Gaza is a coastal strip of land that lay on ancient trading and maritime routes along the Mediterranean shore.
It has been inhabited for thousands of years and fought over by many - including Egyptian Pharaohs, Babylonians, Philistines, and Alexander the Great who besieged and captured Gaza City, killing the men and enslaving women and children.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians took refuge in Gaza after fleeing or being driven from their homes. The invading Egyptian army had seized a narrow coastal strip 25 miles long, which ran from the Sinai to just south of Ashkelon. The influx of refugees saw Gaza's population triple to around 200,000.Egypt held the Gaza Strip for two decades under a military governor, allowing Palestinians to work and study in Egypt.
Seizing the angry mood, the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood created an armed Palestinian branch, Hamas, with its power base in Gaza. Hamas, dedicated to Israel's destruction and restoration of Islamic rule in what it saw as occupied Palestine, became a rival to Yasser Arafat's secular Fatah party that led the Palestine Liberation Organization.Israel and the Palestinians signed an historic peace accord in 1993 that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority.
Another casualty was Gaza's fishing industry, a source of income for tens of thousands. Gaza's fishing zone was reduced by Israel, a restriction it said was necessary to stop boats smuggling weapons.In August 2005 Israel evacuated all its troops and settlers from Gaza, which was by then completely fenced off from the outside world by Israel.
Much of the international community cut aid to the Palestinians in Hamas-controlled areas because they regarded Hamas as a terrorist organization.
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