Gaza Strip News

The Gaza Strip lies along the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt. Gaza is roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C., but its population is considerably more than twice as large, giving it one of the highest densities in the world. The majority of its approximately 1.4 million residents are Palestinian refugees, many of whom have been living in refugee camps for decades; 80 percent were estimated to be living in poverty in mid-2007, a figure that has doubtless grown.

Gaza has remained largely isolated from the international community since it came under the control of the Palestinaian political faction Hamas, which has refused to accept the conditions set by the so-called quartet of Middle East peacemakers - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. The conditions include renouncing violence, recognizing Israel's right to exist and accepting previous signed agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel and Egypt have imposed a strict economic embargo on the area, allowing in only basic supplies.

In 2006, Hamas swept parliamentary elections in Gaza. In 2007, in a brief civil war, Hamas fighters routed gunmen from its main political rival, Fatah. As Israel clamped down at the borders, militant groups in Gaza fired rockets at Israeli border towns, with Hamas's approval. In the summer of 2008 a six-month ceasefire was brokered by Egypt. But while the level of rocket fire fell, it never ceased entirely, and Israel made only minor changes in its border policy.

When the cease-fire ended on Dec. 19, 2008, Hamas stepped up the firing of rockets and mortars. On Dec. 27, Israel responded with a devastating air and ground campaign that left at least 1,300 Palestinians dead by the time a cease-fire was unilaterally declared by both sides on Jan. 18, 2009. Much of the region's civil infrastructure and many homes were left in ruins.

Gaza remains suspended in a state of continuing misery that falls somewhere short of catastrophic. While Israel and Egypt are both still blocking Gaza's borders to squeeze Hamas, Israel allows a daily shipment of rations and other aid, while the United Nations does an efficient job of running schools and clinics.

Hamas appears to have decided to suspend its use of rockets and shift focus to winning support at home and abroad through cultural initiatives and public relations. Hamas has made some efforts to prevent rocket fire by smaller militant groups as well. But the rockets continue to fly: on March 18, 2010, a foreign worker in Israel was killed by a rocket fired from Gaza. The Israeli military said the rocket that killed the foreign worker was the third to land in southern Israel in 24 hours, and the 30th to have landed since the beginning of the year. Ansar al-Sunna, a small, fiercely anti-Western jihadist group that challenges Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack.

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