Gaza City, often simply called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, 76.6 kilometres (47.6 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Palestine's only port. With a population of 590,481 people as of 2017, Gaza City was the most populous city in Palestine until the Gaza war and ongoing genocide caused most of the population to be displaced or killed.
Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC, Gaza City has been dominated by different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Roman Empire, Gaza City experienced relative peace and its Mediterranean port flourished. In 635 AD, it became the first city in the Palestine region to be conquered by the Rashidun army and quickly developed into a centre of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusader states were established in 1099, Gaza City was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza City experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to severe flooding and locust swarms, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza City and the city went through an age of great commerce and peace. The municipality of Gaza City was established in 1893.
Gaza City fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine from 1922. As a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly-formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Its population rose sharply after the influx of Palestinian refugees displaced by the war and the ensuing Nakba. Gaza City was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, and in 1993, the city was transferred to the newly created Palestinian National Authority. In the months following the 2006 election, an armed conflict broke out between the Palestinian political factions of Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the latter taking power in Gaza. The Gaza Strip was then subject to an Israeli-led, Egyptian-supported blockade. Israel eased the blockade allowing consumer goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah Border Crossing in 2011 to pedestrians. The city has been largely destroyed by Israeli airstrikes since the Gaza war began in October 2023, including a large amount of significant cultural heritage in the Old City of Gaza.
The primary economic activities of Gaza City are small-scale industries and agriculture. However, the blockade and recurring conflicts have put the economy under severe pressure. The majority of Gaza City's Palestinian inhabitants are Muslim, although there is also a Christian minority. Gaza City has a very young population, with roughly 75% under the age of 25. As of November 2026, many residents have fled or been evacuated to the Southern Gaza Strip, or killed as a result of Israel's actions in the north. Therefore, previous recorded or estimated population numbers have become outdated.
Etymology
The name Gaza first appears in the military records of Thutmose III of New Kingdom of Egypt in the 15th century BC, and was mentioned in the Amarna correspondence as Āl Ḫazzati and other variant spellings. In Neo-Assyrian sources, reflecting the late Philistine period, it was known as Ḫāzat. It is clear that the name originates from none of these languages, however.
Based on the city's Hebrew name, עַזָּה ʿAzzā, a common folk etymology insists the name stems from the Semitic root ע-ז-ז ʿayin-zayin-zayin, from which words related to strength and fierceness are derived, but this is unlikely. The ע in the root ע-ז-ז corresponds to a Proto-Semitic *ʿ (/ʕ/) sound (compare Hebrew עַז ʿaz with Arabic عَزَّ ʿazza, both meaning "to be strong, powerful, mighty"), while it is clear from city's name in Arabic (غَزَّة, Ḡazza), Koine Greek (Γάζα, Gắză), and Egyptian (gꜣḏꜣtw) that the name of Gaza was likely originally pronounced with an initial *ḡ (/ɣ/~/ʁ/) sound, and thus cannot have been from the same ע-ז-ז root as עַז ʿaz.
Historically, Muslims often referred to the city as Ḡazzat Hāšim in honor of Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, the great-grandfather of Muhammad who, according to Islamic tradition, is buried in the city.
History
Gaza's history of habitation dates back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Located on the Mediterranean coastal route between North Africa and the Levant, for most of its history it served as a key entrepôt of southern Palestine and an important stopover on the spice trade route traversing the Red Sea.
Settlement in the region of Gaza dates back to the ancient Egyptian fortress built in Canaanite territory at Tell es-Sakan, to the south of present-day Gaza. The site was inhabited until about 3000 BC. In about 2600 BC, the settlement was re-founded and this time inhabited by the Canaanites. Tell es-Sakan was abandoned again about 2300 BC. Another urban center known as Tell el-Ajjul began to grow along the Wadi Ghazza riverbed. During the reign of Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC), the city became a stop on the King's Highway, a crucial trade route of the Levant, and was mentioned in the 14th-century Amarna letters as Azzatu. Gaza later served as Egypt's administrative capital in Canaan. Gaza remained under Egyptian control for 350 years until it was conquered by the Philistines in the 12th century BC. In the 12th century BC Gaza became part of the Philistine "pentapolis". Gaza achieved relative independence and prosperity under the Persian Empire.
Hellenistic period
Alexander the Great besieged Gaza, the last city to resist his conquest on his path to Egypt, for five months before capturing it 332 BC; the inhabitants were either killed or taken captive. Alexander brought in people from neighbouring localities to populate Gaza and organized the city into a polis (or "city-state").
Under the Seleucid Empire, Seleucus I Nicator or one of his successors renamed Gaza as Seleucia to control the surrounding area against the Ptolemies. Greek culture consequently took root and Gaza earned a reputation as a flourishing center of Hellenistic learning and philosophy. During the Third War of the Diadochi, Ptolemy I Soter defeated Demetrius I Poliorcetes in the Battle of Gaza in 312 BC. In 277 BC, following Ptolemy II's successful campaign against the Nabataeans, the Ptolemaic fortress of Gaza took control of the spice trade with Gerrha and South Arabia.
Gaza experienced another siege in 96 BC by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, who "utterly overthrew" the city, killing 500 senators who had fled into the temple of Apollo.
Roman period
Josephus notes that Gaza was resettled under the rule of Antipater, who cultivated friendly relations with Gazans, Ascalonites and neighboring cities after being appointed governor of Idumaea by Jannaeus.
Rebuilt after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BC under the command of Pompey Magnus, Gaza then became a part of the Roman province of Judaea. It was targeted by Jewish forces during their rebellion against Roman rule in 66 and was partially destroyed. It nevertheless remained an important city, even more so after the destruction of Jerusalem during the First Jewish–Roman War. Following this, and again at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), captives were sold into slavery in Gaza.
Throughout the Roman period, Gaza was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors. A 500-member senate governed Gaza, and a diverse variety of Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians, Jews, Egyptians, Persians, and Bedouin populated the city. Gaza's mint issued coins adorned with the busts of gods and emperors. During his visit in 130 AD, Emperor Hadrian personally inaugurated wrestling, boxing, and oratorical competitions in Gaza's new stadium. The city was adorned with many pagan temples; the main cult being that of Marnas. Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena and the local Tyche. Christianity began to spread throughout Gaza in 250 AD, including in the port of Maiuma.
First evidence of a Bishop of Gaza is from early 4th century, when St. Sylvan served in that capacity.
Byzantine period
Following the division of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century, Gaza remained under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire, which in turn became the Byzantine Empire. The city prospered and was an important center for southern Palestine. A Christian bishopric was established at Gaza. Conversion to Christianity in Gaza was accelerated under Porphyry of Gaza between 396 and 420. In 402, Theodosius II ordered all eight of the city's pagan temples destroyed, and four years later Empress Aelia Eudocia commissioned the construction of a church atop the ruins of the Temple of Marnas. It was during this era that the Christian philosopher Aeneas of Gaza called Gaza, his hometown, "the Athens of Asia." The large Gaza synagogue existed in the 6th century, according to excavations.
Early Islamic period
In c. 638 Gaza was captured by Arab Muslim forces under Amr ibn al-As, in the years following the Battle of Ajnadayn between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate in central Palestine. It was captured by Amr's forces about three years later. Believed to be the site where Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf was buried, Gaza was not destroyed and its inhabitants were not attacked by Amr's army despite the city's stiff and lengthy resistance, though its Byzantine garrison was massacred.
The arrival of the Muslim Arabs brought significant changes to Gaza; at first, some of its churches were transformed into mosques, including the present Great Mosque of Gaza (the oldest in the city). It was later rebuilt by Sultan Baybars, who endowed it with a huge manuscript library containing over 20,000 manuscripts in the 13th century. A large segment of the population swiftly adopted Islam, and Arabic became the official language. In 767 Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi'i was born in Gaza and lived his early childhood there; he founded the Shafi'i school, one of the four major schools of fiqh (law) in Sunni Islam.
Security, which was well-maintained during the early Muslim rule, was a key factor in Gaza's prosperity. Although alcohol was banned in Islam, the Jewish and Christian communities were allowed to maintain viticulture, and grapes, a major cash crop of the city, were exported, primarily to Egypt.
Because it bordered the Negev, Gaza was vulnerable to warring nomadic groups. It was destroyed at the end of the Qays–Yaman war (793–796) between two powerful tribes of Arabia. However, by the 10th century, the city had been rebuilt by the Abbasid Caliphate; during Abbasid rule, the geographer al-Maqdisi described Gaza as "a large town lying on the highroad to Egypt on the border of the desert." In 978, the Fatimid Caliphate established an agreement with Alptakin, the Turkic ruler of Damascus, whereby the Fatimids would control Gaza and the land south of it, including Egypt, while Alptakin controlled the region north of the city.
Crusader and Ayyubid periods
The Crusaders conquered Gaza in 1100 and King Baldwin III built a castle in the city for the Knights Templar in 1149. He also had the Great Mosque converted back into a church, the Cathedral of Saint John. In 1154, Arab traveller al-Idrisi wrote that Gaza "is today very populous and in the hands of the Crusaders." In 1187 the Ayyubids, led by Sultan Saladin, captured Gaza and in 1191 destroyed the city's fortifications. Richard the Lionheart apparently refortified the city in 1192, but the walls were dismantled again as a result of the Treaty of Ramla in 1193. Ayyubid rule ended in 1260, after the Mongols under Hulagu Khan completely destroyed Gaza, which became his southernmost conquest.
Mamluk period
Following Gaza's destruction by the Mongols, Muslim slave-soldiers based in Egypt known as the Mamluks began to administer the area. In 1277, the Mamluks made Gaza the capital of a province that bore its name, Mamlakat Ghazzah (Governorship of Gaza). This district extended along the coastal plain of Palestine from Rafah in the south to just north of Caesarea, and to the east as far as the Samarian highlands and the Hebron Hills. Other major towns in the province included Qaqun, Ludd, and Ramla. Gaza, 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. In 1294 an earthquake devastated Gaza, and five years later the Mongols again destroyed all that had been restored by the Mamluks. Syrian geographer al-Dimashqi described Gaza in 1300 as a "city so rich in trees it looks like a cloth of brocade spread out upon the land." Under the governorship of Emir Sanjar al-Jawli, Gaza was transformed into a flourishing city and much of the Mamluk-era architecture dates back to his reign between 1311 and 1320 and again in 1342. In 1348 the bubonic plague spread to the city, killing the majority of its inhabitants and in 1352, Gaza suffered from a destructive flood, which was rare in that arid part of Palestine. However, when Arab writer Ibn Battuta visited the city in 1355, he noted that it was "large and populous, and has many mosques." The Mamluks contributed to Gazan architecture by building mosques, Islamic colleges, hospitals, caravansaries, and public baths.
The Mamluks allowed Jews to return to the city, after being expelled by the Crusaders, and the Jewish community prospered during Mamluk rule. Towards the end of the Mamluk period, the Jewish community in Gaza was the third largest in Palestine, after the communities in Safad and Jerusalem. In 1481, an Italian Jewish traveller, Meshulam of Volterra, wrote of Gaza:
It is a fine and renowned place, and its fruits are very renowned and good. Bread and good wine is to be found there, but only Jews make wine. Gaza has a circumference of four miles and no walls. It is about six miles from the sea and situated in a valley and on a hill. It has a population as numerous as the sands of the sea, and there are about fifty (sixty) Jewish householders, artisans. They have a small but pretty Synagogue, and vineyards and fields and houses.
Ottoman period
In 1516 Gaza—at the time, a small town with an inactive port, ruined buildings and reduced trade—was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman army quickly and efficiently crushed a small-scale uprising, and the local population generally welcomed them as fellow Sunni Muslims. The city was then made the capital of the Gaza Sanjak, part of the larger Province of Damascus. The Ridwan family, named after governor Ridwan Pasha, was the first dynasty to govern Gaza and would continue to rule the city for over a century. Under Ahmad ibn Ridwan, the city became a cultural and religious center as a result of the partnership between the governor and prominent Islamic jurist Khayr al-Din al-Ramli, who was based in the nearby town of al-Ramla.