The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km (32 mi) border. Gaza and the West Bank are claimed by the only de jure sovereign State of Palestine.
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist militant organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It has been the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip since its takeover of that area in 2007. During this period it fought several wars with Israel. Israel, the United States and the European Union classify, either in whole or in part, Hamas as a terrorist organization. This classification is one among various and diverse international positions on the nature of Hamas. Russia, China, and Turkey are some countries who view Hamas in a positive light.
The Palestinian National Authority is the interim self-government body established in 1994 following the Gaza–Jericho Agreement to govern the Gaza Strip and Areas A and B of the West Bank, as a consequence of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Following elections in 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and Hamas parties, its authority had extended only in areas A and B of the West Bank. Since January 2013, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority uses the name "State of Palestine" on official documents.
Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan born on September 29, 1961 in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip also known by the kunya Abu Fadi is a Palestinian politician, the former leader of Fatah in Gaza. Dahlan was born to a refugee family from Hamama, the youngest of six children.
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade صلاح شحادة was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his targeted killing by Israel.
Human rights in the State of Palestine refers to the human rights record in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Fatah–Hamas conflict, also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War, was a conflict between the two main Palestinian political parties, Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the split of the Palestinian Authority in 2007. The reconciliation process and unification of Hamas and Fatah administrations remains unfinalized.
In 2008 the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Hot Winter, also called Operation Warm Winter, in the Gaza Strip, starting in February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas onto Israeli civilians. At least 112 Palestinian militants and civilians, along with three Israelis, were killed, and more than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis were injured.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a part of the localized Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but is also a scene of power struggle between regional powers including Egypt, Iran and Turkey together with Qatar, supporting different sides of the conflict in light of the regional standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia on one hand and between Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the other, as well as crisis in Egyptian-Turkish relations.
International reaction to the Gaza War 2008-09 came from many countries and international organisations. International reaction to the conflict was also notable in the level of civilian demonstrations all around the world, which in many cases displayed sentiment significantly different from the official government line.
2011–12 Palestinian protests were a series of protests in the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, staged by various Palestinian groups as part of the wider Arab Spring. The protests were aimed to protest against the Palestinian government, as well as supporting the popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. The first phase of protests took place during 2011 and the second phase in 2012.
The Battle of Gaza, also referred to as Hamas' takeover of Gaza, was a military conflict between Fatah and Hamas, that took place in the Gaza Strip between the June 10 and 15, 2007. It was a prominent event in the Fatah–Hamas conflict, centered on the struggle for power, after Fatah lost the parliamentary elections of 2006. Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip and removed Fatah officials. The battle resulted in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities, the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority, and Gaza governed by Hamas.
Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh is a senior political leader of Hamas and formerly one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniyeh became prime minister after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah–Hamas conflict, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. In September 2016, reports indicated Haniyeh would replace Khaled Meshaal as Chief of Hamas's Political Bureau. He was elected as Hamas political chief on 6 May 2017.
The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict also known as Operation Protective Edge and sometimes referred to as the 2014 Gaza war, was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas members, the IDF conducted Operation Brother's Keeper to arrest militant leaders, Hamas fired rockets into Israel and a seven-week conflict broke out. The Israeli airstrikes and ground bombardment, the Palestinian rocket attacks and the ground fighting resulted in the death of thousands of people, the vast majority of them Gazans.
Reactions to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict came from around the world.
The Gaza electricity crisis is an ongoing and growing electricity crisis faced by nearly two million citizens of the Gaza Strip, with regular power supply being provided only for a few hours a day on a rolling blackout schedule. Some Gazans use private electric generators, solar panels and uninterruptible power supply units to produce power when regular power is not available. The crisis is a result of the tensions between Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, and the Palestinian Authority/Fatah, which rules the West Bank over custom tax revenue, funding of Gaza, and political authority.
The 2018–19 Gaza border protests, by the organiser called the Great March of Return, were a campaign compromising protests staged each Friday in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza-Israel border. The campaign was launched on 30 March 2018, demanding that Palestinian refugees and their descendants must be allowed to return to the land they were displaced from in what is now Israel. The protestors were also demanding the ending of the blockade of the Gaza Strip and protesting the United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel and the moving of its Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Gaza-Israel clashes began on 11 November 2018, when a botched Israeli covert operation carried out in the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip killed seven Palestinian militants and one Israeli soldier. Exchanges of fire lasted for two more days, until a cease fire was achieved with Egyptian mediation. Some minor incidents and protests followed some two weeks after the cease fire, with decreasing intensity.
The 2018–20 Arab protests, also referred to as the New Arab Spring or Arab Spring 2.0, are massive anti-government protests in several Arab countries, including Tunisia, Jordan, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. Economic protests also took place in the Gaza Strip.
A Gaza–Israel conflict escalation began on 3 May 2019, after two Israeli soldiers were injured by sniper fire from the Gaza Strip during the weekly protests at the Gaza–Israel border. In response, the Israeli Air Force carried out an airstrike, killing two Palestinians. Following this, hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza at Israel, while the Israeli Air Force struck numerous targets within the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel increased its troop presence near the Israel–Gaza barrier.
