaza led by Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades invaded southwest Israel, killing at least 1,300 people and taking at least 236 hostages. Israel declared war on Hamas and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip on the 9th of October 2023.
When did the Gaza peace plan come into effect in 2025?
The Gaza peace plan came into effect in October 2025, calling for demilitarization and amnesty for Hamas members who disarmed. A ceasefire came into effect under the plan's first phase, and all 20 living Israeli hostages were released within 72 hours.
In June 1967, during the Six-Day War, the Israel Defense Forces captured Gaza, initiating a new era of military occupation that would last for decades. Under the then head of Israel's Southern Command Ariel Sharon, dozens of Palestinians, suspected of being members of the resistance, were executed without trial. Between 1967 and 1968, Israel evicted approximately 75,000 residents of the Gaza Strip who Golda Meir described as a fifth column. In addition, at least 25,000 Gazan residents were prevented from returning after the 1967 war. Ultimately, the Strip lost 25% of its prewar population between 1967 and 1968. In 1970, 1971, Ariel Sharon implemented what became known as a five finger strategy, which consisted in creating military areas and settlements by breaking the Strip into five zones to better enable Israeli occupation, settlement, and, by discontinuous fragmentation of the Palestinian zones created, allow an efficient management of the area. Thousands of homes were bulldozed and large numbers of Bedouin families were exiled to the Sinai. The economic growth rate from 1967 to 1982 averaged roughly 9.7% per annum, due in good part to expanded income from work opportunities inside Israel, which had a major utility for the latter by supplying the country with a large unskilled and semi-skilled workforce. However, Gaza's agricultural sector was adversely affected as one-third of the Strip was appropriated by Israel, competition for scarce water resources stiffened, and the lucrative cultivation of citrus declined with the advent of Israeli policies, such as prohibitions on planting new trees and taxation that gave breaks to Israeli producers. Sara Roy characterised the pattern as one of structural de-development, where the economy was systematically dismantled to serve Israeli interests.
The Intifadas and the Rise of Hamas
The First Intifada began on the 9th of December 1987, in the Jabalia refugee camp of the Gaza Strip after an Israeli army truck collided with a civilian car, killing four Palestinian workers. The uprising lasted from December 1987 until the Madrid Conference of 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords. The intifada began with protests, civil disobedience, and violence, including graffiti, barricading, and widespread throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails at the IDF and its infrastructure within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These contrasted with civil efforts including general strikes, boycotts of Israeli Civil Administration institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, an economic boycott consisting of refusal to work in Israeli settlements on Israeli products, refusal to pay taxes, and refusal to drive Palestinian cars with Israeli licenses. The Second Intifada, which began in September 2000, marked the beginning of rocket attacks and bombings of Israeli border localities by Palestinian guerrillas from the Gaza Strip, especially by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad movements. High numbers of casualties were caused among civilians as well as combatants. In the Palestinian parliamentary elections held on the 25th of January 2006, Hamas won a plurality of 42.9% of the total vote and 74 out of 132 total seats. When Hamas assumed power the next month, Israel, the United States, the EU, Russia and the UN demanded that Hamas accept all previous agreements, recognize Israel's right to exist, and renounce violence; when Hamas refused, they cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. The resulting political disorder and economic stagnation led to many Palestinians emigrating from the Gaza Strip. In June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the course of the Battle of Gaza, seizing government institutions and replacing Fatah and other government officials with its own. By the 14th of June, Hamas fully controlled the Gaza Strip, and the territory became a de facto one-party state, although it tolerates other political groups, including leftist ones such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The Wars and the Humanitarian Crisis
The Gaza Strip has been the site of numerous conflicts, including the 2008, 2009 Gaza War, the 2014 Gaza War, and the 2023, 2025 Gaza War. On the 27th of December 2008, Israeli F-16 fighters launched a series of air strikes against targets in Gaza following the breakdown of a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas. Israel began a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on the 3rd of January 2009. A total of 1,100, 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war. The conflict damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes, 15 of Gaza's 27 hospitals and 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities, 800 water wells, 186 greenhouses, and nearly all of its 10,000 family farms. The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, was a military operation launched by Israel on the 8th of July 2014 in the Gaza Strip. The combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes resulted in thousands of deaths, the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians. The 2023, 2025 Gaza War began on the 7th of October 2023, when paramilitaries in Gaza, led by the Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades, invaded southwest Israel, targeting Israeli communities and military bases, killing at least 1,300 people and taking at least 236 hostages. On the 9th of October 2023, Israel declared war on Hamas and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant declaring, There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly. Since the start of the war, over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, almost half of them women and children, and more than 148,000 injured. A study in The Lancet estimated 64,260 deaths in Gaza from traumatic injuries by June 2024, while noting a potentially larger death toll when indirect deaths are included. As of May 2025, a comparable figure for traumatic injury deaths would be 93,000, representing 4, 5% of Gaza's pre-war population. The war has caused widespread destruction, a humanitarian crisis, and an ongoing famine in the Gaza Strip. Most of the population was forcibly displaced, and the territory has been described as an open-air prison by numerous human rights organizations.
The Peace Plan and Future Governance
In October 2025, the Gaza peace plan came into effect, which called for demilitarization and amnesty for Hamas members who disarmed, temporary governance by a Palestinian technocratic body overseen by an international commission headed by US president Trump, freedom of residents to depart from and return to Gaza and complete resumption of access to international aid. Under the terms of the plan's first phase, a ceasefire came into effect, all 20 living Israeli hostages were released within 72 hours, around 2000 Palestinian prisoners were released, and the IDF withdrew from 47% of the territory. On the 17th of November, the United Nations Security Council passed a version of the 20-point peace plan authored by the US, with Russia and China abstaining from the vote. This plan was rejected by Hamas, who objected to the proposed international peacekeeping troops and lack of support for Palestinian self-determination, but was accepted by the Palestinian Authority and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The plan envisioned that an International Stabilization Force be deployed in the Gaza Strip and a Board of Peace and Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza be established to administer the Gaza Strip for a transitional period, before turning over governance to a reformed Palestinian Authority. Hamas announced on the 24th of October 2025 that it is willing to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip, marking a potential turning point in the long-standing conflict. The peace plan also included provisions for the reconstruction of the territory, with a UN official stating in 2024 that it could take 14 years to clear debris, including rubble from destroyed buildings. The future of Gaza remains uncertain, but the peace plan offers a glimmer of hope for a resolution to the decades-long conflict.