Gaza Strip

Gaza was an ancient city where Samson (related to Delilah) was killed after toppling the pillars of a building killing the five leaders of Philistines. (See Judges 16: 21-30). In those times (B.C.), they had been at war. Now, we are again witnessing the vestiges of the past.

The Gaza Strip (Arabic: قطاع غزة‎ transliteration: Qiṭɑʿ Ġazza/Qita' Ghazzah, Hebrew: רצועת עזה‎ Retzu'at 'Azza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea currently governed by Hamas. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the north and east. It is about 41 kilometers (25 mi) long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers (4–7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 360 square kilometers (139 sq mi). The area is not recognized internationally as part of any sovereign country but is claimed by the Palestinian National Authority as part of the Palestinian territories. Since the June 2007 battle of Gaza, actual control of the area is in the hands of the Hamas de facto government.

Israel, which governed the Gaza Strip from 1967-2005, still controls the strip's airspace, territorial waters, and offshore maritime access, as well as its side of the Gaza-Israel border. This continued control has allowed the Israeli state, which opposes Hamas, to control the inflow and outflow of Gaza's essential resources, including food. Whenever food is in short supply, Gazans have had little choice but to take in food supplied by World Food Programme workers in the area. Egypt governed the Gaza Strip from 1948-1967 and today runs the southern border between the Gaza strip and the Sinai desert, a border now famous for the breach in early 2008.

The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main city. It has about 1.4 million Palestinian Arab (or Gazan) residents. (From Wikipedia).