The

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

came under

military occupation Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling pow ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

on 6 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured the territory, then occupied by Egypt, during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. After Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there was a period of turmoil followed by Hamas governance beginning in 2007. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, international human rights organizations ,

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

, some of the international community and some legal academics and experts regard the Gaza Strip to still be under military occupation by Israel, as Israel still maintains direct control over Gaza's air and maritime space, six of Gaza's seven land crossings, a no-go buffer zone within the territory, and the Palestinian population registry. Israel, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and other legal, military, and foreign policy experts otherwise contend that Israel "ceded the effective control needed under the legal definition of occupation" upon its disengagement in 2005. Israel continues to maintain a

blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...

, limiting the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip.

History

1956–1957 Israeli four-month occupation

Egypt's

All-Palestine Protectorate The All-Palestine Protectorate (), also known as All-Palestine, the Gaza Protectorate or the Gaza Strip, was a short-lived client state with limited recognition, corresponding to the area of the modern Gaza Strip, that was established in the are ...

was established by the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. After the war, the Gaza Strip was the only former-Mandate territory under the jurisdiction of the

All-Palestine Government The All-Palestine Government (, ') was established on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to govern the Egyptian-controlled territory in Gaza, which Egypt had on the same day declared as the All-Palestine Protectorate. It w ...

. In 1956, Egypt blockaded the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

, assumed national control of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, and blocked it to Israeli shipping—both threatening the young State of Israel and violating the

Convention of Constantinople The Convention of Constantinople is a treaty concerning the use of the Suez Canal in Egypt. It was signed on 29 October 1888 by the United Kingdom, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Russian Empire and ...

of 1888. Israel, France and the United Kingdom invaded the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, initiating the

1956 Suez War The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. Under international pressure, the Anglo-French Task Force withdrew before the end of 1956. The Israeli army withdrew in March 1957, ending Israel's four-month-long occupation of the Sinai and Gaza Strip.

1967–1994 Israeli Military-Civil Administration

In 1967, after Egypt blockaded the

Straits of Tiran The Straits of Tiran ( ') are the narrow sea passages between the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai and Arabian Peninsula, Arabian peninsulas that connect the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. The distance between the two peninsulas is about . The Multinatio ...

and cut off Israeli shipping, Israel attacked Egypt, initiating the

. It quickly defeated the surrounding Arab states and occupied the Gaza Strip, along with the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and other territory, ending Egypt's occupation. The Israeli Military Governorate was a military governance system established following the

in June 1967, in order to govern the civilian population of the

, the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

and the western part of

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

. The governance was based on the

Fourth Geneva Convention The Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (), more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1 ...

, which provides guidelines for military rule in occupied areas. During this period, the UN and many sources referred to the military governed areas as Occupied Arab Territories. The

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

led Israel to give up the

in 1982 and transform the military rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into the

Israeli Civil Administration The Civil Administration (, '; ) is the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. It was established by the government of Israel in 1981, in order to carry out practical bureaucratic functions within the Israeli Military Governorate ...

in 1981, which was run by the

Israeli Ministry of Defense The Ministry of Defense (, acronym: ) of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats. Its political head is the defense minister of Israel, ...

. The creation of a civil administration for the West Bank and

was included within the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

signed by

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and Israel in 1978.

1994–2005 Israeli settlements continuation

2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza

While the disengagement of Israel from Gaza was first proposed in 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and adopted by the government and Knesset in 2004 and 2005, the actual unilateral dismantlement of the settlements occurred in 2005. The decision to disengage from Gaza was not met with support from the Israeli public, with a May 2004 referendum showing that 65% of voters were against the disengagement plan.

2005–2007

Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005. Control of the Gaza–Egypt border was on the Egyptian side handed over to Egypt. The Fatah-dominated PA had been given control on the Gazan side at the

Rafah Border Crossing The Rafah Border Crossing () or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, 1979 peace treaty and remained under Isra ...

. The 2005 Philadelphi Accord between Israel and Egypt turned over control of the border to Egypt. From February 2005, a technocrat Fatah-led PA government controlled the

Palestinian National Security Forces The Palestinian National Security Forces (NSF; ) are the paramilitary security forces of the Palestinian National Authority. The name may either refer to all National Security Forces, including some special services but not including the Inter ...

. From November 2005 until June 2007, the Rafah Crossing was jointly controlled by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, with the European Union monitoring the activities from 24 November 2005 on the Gazan side.''FAQs''
. EU BAM Rafah. Accessed September 2015 Tensions between Fatah and Hamas intensified after Hamas won the elections of 2006.''Alone and Broke, Hamas Struggles to Rule''
. New York Times, 7 April 2006 Hamas formed its ''Executive Force'' with

Jamal abu Samhadana Jamal Abu Samhadana (, 8 February 1963 – 8 June 2006), from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, was the founder and leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a former Fatah and Tanzim member, and number two on Israel's list of wanted terrorists. Abu ...

, a prominent militant, at its head. Abbas and Fatah commanders refused to take orders from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government."Hamas coup in Gaza"
. International Institute for Strategic Studies, Volume 13, Issue 5; June 2007''The Impact of Semi-Presidentialism on Governance in the Palestinian Authority'' (pdf)
, pp. 6, 9, 10-11, 16-17. Francesco Cavatorta and Robert Elgie. Parliam Affairs (2009)
(Also in HTML version)
p. 6: "the PA has a president-parliamentary form of semi-presidentialism"; p. 9: "The Basic Law of the Palestinian Authority is the equivalent of an interim constitution"; p. 11: ", the semi-presidential structures of the 2003 amended Basic Law highlighted and accelerated divisions between Hamas and Fatah ... Hamas offered Fatah a grand coalition, but Fatah refused"; p. 17: "The semi-presidential structure of the 2003 amended Basic Law was the source of this destabilising period of competition within the executive ... The creation of two competing centres of power with equal popular legitimacy raised the political stakes within the system as both actors tried to undermine the position of other."''TIMELINE: Key events since 2006''
. Reuters, 20 June 2007 The Fatah-backed President Abbas was supported by the international community and more or less tolerated by Israel. The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority and the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

were boycotted, and international financial aid was rendered via Abbas. In December 2006, Abbas called for new parliamentary and presidential elections.''Abbas calls for early Palestinian poll''
Reuters, 16 December 2006 Hamas characterized it as an attempted Fatah coup by Abbas and violence broke out.
David Hardaker, 17 December 2006"Hamas coup in Gaza"
. International Institute for Strategic Studies, Volume 13, Issue 5; June 2007''Abbas decides to call early elections''
. Jerusalem Post, 16 December 2006''Abbas outlaws Hamas's paramilitary Executive Force''
. Richard Boudreaux, The Boston Globe/''Los Angeles Times'', 7 January 2007 Abbas's means of enforcing order appeared to be coercive action by police and security units under his command, which were relatively weak in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's stronghold. In February 2007, the Saudi-brokered

Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement The Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement was signed between Fatah and Hamas in the city of Mecca on 8 February 2007, agreeing to stop the internal military confrontations in the Gaza Strip and form a government of national unity. Representatives from th ...

produced an agreement on a Palestinian national unity government which was short-lived. In June 2007, Hamas took control and removed

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

officials.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

accused both sides with violations of international humanitarian law including the targeting and killing of civilians, public executions of political opponents and captives, throwing prisoners off high-rise apartment buildings, fighting in hospitals, and shooting from a jeep marked with "TV" insignias.Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes
,

, June 13, 2007. The

ICRC The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

denounced attacks in and around two hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza strip. The Israeli government closed all check-points on the borders of Gaza in response to the violence.

Palestinian President The president of the State of Palestine () is the head of state of Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the first titular president of the State of Palestine in 1989, one year after the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. The title was origina ...

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

announced the dissolution of the unity government.

Sami Abu Zuhri Sami Abu Zuhri (; born 1967) is a senior spokesman for the Palestinian organization Hamas. Life Abu Zuhri was born in Rafah in 1967. He studied history at the Islamic University of Gaza and served as Head of the Islamic University Student Co ...

asserted that Palestinian Prime Minister

Ismail Haniyeh Ismail Haniyeh (, ; 29 January 1962 – 31 July 2024) was a Palestinian politician who served as third chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, his assassination in July 2024. He also served as ...

remained the head of the government. Neither Hamas nor Fatah had enough votes to form a new government under the constitution.What Can Abu Mazin Do?
, pp. 8-9, section States of Emergency under the Palestinian Basic Law. Nathan J. Brown, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 15 June 2007.
Here Available
. "First, the PLC can overturn any action taken (presumably by a simple majority, though...Hamas may have difficulties mustering votes with so many deputies in jail). Second, any extension of the state of emergency beyond thirty days requires PLC approval—and this time it is Abu Mazin who would have trouble mustering the votes, since he would need 2/3 of all PLC members."

2007–2023

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

has governed the

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

since its takeover of the territory from the rival

-ruled

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

(PA) on 14 June 2007. The Hamas administration was first led by

from June 2007 until February 2017; then by

Yahya Sinwar Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar (; 29 October 1962 – 16 October 2024) was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024, and as the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February ...

until his killing in October 2024; and since then by

Mohammed Sinwar Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar (; 16 September 1975 – 13 May 2025) was a Palestinian politician and militant who became the third Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar in October 2024. He also ...

2023–present Gaza war

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its allies invaded Israel, killing 1,195 people and taking around 250 hostages, mostly civilians. In preparation, Hamas had built the " Gaza metro" tunnel network, accumulated an arsenal, and trained its forces. In early January 2024, during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Israel reoccupied most of the northern

after Israel claimed that it had dismantled 12

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (EQB; ), are the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his death on 13 July 2024, Al-Qassam Brigades ar ...

battalions on 7 January. This led to the beginning of the Insurgency in the North Gaza Strip and also the beginning of the Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, some 19 years after Israel had disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005 due to stiff resistance from the Palestinians. However, Israel has been continuously imposing a

since 2007. At the beginning of the

, Israel made it clear that controlling the Gaza Strip was one of the main goals. In late January 2024,

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

said that he "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over Gaza. In March 2024, Israel started carving through farmland and demolishing Palestinian homes and schools in the Gaza Strip to create a new buffer zone. Palestinians would be barred from the new buffer zone in Gaza. Following the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas temporary committee initially discussed the possibility of appointing a single successor, but eventually opted to rule through the committee until the scheduled Hamas leadership elections in March 2025. In January 2025, a United States–brokered

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

went into effect, with Hamas retaining control over the Gaza Strip as the IDF withdrew. In early April 2025, it was announced by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz that there would be a major expansion of Israel security zones, where large swaths of land were seized by the IDF. Katz also announced that there would be an ordered evacuation of Gaza's population from the areas, although heavy airstrikes in the area have already caused the deaths of multiple civilians including children.

Israeli settlements

By 2005, there were 9,000 Israeli settlers spread across 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, while around 1.3 million Palestinians lived there. The first settlement was built in 1970, soon after Israel occupied the Gaza Strip following the

. Each Israeli settler disposed of 400 times the land available to the Palestinian refugees, and 20 times the volume of water allowed to the peasant farmers of the Strip. Following disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, all Israeli settlers were evacuated and all settlements were dismantled. In late January 2024, it was reported by an unnamed Israeli military officer that Israeli Prime Minister

and others in the government had requested that military members begin to establish permanent bases in the Gaza Strip amid the

2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Gaza war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip. On 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaz ...

following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

References

External links

"From 'Occupied Territories' to 'Disputed Territories'" by Dore Gold

fro
Security for Peace: Israel's Minimal Security Requirements in Negotiations with the Palestinians
, by Ze'ev Schiff, 1989. Retrieved October 8, 2005. * Howell, Mark (2007). ''What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life under Occupation in the West Bank'', Garnet Publishing.
Occupied Palestinian Territory
The

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

(OHCHR) {{Whole Gaza Strip 1967 establishments in Israel 1967 in military history June 1967 in Asia Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Six-Day War Gaza Strip Gaza war 2024 in the Gaza Strip Battles in 2024 Battles during the Israel–Hamas war Gaza Strip in the Israel–Hamas war