Gaza Strip

Strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea, 10 km/6 mi wide and 40 km/25 mi long, extending northeast from the Egyptian border; area 363 sq km/140 sq mi; population (2001 est) 1,022,200, mainly Palestinians, plus about 6,000 Israeli settlers, most of whom arrived during the 1990s and who occupy a fifth of the territory. The Gaza Strip was captured by Israel from Egypt in 1967 during the Six-Day War and occupied by Israel until 1994, when responsibility for its administration was transferred to the Palestine National Authority (PNA). The capital is Gaza; other main centres of population are Khan Yunis and Rafah. Prior to the great influx of Palestinian refugees in 1948 the area was rural, and is geographically part of the Negev. The area is dependent on Israel for the supply of electricity. Agriculture is the main activity and occupies three-quarters of the area; citrus fruit (much of which is exported to Europe), wheat, and olives are farmed. Industry is on a small scale, including handmade goods, such as olive wood carvings, for Israel's tourist industry. Living standards in the area are low, with limited water supplies, inadequate sewage systems, and a very high level of unemployment; about a tenth of the population commutes daily to work in Israel. International relief agencies provide important support for the economy. An international airport was opened at Daniyeh, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in November 1998.

Part of the British mandate of Palestine until 1948, the Gaza Strip was then occupied by Egypt, with camps being set up for the 180,000 Palestinian refugees who arrived to swell the existing population of 80,000. It was briefly invaded by Israel in 1956, before being occupied in 1967. The Israeli occupying authorities faced insurrections led by al-Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Law and order was not established until 1972, after a massive campaign of repression under Ariel Sharon. Clashes between the Israeli authorities and the Arab Palestinian inhabitants, many of whom had been radicalized in the refugee camps, escalated, leading to the Intifada (uprising) in 1987, triggered by a traffic accident caused by an Israeli truck. The radical Islamic Hamas movement draws most of its support from this area, as does Islamic Jihad, which is committed to the destruction of Israel through holy war (jihad). In April 1992, the United Nations Security Council condemned Israel for allowing the continued deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip, after clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian demonstrators left five Palestinians dead and more than 60 wounded. The territory's inhabitants had no recognized nationality and the Strip was completely enclosed by barbed wires, although many went to work every day in Israel.

Under the terms of a 1993 accord with Israel, the PNA has exercised civil jurisdiction over two-thirds of the Gaza Strip since May 1994. Israel retained responsibility for foreign policy and defence until a final agreement for all the formerly-occupied territories could be agreed through the Israel–Palestine peace process.

In the late 1990s Israel regularly closed the border, causing severe economic disruption and there have been clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. The Gaza Strip was also a centre for violent clashes during the 2000–01 second Intifada, with Hamas again active. Israeli helicopters attacked Palestinian targets in Gaza, and Israeli tanks briefly invaded a refugee camp in Khan Younis and Beit Hanoun in the north in April 2001 and Rafah in the south in July 2001.

The Gaza Strip formerly constituted an integral part of the British-mandated territory of Palestine. The Strip came into existence as a consequence of the armistice agreement between Israel and Egypt of 1949, representing the area of Palestine left in Egyptian hands after the fighting of 1948. The Gaza Strip was never annexed by Egypt, being treated as occupied territory. The Egyptian government had at first hoped to make Gaza the centre of a Palestine Arab state. Later they maintained the separation of Gaza from Egypt in order to prevent the Arab refugees from moving into Egypt proper. From 1948 the area was the scene of numerous conflicts between Egypt and Israel, culminating in the Third Arab–Israeli War of 1967.