Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about 41 kilometers (25 mi) long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers (4–7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 360 square kilometers (139 sq mi). The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories. Actual control of the area is in the hands Hamas, the democratically elected de facto government.
Egypt governed the Gaza Strip from 1948-67, and today rules the southern border between the Gaza strip and the Sinai desert, a border now famous for the breach in early 2008 and the smuggling of missiles through underground tunnels[1]. Israel governed the Gaza Strip from 1967-2005. Pursuant to the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Israel maintains military control of the Gaza strip's airspace, non-Egyptian land borders and territorial waters.
The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main city. It has about 1.4 million Palestinian residents.[2] Most are either refugees or descended from refugees of the Palestinian exodus.