Gaza by, Gazastripen

Gaza, arabisk Ghazzah, hebraisk ʿAza, by og viktigste urbane sentrum på Gazastripen, sørvest i Palestina. Tidligere det administrative hovedkvarteret for de israelske militære styrkene som okkuperte Gazastripen, kom byen under palestinsk kontroll i 2005.

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Det finnes registreringer som indikerer kontinuerlig beboelse på stedet i mer enn tre årtusener, hvor de tidligste var en referanse av farao Thutmose III (1700-dynastiet; 1500-tallet f.Kr.). Det er også nevnt i Tell el-Amarna-nettbrettene, de diplomatiske og administrative registre av det gamle Egypt. Etter 300 år med egyptisk okkupasjon, bosatte Peleset (filisterne), en av Sea Peoples, byen og omegn. Gaza ble et viktig sentrum av den filistinske Pentapolis (ligaen av fem byer). Der omkom den bibelske helten Samson mens han væltet tempelet til guden Dagon. På grunn av sin strategiske beliggenhet på Via Maris, den gamle kystveien som forbinder Egypt med Palestina og landene utenfor, opplevde Gaza liten fred i antikken; den falt etter hverandre for israelittkongen David og assyrerne, egypterne, babylonerne,og persere. Alexander den store møtte hard motstand der, og etter å ha erobret den solgte han innbyggerne i slaveri. Gjennom sin historie var det et velstående handelssenter. I hellenistisk og romertid ble havnen, omtrent 5 kilometer fra selve byen, kalt Neapolis (gresk: "New City").

In ad 635 the Arabs took Gaza, and it became a Muslim city. Gaza has long been an important centre of Islamic tradition and is the reputed site of the burial place of Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf, great-grandfather of the Prophet Muḥammad, and the birthplace of al-Shāfiʿī (767–820), founder of the Shāfiʿite school of Muslim legal interpretation. The city declined during the Crusades and never regained its former importance. After the sultan Saladin (Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn) defeated the Crusaders occupying the region at the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn (1187), Gaza reverted to Muslim control; it passed to the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century. In World War I it was stoutly defended by the Turks and was not taken by British forces until November 1917.

After the war Gaza became part of mandated Palestine, and a small coastal port (fishing, lighterage) was operated on the coast. When the Palestine partition plan was promulgated by the United Nations (1947), Gaza was assigned to what was to be an Arab state. That state, however, was not set up, and Gaza was occupied in 1948 by Egyptians. At the time of the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian armistice (February 1949), Egypt held Gaza and its environs, a situation that resulted in the creation of the Gaza Strip. (See Arab-Israeli wars.) Egypt did not annex the city and territory but administered it through a military governor. Gaza and its surroundings have continued to be greatly overpopulated by Palestinian Arab refugees.

During the Sinai campaign of November 1956, Gaza and its environs were taken by Israeli troops, but international pressure soon forced Israel to withdraw. Reoccupied by Israel in the Six-Day War (June 1967), the city remained under Israeli military administration until 1994, when a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians got under way. In 2005 Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, handing over control of the region to the Palestinians.

Long a prosperous citrus centre, Gaza also has extensive truck farms within the city limits. Dark pottery, food products, and finished textiles are manufactured; the city has a long-standing textile industry. Sites of interest include at the harbour an early Byzantine mosaic floor (6th century ad), evidently of a synagogue, showing King David playing the harp and dressed as the Greek hero Orpheus. Pop. (2005 est.) 479,400.