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 "the world's largest open-air prison." The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, has come under 

from Israel in recent days, after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented ground invasion and thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza.

 of the already besieged area, saying that "no electricity, food or fuel" would be allowed into the enclave and 

 among some in the international community over what this might mean for the people of Gaza, who, with borders mostly closed, cannot leave.

The Gaza Strip is a 25-mile-long by 6-mile-wide enclave, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south.

Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

erected by Israel, the Gaza Strip is one of the most 

The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas 

. Israel controls its airspace and shoreline, as well as what goods can cross Gaza's borders.

Gaza is home to more than 2 million Palestinians — 1.7 million of whom are Palestinian refugees, 

 UNRWA, the U.N. Palestinian relief agency.

 children make up almost half of Gaza's population.

Conditions in Gaza have long been difficult

Conditions in Gaza have badly deteriorated in the 16 years since the blockade was imposed.

The United Nations says more than 80 percent of Gazans live in poverty, with access to clean water and electricity at crisis levels even before the latest violence. 

 clean water is unavailable for 95 percent of Gaza's population. The territory's 

 stood at 46 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

 living in Gaza depend on aid because of restrictions on movement in and out of the enclave and ongoing hostilities with Israel. Israel and Egypt maintain that the blockade is necessary to protect against militants, but Palestinians and humanitarian groups say it amounts to collective punishment.

During an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres 

 for children in the Gaza Strip as "hell on Earth."

 of equipment and medicine because of the blockade. Gaza's Health Ministry director general, Dr. Medhat Abbas, 

that the area's hospitals, already struggling, now face being overwhelmed following Israel's latest offensive.

"This is applying too much pressure on our health professionals in the hospitals," Abbas said. "Unless these borders are opened at once — for the fuel to run the generators and for medications, medical supplies to come at once to Gaza — there will be a collapse of the health system."

Gaza was part of what was known as Palestine, prior to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. As part of historic Palestine, it was part of the Ottoman Empire (

), before being occupied by Britain until 1948. That year, more than 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes around Israel's creation in 1948 and fighting with Arab forces, in what Palestinians call 

Egypt captured Gaza during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It remained under Egyptian control until the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when Israel seized the territory and occupied it, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians claim these territories and see them as part of a future state.

The following year, the Hamas movement came out ahead in Gaza elections. But after wrangling with the rival Fatah party, Hamas seized power by force in 2007. Gaza has not had elections since.

Israel responded by imposing an air, land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip. Egypt closed its border crossing with Gaza when Hamas took power in 2007.

Hamas has fought several wars with Israel in the last decade and a half. One of the last major wars, in 

, left hundreds of people dead in Gaza and 13 dead in Israel — and 

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Fatima Al-Kassab

Author

With high poverty and unemployment and severe restrictions on movement, life in the Gaza Strip was already difficult before Israel's retaliatory offensive began this week in response to Hamas attacks.

What is the Gaza Strip? Here's what to know

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