52 Facts About Gaza City

Gaza, referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590, 481 (in 2017), making it the largest city in the State of Palestine.

Under the Roman Empire Gaza City experienced relative peace and its port flourished.

In later centuries, Gaza City experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to floods and locusts, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Gaza City fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine.

The majority of Gaza City's inhabitants are Muslim, although there is a tiny Christian minority.

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Name "Gaza City" is first known from military records of Thutmose III of Egypt in the 15th century BCE.

Gaza City remained under Egyptian control for 350 years until it was conquered by the Philistines in the 12th century BCE.

Greek culture consequently took root and Gaza City earned a reputation as a flourishing center of Hellenistic learning and philosophy.

In 277 BCE, following Ptolemy II's successful campaign against the Nabataeans the Ptolemaic fortress of Gaza City took control of the spice trade with Gerrha and Southern Arabia.

Gaza City's mint issued coins adorned with the busts of gods and emperors.

Conversion to Christianity in Gaza City was accelerated under Saint Porphyrius between 396 and 420.

In 634 CE Gaza City was besieged by the Muslim Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As, following the Battle of Ajnadayn between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate in central Palestine.

In 767 Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi'i was born in Gaza City and lived his early childhood there; he founded the Shafi'i religious code, one of the four major Sunni Muslim schools of law.

Gaza City had the Great Mosque converted back into a church, the Cathedral of Saint John.

In 1154, Arab traveller al-Idrisi wrote that Gaza City "is today very populous and in the hands of the Crusaders.

Gaza City, which entered a period of tranquility under the Mamluks, was used by them as an outpost in their offensives against the Crusaders which ended in 1290.

Towards the end of the Mamluk period, the Jewish community in Gaza City was the third largest in Palestine, after the communities in Safad and Jerusalem.

American scholar Edward Robinson visited the city in 1838, describing it as a "thickly populated" town larger than Jerusalem, with its Old Gaza City lying upon a hilltop, while its suburbs laid on the nearby plain.

The bazaars of Gaza City were well-supplied and were noted by Robinson as "far better" than those of Jerusalem.

Gaza City's growing population was augmented by an influx of refugees fleeing or expelled from nearby cities, towns and villages that were captured by Israel.

In 1957, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser made a number of reforms in Gaza City, which included expanding educational opportunities and the civil services, providing housing, and establishing local security forces.

Gaza City was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War following the defeat of the Egyptian Army.

In March 2008, a coalition of human rights groups charged that the Israeli blockade of the city had caused the humanitarian situation in Gaza to have reached its worst point since Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War, and that Israeli air strikes targeting militants in the densely populated areas have often killed bystanders as well.

Central Gaza City is situated on a low-lying and round hill with an elevation of 14 metres above sea level.

Population of Gaza City depends on groundwater as the only source for drinking, agricultural use, and domestic supply.

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Prominent hill southeast of Gaza City, known as Tell al-Muntar, has an elevation of 270 feet above sea level.

Gaza City has a hot semi-arid climate, with Mediterranean characteristics, featuring mild rainy winters and dry hot summers.

Gaza City has one of the highest overall growth rates in the world.

Population of Gaza City is overwhelmingly composed of Muslims, who mostly follow Sunni Islam.

Gaza City is home to a small Palestinian Christian minority of about 3, 500 people.

The majority live in the Zaytun Quarter of the Old Gaza City and belong to the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Baptist denominations.

In Sami Hadawi's land and population survey, Gaza City had a population of 34, 250, including 80 Jews in 1945.

In June 2005, 3, 900 factories in Gaza City employed 35, 000 people, by December 2007, only 1, 700 were still employed.

Gaza City is not a frequent destination for tourists, and most foreigners who stay in hotels are journalists, aid workers, UN and Red Cross personnel.

Gaza City Theater, financed by contributions from Norway, opened in 2004.

Qattan Foundation, a Palestinian arts charity, runs several workshops in Gaza City to develop young artistic talent and impart drama skills to teachers.

Gaza City's cuisine is characterized by its generous use of spices and chillies.

Sumaghiyyeh, popular in Gaza City not just on Ramadan but all year round, is a mixture of sumac, tahina and water combined with chard, chunks of beef and chickpeas.

Atfaluna is a stylish restaurant near Gaza City port run and staffed by deaf people with the goal of building a society that is more accepting of people with disabilities.

Gaza City has several local football teams that participate in the Gaza City Strip League.

Today, Gaza City serves as the administrative capital of the Gaza City Governorate.

In 1922, British colonial secretary Winston Churchill requested that Gaza City develop its own constitution under Mandatory Palestine.

In 2006, there were 210 schools in Gaza City; 151 were run by the Education Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority, 46 were run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and 13 were private schools.

In January 2008, the United Nations Children's Fund reported that schools in Gaza City had been canceling classes that were high on energy consumption, such as information technology, science labs and extra curricular activities.

Public Library of Gaza City is located off Wehda Street and has a collection of nearly 10, 000 books in Arabic, English and French.

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The Gaza City Aquifer is used as Gaza City's main resource for obtaining quality water.

In 2002 Gaza City began operating its own power plant which was built by Enron.

All governorates in the Gaza City Strip witnessed extensive aerial bombardment, naval shelling and artillery fire, resulting in a considerable amount of rubble.

Gaza City ordered the establishment of a second hospital in the Nasser District with the same name.

Bandar Gaza rented several rooms throughout the city to set up government clinics that provided essential curative care.

In 2010, a team of doctors from Al-Durrah Hospital in Gaza City spent a year of training at the cystic fibrosis clinic at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

The main highway of the Gaza Strip, Salah al-Din Road runs through the middle of Gaza City, connecting it with Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, and Rafah in the south and Jabalia and Beit Hanoun in the north.