The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1961. It was initially a political union between Egypt and Syria from 1958 until Syria seceded from the union following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état. Egypt continued to be known officially as the United Arab Republic until September 1971 when it was formally dissolved by Anwar Sadat.
Gaza, also called Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590,481, making it the largest city in the State of Palestine.
Khan Yunis is a city in the southern Gaza Strip; it is the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 205,125 in 2017. Khan Yunis, which lies only 4 kilometers east of the Mediterranean Sea, has a semi-arid climate with temperature of 30 degrees Celsius maximum in summer and 10 degrees Celsius minimum in winter, with an annual rainfall of approximately 260 mm (10.2 in).
Between 1953 and 1967, the present-day Gaza Strip was occupied and governed by Egyptian armed forces of the United Arab Republic (UAR). The Egyptian occupation of Gaza began with the inception of the territory in 1949 following the First Arab–Israeli War, and ended after Egypt's defeat to Israel in the Third Arab–Israeli War of 1967, after which the Israeli Military Governorate commenced. Egyptian rule in Gaza before the 1967 war had been continuous with the exception of a brief period from October 1956 to March 1957, when Israel invaded and occupied Gaza as well as the Sinai Peninsula during the Suez Crisis.
Beit Hanoun or Beit Hanun is a Palestinian city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 52,237 in 2017. From mid-2007 until late 2023, it was administered by the Hamas administration. Beit Hanoun has been entirely depopulated and virtually all its structures either destroyed or rendered unusable due to extreme damage following the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. The remains of Beit Hanoun are located by the Nahal-Hanun stream, just 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) away from the Israeli town of Sderot.
Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir el-Balah Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is located over 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The city is known for its date palms, after which it is named.
The Palestine Liberation Army is ostensibly the military wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), set up at the 1964 Arab League summit held in Alexandria, Egypt, with the mission of fighting Israel. However, it has never been under effective PLO control, but rather it has been controlled by its various host governments, usually Syria. Even though it initially operated in several countries, the present-day PLA is only active in Syria and recruits male Palestinian refugees.
Ahmad Ismail Ali was the Commander-in-Chief of Egypt's army and minister of war during the October War of 1973, and is best known for his planning of the attack across the Suez Canal, code-named Operation Badr. Ali's mother was of Albanian descent.
al-Faluja was a Palestinian Arab village in the British Mandate for Palestine, located 30 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. The village and the neighbouring village of Iraq al-Manshiyya formed part of the Faluja pocket, where 4,000 Egyptian troops, who had entered the area as a result of the 1948 war, were besieged for four months by the newly established Israel Defense Forces. The 1949 Armistice Agreements allowed for a peaceful transfer of those areas outside Gaza to Israeli control, allowing Egyptian troops to remain in Gaza. Following the agreements, the Arab residents were harassed and abandoned the villages. The Israeli town of Kiryat Gat, as well as the moshav Revaha, border the site of the former town.
Even before the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, various insurgent Palestinian groups built domestically-produced weapons for attacks against Israel. Most of the effort has been in the production of unguided artillery rockets, though Hamas has built its own versions of anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Though usually smuggled across the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip and to a lesser extent Jordanian border into the West Bank, various small arms are believed to be produced in the Palestinian territories.
The Gaza Subdistrict was one of the subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine. It was situated in the southern Mediterranean coastline of the British Mandate of Palestine. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the district disintegrated, with Israel controlling the northern and eastern portions while Egypt held control of the southern and central parts – which became the Gaza Strip, under Egyptian military between 1948 and 1967, Israeli military rule between 1967 and 2005, part of the Palestinian National Authority after the Oslo Accords until 2007, and is currently ruled by the Hamas as a de facto separate entity from the Palestinian National Authority. The parts which Israel held since 1948 were merged into Israeli administrative districts, their connection with Gaza severed.
Strategically situated between three continents, the region of Palestine has a tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. Palestine is the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, and has been controlled by many kingdoms and powers, including Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great and his successors, the Hasmoneans, the Roman Empire, several Muslim caliphates, and the crusaders. In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, then the British Empire and since 1948 it has been divided into Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
The known history of Gaza spans 4,000 years. Gaza was ruled, destroyed and repopulated by various dynasties, empires, and peoples. Originally a Canaanite settlement, it came under the control of the ancient Egyptians for roughly 350 years before being conquered and becoming one of the Philistines' principal cities. Gaza became part of the Assyrian Empire around 730 BC. Alexander the Great besieged and captured the city in 332 BC. Most of the inhabitants were killed during the assault, and the city, which became a center for Hellenistic learning and philosophy, was resettled by nearby Bedouins. The area changed hands regularly between two Greek successor-kingdoms, the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt, until it was besieged and taken by the Hasmoneans in 96 BC.
Julis was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located 26.5 kilometers (16.5 mi) northeast of Gaza on a slight elevation along the southern coastal plain. In 1945, there were 1,030 inhabitants in the village. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Egypt–Palestine relations are the bilateral relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Palestine. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and he favored self-determination for the Palestinians. Although the Egyptian government has maintained a good relationship with Israel since the Camp David Accords, most Egyptians strongly resent Israel, and disapprove of the close relationship between the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
Jamal Abdel Nasser Street is a major street in Gaza City, State of Palestine, that originates in the Old City where it branches off Ni'im al-Din al-Arabi Street and runs north into Rimal where it connects to Ahmed Orabi Street, the main coastal highway. It runs parallel to Omar Mukhtar Street.
Al-Aybaki Mosque is a historic mosque situated in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, Palestine. Built by the Mamluks in the late 13th century, the mosque is named after Sheikh Abdullah al-Aybaki, a Muslim religious leader. According to his nisba "Aybaki", Sheikh Abdullah was a mamluk or relative of Izz al-Din Aybak, the first Mamluk sultan of Egypt. Sheikh Abdullah's son Sheikh Iyad was buried nearby at the Sayed al-Hashim Mosque in al-Daraj while his other son Ahmad al-Aybaki, a local saintly person, was buried in a sanctuary called al-Mazar ash-Sheikh Aybak.
The Mahkamah Mosque was a congregational mosque and madrasa, built in 1455, destroyed by Israeli bombing during the 2014 Gaza War. The mosque was located along Baghdad Street near the main western entrance of the Shuja'iyya district in Gaza City, Palestine.
The All-Palestine Government was established on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to govern the Egyptian-controlled territory in Gaza, which Egypt had on the same day declared as the All-Palestine Protectorate. It was confirmed by the Arab League and recognised by six of the then seven Arab League members, with Transjordan being the exception. Though it claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the All-Palestine Protectorate, which came to be called the Gaza Strip. The President of the protectorate was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, and the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. The legislative body was the All-Palestine National Council.
The All-Palestine Protectorate, or simply All-Palestine, also known as Gaza Protectorate and the Gaza Strip, was a short-lived client state with limited recognition, corresponding to the area of the modern Gaza Strip, that was established in the area captured by the Kingdom of Egypt during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and allowed to run as a protectorate under the All-Palestine Government. The Protectorate was declared on 22 September 1948 in Gaza City, and the All-Palestine Government was formed. The President of the Gaza-seated administration was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, while the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. In December 1948, just three months after the declaration, the All-Palestine Government was relocated to Cairo and was never allowed to return to Gaza, making it a government in exile. With a further resolution of the Arab League to put the Gaza Strip under the official protection of Egypt in 1952, the All-Palestine Government was gradually stripped of its authority. In 1953, the government was nominally dissolved, though the Palestinian Prime Minister, Hilmi Pasha, continued to attend Arab League meetings on its behalf. In 1959, the protectorate was de jure merged into the United Arab Republic, while de facto turning Gaza into a military occupation area of Egypt.
Palestine