Through its millennium-long existence, Gaza has often been bitterly disputed, yet enduringly neglected. Squeezed between the Negev and Sinai deserts and the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza was contested by everyone from the Pharaohs, Persians, Greeks and Romans to the Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and British. And, since 1948, it has been at the heart of Palestinian nationalism and history.

The first comprehensive history of Gaza to be published in any language, this new, updated edition covers events since 2011, including Gaza’s renewed tragic centrality to world politics and security since the events of October 2023: history’s worst attack on Israel, provoking history’s worst war against the Palestinians.