Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a pene-exclave region of Palestine on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border. Gaza makes up part of the Palestinian territories which includes the West Bank, and in 2012 the United Nations General Assembly "accorded Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United Nations". In 1994, Israel granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority. Prior to this, Gaza had been subject to military occupation, most recently by Israel and by Egypt, and earlier by Great Britain and Turkey when Gaza had been part of the Ottoman Empire. Gaza has, just like Palestine, never been a sovereign state or territory. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been de facto governed by Hamas, a Palestinian group claiming to be the representatives of the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people. Gaza forms a part of the Palestinian territory defined in the Oslo Agreements and UNSC Resolution 1860.