This narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt is tiny – just 141 square miles/365 sq. kilometers (about the size of Las Vegas or the British city of Sheffield) – and with a population of nearly 2.1 million, making it one of the world´s most densely packed territories.
And Gaza has of course massively been in the news since October 7 because of the tragic and horrific reasons with which by now we´re all too familiar. And when it comes to spots in Palestine of interest to visitors, many more non-Palestinians know about the West Bank than Gaza. But with a rich history dating back more than a staggering 3,500 years, including a bewildering succession of rulers, among them the Canaanites, the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the ancient Persian Empire, the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks, and more recently (and briefly) by the British in the early 20th century. And fragments of this legacy still remains – it even has three UNESCO World Heritage candidates (see below).
Even before the current Hamas-Israel war, access to the Gaza Strip for outsiders – and especially tourists – was already extremely limited and difficult. And obviously now for the foreseeable future it will be impossible. But it´s still eye-opening to take a look at what´s here – although how much will end up surviving the Israeli invasion is anybody’s guess – and when the day eventually comes when travel opens up again, consider making the trip, both on its own merits and because Gazans will need all the support they can get.
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