Then the strip gets a mention in history during the 15th century B.C. when the Israelis under David captured Gaza along with other territories. In the 13th century B.C., the Philistines captured the area. From then on for the next 2000 years, Gaza changed hands many times. The land fell into many hands including the Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians and Greeks.  The Romans captured it in the first century B.C.

In 1517, The Ottoman Empire took control of the area and ruled the area till 1799. Again, Gaza became a part of the Greek reign in 1832. When the Ottoman Empire recaptured the land, a sizeable portion of the population was Greek. The Third Battle of Gaza saw the British and the Ottomans fighting the Sinai and Philistine and the area being taken over by the British for control over the Gaza coastal route.

Between 1917 when the British captured Gaza to 1948, it remained with the British under the mandate from the League of Nations. On May 14, 1948 Israel declared Independence and Palestine ceased to be a part of Britain. With the Arabs rejecting the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, and Israel declaring independence, the Greek invaded the land and precipitated the Arab-Israeli War (1948).

After the Armistice Agreement of 1949, the area remained under the administration of Egypt till 1967. The Israelis promised autonomy for the occupied land by 1978. The Palestinian uprising in 1987 (Intifida) plunged the land into political turmoil and the 1991 Persian Gulf War aggravated the unemployment and economic crisis.

The accord between Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel saw major part of Israeli army vacating the Gaza Strip. The talks in 2000 for autonomy for the Gaza Strip failed and the fallout of this was the resumption of violence. In 2003, the Israeli army moved aggressively to re-occupy the areas it had vacated.  In 2004 Israel announced withdrawal of all troops from the Strip and the plan was adhered to.  Once the Israelis left, the region teetered on the brink of anarchy.

The Strip was used to mount attacks on Israel by Hamas and escalated into open warfare in 2006. The turmoil also had intra-Palestinian conflicts which ended to a large extent with the defeat of Al Fatah. However, other groups continued the conflicts and this prompted Israel to block humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Hamas won a democratic election and took control of the Strip in 2007. However the Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the government and formed a new government without the participation of Hamas in Palestine. The Hamas government in the Gaza strip faces international isolation. The Hamas continues to fight Israel while opposing the closing of borders with Egypt. In January 2009, Israel launched a ground offensive to re-capture the Gaza Strip and after a lot of bloodshed, ceasefire was declared. 

The Gaza blockade continues and it is alleged that Israel has launched a financial war against Palestine.

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