Gaza: Palestinian territory ravaged by war and poverty

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — The Gaza Strip, under a state of alert on Wednesday after deadly bomb attacks, is a poverty-stricken, overcrowded Palestinian coastal enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas.

Here is some background:

Cramped Mediterranean strip 

One of the most densely populated places on the planet, Gaza has around two million people in a 362-square-kilometre  strip of land on the Mediterranean's edge.

Just 41 kilometres long and 12 kilometres at its widest, its land borders are with Israel and Egypt.

After the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war that surrounded the creation of Israel, Gaza was put under Egyptian rule but not annexed.

It was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.

The Oslo peace accords of the early 1990s established the Palestinian Authority and granted it control of two-thirds of Gaza, the rest remaining under Israeli rule over a mixture of settlements and military bases.

In 2005, Israel withdrew its soldiers and thousands of settlers, ending 38 years of occupation.

Shut-in 

In 2006, Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Gaza, restricting the cross-border movement of people and goods following the capture of a soldier by Hamas militants on Israeli territory.

A year later, Hamas — which Israel, the United States and others consider a terrorist group — ousted troops loyal to the Palestinian Authority leader and President Mahmud Abbas. In response Israel tightened its blockade.

The only entrance to Gaza not controlled by Israel is Rafah on the Egyptian border. It has been open regularly in recent months after several years of being largely sealed.

Crushing poverty 

The Gaza Strip has virtually no industry and suffers from a chronic lack of water and fuel, with almost no natural resources.

Fifty-two per cent of the population is unemployed, rising to nearly 70 per cent of young people, according to the World Bank, and more than two-thirds are reliant on aid. Nearly one in two live under the poverty threshold.

More than 95 per cent of the territory's water is unfit for drinking, and it suffers regular electricity cuts.

In October 2018, Qatar, under the auspices of the UN, began regular payments to power Gaza's only power station.

In total, the Gulf state has budgeted hundreds of millions for relief as part of an unofficial UN and Egypt-backed agreement that aims to ease Israel's blockade on Gaza in exchange for relative calm.

Three wars since 2008 

Israel has carried out several military operations against Palestinian militants in Gaza, leaving thousands dead.

It launched a vast air offensive, "Operation Cast Lead", in December 2008 to stop Palestinian rocket fire into Israel. It ended with a ceasefire in January 2009 after 1,440 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

In November 2012, "Operation Pillar of Defence" kicked off with a missile strike that killed top Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari. In the ensuing eight-day flare-up, more than 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed.

In July 2014, Israel launched "Operation Protective Edge", saying it was to stop rocket fire and destroy tunnels used for smuggling weapons and militants.

The war left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, the majority civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.

'Great March of Return' 

On March 30, 2018, Palestinians launched major protests along the Gazan side of the Israeli border fence to demand the right to return to homes in Israel from which they fled or were expelled in the late 1940s, after Israel was created.

The "Great March of Return", officially independent but strongly backed by Hamas, has seen regular clashes.

At least 305 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since, while seven Israelis have also lost their lives.