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| | [[Image:Gazastrip91.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Gaza Strip]] | | [[Image:Gazastrip91.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Gaza Strip]] |
| − | The '''Gaza Strip''' is a narrow [[coast]]al strip of land that runs along the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. With a population of 2.2 million, mostly Arabs (called "Palestinians"), in an area of only 141 square miles, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and has been littered with refugee camps. The strip takes its name from [[Gaza City|Gaza, the main city]]. | + | The '''Gaza Strip''', often referred to simply as "Gaza", is a narrow [[coast]]al strip of land that runs along the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. With a population of 2.2 million, mostly Arabs (called "Palestinians"), in an area of only 141 square miles, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and has been littered with refugee camps. The strip takes its name from [[Gaza City|Gaza, the main city]]. |
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| | "When its footprint is overlaid onto [[New York City]], it covers an area roughly the size of [[Manhattan]], the [[Bronx]] and [[Hoboken]], [[New Jersey]], combined."<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-strip-size-us-cities-maps-1833863</ref> | | "When its footprint is overlaid onto [[New York City]], it covers an area roughly the size of [[Manhattan]], the [[Bronx]] and [[Hoboken]], [[New Jersey]], combined."<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-strip-size-us-cities-maps-1833863</ref> |
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| | + | The Gaza Strip is one of two predominantly Palestinian territories, the other being the [[West Bank]], which have been controlled by [[Israel]] as a result of the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967. But who really controls Gaza today is disputed, as Palestinians also have governing authority over it. |
| | ==History== | | ==History== |
| | [[History|Historically]] the Gaza Strip was part of the land controlled by ancient [[Israel]] after the removal of the [[Philistines]]. An Islamic area since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, it was controlled by the British after [[World War I]] and was to be a part of an independent "Palestinian" state in 1948 based upon a UN partition, but the first Arab-Israeli War saw Israel take most of the region that would have made the Arab state and Egypt absorbed the Gaza Strip, which overflowed with refugees from the war. In 1967 Israel overran the area in the [[Six Day War]] and administered the region. They built settlements, but these never attracted many people and only 10,000 Israelis lived there by 2005 among the Arab residents. The Israeli government withdrew, with strong objections from the settlers, leaving the area under the control of the [[Palestinian Authority]]. In 2007, [[Hamas]] overran the Palestinian Authority and took ''de facto'' control for themselves. | | [[History|Historically]] the Gaza Strip was part of the land controlled by ancient [[Israel]] after the removal of the [[Philistines]]. An Islamic area since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, it was controlled by the British after [[World War I]] and was to be a part of an independent "Palestinian" state in 1948 based upon a UN partition, but the first Arab-Israeli War saw Israel take most of the region that would have made the Arab state and Egypt absorbed the Gaza Strip, which overflowed with refugees from the war. In 1967 Israel overran the area in the [[Six Day War]] and administered the region. They built settlements, but these never attracted many people and only 10,000 Israelis lived there by 2005 among the Arab residents. The Israeli government withdrew, with strong objections from the settlers, leaving the area under the control of the [[Palestinian Authority]]. In 2007, [[Hamas]] overran the Palestinian Authority and took ''de facto'' control for themselves. |