The Gaza Strip is a narrow piece of land along the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt.
Just 40km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, it is home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians.
The shape of the territory was defined by the Armistice Line following the creation of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent war between the Israeli and Arab armies.
Egypt administered the Strip for the next 19 years, but Israel captured it during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Gaza has been under Israeli control since then. Read more - BBC