The Gaza Strip is a Muslim-majority region in Palestine, situated on the east coast of the Mediterranean. The region is bordered by Israel to the east and was occupied by Israeli ground troops from 1967 to 2005.Continue Reading
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Gaza Strip was controlled by Egypt, which borders the Gaza Strip to the southwest. From 1948 until 1959, Egypt exercised control through a puppet government. In 1959, Egypt directly occupied the Gaza Strip. Egypt did not annex the region but installed a military governor and declined to grant residents Egyptian citizenship.
In 1967, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip after defeating Egypt in the Six-Day War. During the Second Intifada, a revolt that broke out in September 2000, the Gaza Strip became a base for rocket attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli border regions.
In 2005, Israel removed ground forces from the Gaza Strip while maintaining control over the region's air space, border crossings and territorial waters. As a result, United Nations officials Richard Falk and Christopher Gunness argued that the Gaza Strip remained de facto occupied by Israel. From 2007 until 2014, the Gaza Strip was controlled by Hamas, an Islamist group described as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.Learn more about Geography