Who owns Gaza? A look at the strip’s troubled history

Gaza has long been a powder keg, which exploded after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and began killing and abducting people, sparking a crushing Israeli military operation there that has only recently reached an uneasy ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and America take “ownership” may spark new tension over the enclave on the Mediterranean Sea.

Here’s a look at the troubled modern history of the Gaza Strip:

1948 – 1967: Egyptian rule of Gaza

Before the war surrounding Israel’s establishment in 1948, present-day Gaza was part of the large swathe of the Middle East under British colonial rule. After Israel defeated a coalition of Arab states, the Egyptian army was left in control of a small strip of land wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

During the war, some 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel – a mass uprooting that they call the Nakba, or “catastrophe”. Tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked to the strip.

Under Egyptian military control, Palestinian refugees in Gaza were stuck, homeless and stateless. Egypt didn’t consider them to be citizens and Israel wouldn’t let them return to their homes. Many were supported by the UNWRA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which has a heavy presence in Gaza to this day. Meanwhile, some young Palestinians became fedayeen – insurgency fighters who conducted raids into Israel.

1967 – 1993: Israel seizes control

Israel seized control of Gaza from Egypt during the 1967 “Six-Day War”, when it also captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem – areas that remain under Israeli control. The internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous areas of the occupied West Bank, seeks all three areas for a hoped-for future state.

  

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