Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip as the 2018 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 103 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
Inhabited since at least the 15th century B.C., Gaza has been dominated by many different peoples and empires throughout its history; it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of the British Mandate of Palestine. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip; it was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
Under a series of agreements known as the Oslo accords signed between 1994 and 1999, Israel transferred to the newly-created Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled in 2001, after which the area witnessed a violent intifada or uprising.
Israel by late 2005 unilaterally withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip, but it continues to control the Gaza Strip’s land and maritime borders and airspace. In early 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council election. Attempts to form a unity government between Fatah and HAMAS failed and violent clashes between their respective supporters ensued, culminating in HAMAS's violent seizure of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Since HAMAS’s takeover, Israel and Egypt have enforced tight restrictions on movement and access of goods and individuals into and out of the territory. Fatah and HAMAS have since reached a series of agreements aimed at restoring political unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but have struggled to effect them; a reconciliation agreement signed in October 2017 remains unimplemented. In July 2014, HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups engaged in a 51-day conflict with Israel — the third conflict since HAMAS’s takeover in 2007 — culminating in late August with an open-ended truce that continues to tenuously hold despite the absence of a negotiated cease-fire and periodic attacks.
The UN in 2015 published a study assessing that the Gaza Strip could become uninhabitable by 2020 unless steps are taken to address Gaza’s economic and humanitarian situation. In September 2018, the UN reported that conditions were worse than when its experts made that prediction.
Geography
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Israel
17 fieldsEnvironment - current issues
- soil degradation;
- desertification;
- water pollution from chemicals and pesticides;
- salination of fresh water;
- improper sewage treatment;
- water-borne disease;
- depletion and contamination of underground water resources
Geography - note
- strategic strip of land along Mideast-North African trade routes has experienced an incredibly turbulent history;
- the town of Gaza itself has been besieged countless times in its history;
- there are no Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip;
- the Gaza Strip settlements were evacuated in 2005
People and Society
32 fieldsPer 1,000 population
Male · female
Religions
Muslim 98.0 - 99.0% (predominantly Sunni), Christian <1.0%, other, unaffiliated, unspecified <1.0% (2012 est.) note: dismantlement of Israeli settlements was completed in September 2005; Gaza has had no Jewish population since then
Age structure
- 0-14 years:
- 44.1% (male 415,746 /female 394,195)
- 15-24 years:
- 21.34% (male 197,797 /female 194,112)
- 25-54 years:
- 28.5% (male 256,103 /female 267,285)
- 55-64 years:
- 3.48% (male 33,413 /female 30,592)
- 65 years and over:
- 2.58% (male 24,863 /female 22,607) (2018 est.)
Dependency ratios
- total dependency ratio:
- 75.8 (2015 est.)
- youth dependency ratio:
- 70.5 (2015 est.)
- elderly dependency ratio:
- 5.2 (2015 est.)
- potential support ratio:
- 19.1 (2015 est.)
note: data represent Gaza Strip and the West Bank
Sex ratio
- at birth:
- 1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- 0-14 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- 15-24 years:
- 1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- 25-54 years:
- 0.96 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- 55-64 years:
- 1.1 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- 65 years and over:
- 0.71 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
- total population:
- 1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
1.4% (2014) note: estimate is for Gaza Strip and the West Bank
Government
1 fieldCountry name
- conventional long form:
- none
- conventional short form:
- Gaza Strip
- local long form:
- none
- local short form:
- Qita' Ghazzah
- etymology:
- named for the largest city in the region, Gaza, whose settlement can be traced back to at least the 15th century B.C. (as "Ghazzat")
Economy
29 fieldsGDP - composition, by sector of origin(2017 est.)
By end use% of GDP · (2017 est.)
Economy - overview
Movement and access restrictions, violent attacks, and the slow pace of post-conflict reconstruction continue to degrade economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, the smaller of the two areas comprising the Palestinian territories. Israeli controls became more restrictive after HAMAS seized control of the territory in June 2007.
Under Hamas control, Gaza has suffered from rising unemployment, elevated poverty rates, and a sharp contraction of the private sector, which had relied primarily on export markets. Since April 2017, the Palestinian Authority has reduced payments for electricity supplied to Gaza and cut salaries for its employees there, exacerbating poor economic conditions.
Since 2014, Egypt’s crackdown on the Gaza Strip’s extensive tunnel-based smuggling network has exacerbated fuel, construction material, and consumer goods shortages in the territory. Donor support for reconstruction following the 51-day conflict in 2014 between Israel and HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups has fallen short of post-conflict needs.
Labor force - by occupation
- agriculture:
- 5.2%
- industry:
- 10%
- services:
- 84.8% (2015 est.)
note: data exclude the West Bank
Stock of domestic credit
$2.041 billion (31 December 2017 est.) · $1.712 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
Current account balance
-$1.444 billion (2017 est.) · -$1.348 billion (2016 est.) note: excludes the West Bank
Exports - commodities
strawberries, carnations, vegetables, fish (small and irregular shipments, as permitted to transit the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold
$446.3 million (31 December 2017 est.) · $583 million (31 December 2015 est.)
Energy
6 fieldsElectrification% of population · (2012)
Electricity
Communications
7 fieldsPer 100 inhabitants(2016 est.)
Telephone system
- general assessment:
- Israel has final say in allocating frequencies in the Gaza Strip and does not permit anything beyond a 2G network (2018)
- domestic:
- Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are responsible for fixed-line services;
- the Palestinian JAWWAL company provides cellular services;
- a slow 2G network allows calls and limited data transmission (2018)
- international:
- country code - 970 (2018)
Broadband - fixed subscriptions
- total:
- 320,500 (2016 est.)
- subscriptions per 100 inhabitants:
- 14 (2016 est.)
note: includes West Bank
Transportation
5 fieldsAirports by runway lengthpaved only
Military and Security
1 fieldMilitary branches
- HAMAS does not have a conventional military in the Gaza Strip but maintains security forces in addition to its military wing, the 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades;
- the military wing reports to the Hamas Political Bureau leadership (2018)
Terrorism
2 fieldsTerrorist groups - home based
- Army of Islam (AOI):
- aim(s): stage attacks against Israel and Egypt from the Gaza Strip and, ultimately, establish an Islamic emirate in the region
- area(s) of operation:
- headquartered in Gaza; heaviest presence and operational activity is in the Gaza Strip
note: operatives have a history of launching low-impact rockets into Israeli and Egyptian territory; the Army of Islam (Jaish al-Islam, JAI) in Syria is unrelated to AOI (April 2018)
- HAMAS:
- aim(s): maintain control of the Gaza Strip to facilitate Palestinian nationalist aims
- area(s) of operation:
- headquartered in Gaza (April 2018); Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel
- area(s) of operation:
- headquartered in Gaza, although present in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Israel (April 2018)
- Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ):
- aim(s): enhance its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip to launch attacks against Israel
- area(s) of operation:
- stages rocket attacks against civilians and military personnel primarily in southern Israel (April 2018)
- Palestine Liberation Front (PLF):
- aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel in order to establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital
- area(s) of operation:
- based in Gaza; maintains a recruitment and paramilitary training presence in most of the refugee camps across the Gaza Strip (April 2018)
- PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC):
- aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities to prepare fighters for deployment to Syria and to launch occasional attacks inside Israel;
- ultimately, seeks to establish a Palestinian state
- area(s) of operation:
- ; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): aim(s): destroy the state of Israel and, ultimately, establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state
- headquartered in Gaza;
- as a longtime supporter of the Syrian Government, the group trains and deploys fighters to Syria to fight on behalf of President Bashar al-ASAD;
- stages occasional small-scale attacks inside Israel (April 2018)
- area(s) of operation:
- headquartered in Gaza, recruiting and training fighters; stages limited attacks against Israel (April 2018)
Terrorist groups - foreign based
- Abdallah Azzam Brigades (AAB):
- aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel to continue its attempts to disrupt Israel's economy and its efforts to establish security
- area(s) of operation:
- launches homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip into populated Israeli territory, primarily the cities of Nahariya and Ashkelon (April 2018)
- al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB):
- aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem
- area(s) of operation:
- stages attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli soldiers and civilians inside Israel, including launching rockets and missiles (April 2018)
- Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS)-Sinai:
- aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a regional Islamic caliphate
- area(s) of operation:
- stages attacks against Egyptian forces along the Gaza Strip-Egypt border and launches rockets into southern Israel from the border closest to Israel
note: formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (April 2018)
Transnational Issues
2 fieldsDisputes - international
the status of the Gaza Strip is a final status issue to be resolved through negotiationsIsrael removed settlers and military personnel from Gaza Strip in September 2005
Refugees and internally displaced persons
- refugees (country of origin):
- 1,348,536 (Palestinian refugees) (2017)
- IDPs:
- 231,000 (includes persons displaced within the Gaza Strip due to the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since June 2014 and other Palestinian IDPs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank who fled as long ago as 1967, although confirmed cumulative data do not go back beyond 2006) (2017)
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Gaza Strip.” The World Factbook 2018. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/gaza-strip/2018.