Gaza: A chaotic land of poverty and violence

from I Africa

The Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated places in the world, is home to around 1.5 million Palestinians who struggle against overwhelming levels of poverty and violence.

The territory — from which thousands of people streamed on Wednesday after militants blew up parts of the wall separating it from Egypt — reels from nearly two years of economic sanctions, Israeli army raids and deadly factional fighting.

For four days over the past week the territory was subjected to a punishing blockade imposed by Israel in retaliation for continuing rocket and mortar fire from the coastal strip.

The blockade was eased on Tuesday, with fuel, food and humanitarian aid once again allowed into the territory where the majority of the population depends on foreign aid.

Crowded

Situated to the southwest of Israel and bordering Egypt, the Gazq Strip covers 362km². It runs some 45km down the Mediterranean coast and is between six and 10km wide.

Each km² shelters an average of 3900 Palestinians, making it one of the most crowded areas in the world, according to the United Nations.

Israel captured the territory from Egypt during the 1967 Six Day War, when it also seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.

For decades the Palestinian population lived alongside 8000 Jewish settlers who enjoyed relative luxury and space on 33 percent of the land taken up by 21 settlements that needed an Israeli army division to ensure their security.

Around 900 000 of the Palestinian residents are refugees — those who were expelled or left their homes after the creation of Israel in 1948 — and their offspring. Half of them live in eight camps managed by the United Nations.

Under a so-called disengagement plan, Israel withdrew settlers and troops in 2005 after a 38-year occupation. But as it still controls Gaza's borders and the movement of goods and people, the territory is still considered under its occupation according to international law.

Cross border raid

Rafah is the sole border crossing that bypasses Israel. But with few exceptions, it has been mostly closed since June 2006, after Gaza militants seized an Israeli soldier in a deadly cross-border raid.

Israel launched a deadly five-month ground operation in Gaza after the soldier's capture, which left hundreds of Palestinians dead but failed to retrieve the serviceman, who remains missing.

Since March 2006, the territory has reeled under an international ban on direct aid that was imposed when the Islamist movement Hamas formed a government after it swept parliamentary polls two months earlier.

Israel and the West consider Hamas a terror group and demand it renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace deals.

In December 2006, Gazans were hit with a new shock as fighters from Hamas and rival secular Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas began to clash on the streets.

The battles erupted on several occasions over the course of six months, before culminating with a week of vicious, deadly fighting that ended with Hamas seizing control of Gaza last June.

Following the rout, Israel tightened restrictions on movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza even further. Last Thursday, it sealed the coastal strip entirely in response to persistent rocket and mortar fire from the territory.

On Tuesday it eased the restrictions by allowing limited amounts of fuel and humanitarian aid in to the territory.