The Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is an area of just over 140 square miles along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea bordering Egypt and Israel. It is recognized as belonging to the State of Palestine, part of the territories it claims in the region, including The West Bank. The Gaza Strip was occupied by Israel until 2005, and the Israeli state maintains strong external influence over the region through control over air, sea, and land routes, nearly all utilities and vital services, and claiming the authority to re-enter Gaza with a military force at will.
Gaza, and particularly the northern region of Gaza City, is overcrowded, with a population of nearly 2 million Palestinians, primarily Sunni Muslims. Since an anti-Israeli organization linked with terrorism has come to power in the Gaza Strip, the area has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt to contain any potential violence and terrorist strikes against the neighboring nations. According to some, this blockade has turned the Gaza Strip into a “giant prison camp” controlled militarily by Israel.