Gaza's history of habitation dates back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Located on the
Mediterranean coastal route between North Africa and the
Levant, for most of its history it served as a key
entrepôt of southern Palestine and an important stopover on the
spice trade route traversing the
Red Sea. Settlement in the region of Gaza dates back to the
ancient Egyptian fortress built in
Canaanite territory at
Tell es-Sakan, to the south of present-day Gaza. The site was inhabited until about 3000 BC. In about 2600 BC, the settlement was re-founded and this time inhabited by the Canaanites. Tell es-Sakan was abandoned again about 2300 BC. Another urban center known as
Tell el-Ajjul began to grow along the
Wadi Ghazza riverbed. During the reign of Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC), the city became a stop on the
King's Highway, a crucial
trade route of the
Levant, and was mentioned in the 14th-century Amarna letters as
Azzatu. Gaza remained under Egyptian control for 350 years until it was conquered by the
Philistines in the 12th century BC. In the 12th century BC Gaza became part of the
Philistine "pentapolis".
Alexander the Great besieged Gaza, the last city to resist his conquest on his path to Egypt, for five months before capturing it 332 BC; During the
Third War of the Diadochi,
Ptolemy I Soter defeated
Demetrius I Poliorcetes in
the Battle of Gaza in 312 BC. In 277 BC, following
Ptolemy II's successful campaign against the
Nabataeans, the
Ptolemaic fortress of Gaza took control of the
spice trade with
Gerrha and
South Arabia. Gaza experienced another siege in 96 BC by the
Hasmonean king
Alexander Jannaeus, who "utterly overthrew" the city, killing 500 senators who had fled into the temple of
Apollo.
Roman period that was unearthed in Gaza in the 20th century
Josephus notes that Gaza was resettled under the rule of
Antipater, who cultivated friendly relations with Gazans,
Ascalonites and neighboring cities after being appointed governor of
Idumaea by Jannaeus. Rebuilt after it was incorporated into the
Roman Empire in 63 BC under the command of
Pompey Magnus, Gaza then became a part of the
Roman province of Judaea. It nevertheless remained an important city, even more so after the destruction of
Jerusalem during the
First Jewish–Roman War. Following this, and again at the end of the
Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), captives were sold into slavery in Gaza. Throughout the Roman period, Gaza was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors. During his visit in 130 AD, Emperor
Hadrian personally inaugurated
wrestling,
boxing, and
oratorical competitions in Gaza's new
stadium. The city was adorned with many pagan temples; the main cult being that of
Marnas. Other temples were dedicated to
Zeus,
Helios,
Aphrodite,
Apollo,
Athena and the local
Tyche. First evidence of a Bishop of Gaza is from early 4th century, when
St. Sylvan served in that capacity.
Byzantine period Following the
division of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century, Gaza remained under the control of the
Eastern Roman Empire, which in turn became the
Byzantine Empire. The city prospered and was an important center for southern Palestine. A Christian
bishopric was established at
Gaza. Conversion to Christianity in Gaza was accelerated under
Porphyry of Gaza between 396 and 420. In 402,
Theodosius II ordered all eight of the city's pagan temples destroyed, It was during this era that the Christian philosopher
Aeneas of Gaza called Gaza, his hometown, "the
Athens of Asia." The large
Gaza synagogue existed in the 6th century, according to excavations.
Early Islamic period , , during the
Abbasid Caliphate In Gaza was captured by
Arab Muslim forces under
Amr ibn al-As, in the years following the
Battle of Ajnadayn between the
Byzantine Empire and the
Rashidun Caliphate in central Palestine. It was captured by Amr's forces about three years later. Believed to be the site where
Muhammad's great-grandfather
Hashim ibn Abd Manaf was buried, Gaza was not destroyed and its inhabitants were not attacked by Amr's army despite the city's stiff and lengthy resistance, though its Byzantine garrison was massacred. The arrival of the Muslim Arabs brought significant changes to Gaza; at first, some of its
churches were transformed into
mosques, including the present
Great Mosque of Gaza (the oldest in the city). It was later rebuilt by Sultan
Baybars, who endowed it with a huge manuscript library containing over 20,000
manuscripts in the 13th century. and
Arabic became the official language. Security, which was well-maintained during the early Muslim rule, was a key factor in Gaza's prosperity. Although
alcohol was banned in Islam, the Jewish and Christian communities were allowed to maintain
viticulture, and
grapes, a major cash crop of the city, were exported, primarily to
Egypt. Because it bordered the
Negev, Gaza was vulnerable to warring nomadic groups. However, by the 10th century, the city had been rebuilt by the
Abbasid Caliphate; during Abbasid rule, the geographer
al-Maqdisi described Gaza as "a large town lying on the highroad to Egypt on the border of the desert." In 978, the
Fatimid Caliphate established an agreement with
Alptakin, the Turkic ruler of Damascus, whereby the Fatimids would control Gaza and the land south of it, including Egypt, while Alptakin controlled the region north of the city.
Crusader and Ayyubid periods The
Crusaders conquered Gaza in 1100 and King
Baldwin III built a castle in the city for the
Knights Templar in 1149. In 1187 the
Ayyubids, led by Sultan
Saladin, captured Gaza and in 1191 destroyed the city's fortifications.
Richard the Lionheart apparently refortified the city in 1192, but the walls were dismantled again as a result of the
Treaty of Ramla in 1193. Gaza, which entered a period of tranquility under the Mamluks, was used by them as an outpost in their offensives against the Crusaders which ended in 1290. In 1294 an earthquake devastated Gaza, and five years later the Mongols again destroyed all that had been restored by the Mamluks. In 1348 the
bubonic plague spread to the city, killing the majority of its inhabitants and in 1352, Gaza suffered from a destructive flood, which was rare in that arid part of Palestine. However, when Arab writer
Ibn Battuta visited the city in 1355, he noted that it was "large and populous, and has many mosques." The Mamluks contributed to Gazan architecture by building mosques,
Islamic colleges, hospitals,
caravansaries, and
public baths.
Ottoman period , 1839, in
The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia after the
Oriental Crisis of 1840 with Gaza in the background, painting by
Harry Fenn, circa 1884 In 1516 Gaza—at the time, a small town with an inactive port, ruined buildings and reduced trade—was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire. and the local population generally welcomed them as fellow Sunni Muslims. The
Ridwan family, named after governor Ridwan Pasha, was the first dynasty to govern Gaza and would continue to rule the city for over a century. Under
Ahmad ibn Ridwan, the city became a cultural and religious center as a result of the partnership between the governor and prominent Islamic jurist
Khayr al-Din al-Ramli, who was based in the nearby town of al-
Ramla. According to
Theodore E. Dowling, writing in 1913, a
Samaritan community existed in Gaza in 1584. They possessed a large
synagogue and two bathhouses. "One of them still bears the name "
the Bath of the Samaritans." It is believed the Samaritans were expelled from the city before the turn of the 16th century. During the rule of
Husayn Pasha, strife between the settled population and the nearby
Bedouin tribes was dramatically reduced, allowing Gaza to peacefully prosper. The Ridwan period is described as a
golden age for Gaza, a time when it served as the virtual "capital of Palestine." The Great Mosque was restored, and six other mosques constructed, while
Turkish baths and market stalls proliferated. Starting in the early 19th century, Gaza was culturally dominated by neighboring Egypt;
Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquered Gaza in 1832. The city benefited from trade and commerce because of its strategic position on the caravan route between Egypt and northern Syria as well as from producing soap and cotton for trade with the government, local Arab tribes, and the Bedouin of
Wadi Arabah and
Ma'an. The
bazaars of Gaza were well-supplied and were noted by Robinson as "far better" than those of Jerusalem. Robinson noted that virtually all of Gaza's vestiges of ancient history and antiquity had disappeared due to constant conflict and occupation. By the mid-19th century, Gaza's port was eclipsed by the ports of Jaffa and
Haifa, but it retained its fishing fleet.
Stages of conflict and occupation While leading the
Allied Forces during World War I, the British won control of the city during the
Third Battle of Gaza in 1917. In the 1930s and 1940s, Gaza underwent major expansion. New neighborhoods were built along the coast and the southern and eastern plains. International organizations and missionary groups funded most of this construction. In the 1947
United Nations Partition Plan, Gaza was assigned to be part of an Arab state in Palestine but was
occupied by Egypt following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Gaza's growing population was augmented by an influx of refugees from nearby cities, towns and villages that were captured by Israel. In 1957, Egyptian president
Gamal Abdel Nasser made a number of reforms in Gaza, which included expanding educational opportunities and the civil services, providing housing, and establishing local security forces.
Israeli occupation and colonisation Gaza was occupied by Israel during the 1967
Six-Day War following the defeat of the
Egyptian Army. Frequent conflicts have erupted between Palestinians and the Israeli authorities in the city since the 1970s. The tensions led to the
First Intifada in 1987. Gaza was a center of confrontation during this uprising, File:117184 nahal netzarim PikiWiki Israel.jpg|Construction by the
Nahal of the Israeli settlement of
Netzarim, in the south Gaza-city, November 1972. File:ילדות בית ספר - עזה 1986.jpg|Palestinian schoolgirls returning home come across Israeli soldiers frisking a group of Palestinian men, November 1986 File:Intifada in Gaza Strip (FL45884501).jpg|Palestinian demonstration during
First Intifada in Gaza Strip, 21 December 1987 File:Residents run away during a home demolition in Gaza during the second intifada.jpg|Armed Israeli bulldozer destroying a Palestinian home in Gaza during the
Second Intifada, 2001
Palestinian control In September 1993, the leaders of Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the
Oslo Accords. The agreement called for Palestinian administration of the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank town of
Jericho, which was implemented in May 1994. Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza, leaving a new
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to administer and police the city. In March 2008, a coalition of human rights groups charged that the Israeli blockade of the city had caused the humanitarian situation in Gaza to have reached its worst point since Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War, and that Israeli air strikes targeting militants in the densely populated areas have often killed bystanders as well. In 2008, Israel commenced an
assault against Gaza. Israel stated the strikes were in response to repetitive rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel since 2005, while the Palestinians stated that they were responding to Israel's military incursions and
blockade of the Gaza Strip. In January 2009, at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the conflict. In November 2012, after
a week of conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, a ceasefire brokered by Egypt was announced on 21 November. In the
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, 2,205 Palestinians (including at least 1,483 civilians) and 71 Israelis (including 66 soldiers) and one foreign national in Israel were killed, according to
UN OCHA. During the
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the 13-story Hanadi Tower, which contained a political office of Hamas, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike.
Gaza War In 2023, the city was again targeted during the
Gaza war. On 2 November, the
siege of Gaza City started. As of January 2024, Israel’s offensive has either damaged or destroyed 70–80% of all buildings in northern Gaza. Gaza was left largely deserted, with about only 300,000 people staying in the city. The remaining population was subjected to a
humanitarian crisis and
starvation brought on by the war. in Gaza City on 9 October 2023Seventy percent of the city was destroyed by airstrikes, and at least 64,964 people were killed in the Strip. Israel has been accused of committing a
genocide of Palestinians in Gaza during the war, with South Africa
initiating proceedings at the
International Court of Justice against Israel. == Geography ==