Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Fact check: What historical events led to Israeli control of Gaza since 1948 and 1967?
Executive Summary
The Gaza Strip’s governance since 1948 reflects two distinct transfers of control: Egypt administered Gaza after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and Israel seized the strip in the 1967 Six‑Day War, establishing a military occupation that shaped subsequent arrangements. Egypt’s post‑1948 administration and Israel’s 1967 conquest—followed by settlement activity, Oslo period changes, and the 2005 Israeli disengagement—create the layered legal and practical controls that define Gaza’s status today [1] [2] [3].
1. How a war and refugee flows made Gaza an Egyptian-administered strip after 1948
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War produced massive demographic upheaval as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled, and many concentrated in the narrow coastal enclave known today as the Gaza Strip. Egypt did not annex Gaza but administered it, and the nominal All‑Palestine Government provided a degree of symbolic Palestinian authority under Egyptian protection, a state of affairs recorded in contemporaneous accounts and later histories [1] [4] [3]. This arrangement lasted through the 1950s, during which Gaza functioned under Egyptian control without formal incorporation into Egypt’s state structures. During this phase, Gaza’s borders were defined by the armistice line—the Green Line—separating it from the newly declared State of Israel. The Egyptian role matters because it shaped institutional continuity and refugee demographics that influenced later political claims and military calculations across subsequent conflicts [5] [3].
2. The 1956 Suez Crisis: a brief Israeli occupation and an international pullback
The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked Israel’s first incursion into Gaza since 1948 when Israeli forces occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula alongside British and French operations against Egypt. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 1957 under international pressure, returning administrative control to Egypt, which underscores that Gaza’s 1956 occupation was temporary and internationally contested [2] [5]. Reports from the period also document violence in Gaza’s population centres during the campaign, incidents that fed intercommunal grievances and framed subsequent Israeli security doctrines. The 1956 events set a precedent: military operations could alter control on short notice, but international diplomacy and great‑power influence could reverse those gains, a dynamic that reappeared in later confrontations leading up to 1967 [2].
3. The decisive change in June 1967: Israel captures Gaza and establishes occupation
In June 1967, during the Six‑Day War, Israeli forces captured the Gaza Strip from Egyptian control and set up a military governorate that lasted decades. This seizure transformed Gaza from an area under Egyptian administration into territory under Israeli military occupation, leading to the construction of Israeli settlements and security infrastructure that entangled Gaza with Israeli strategic considerations [2] [3]. International and scholarly timelines consistently note that Israel’s post‑1967 control was not merely transient; it involved administrative structures, settlement expansion—about 20–21 settlements by later counts—and a legal framework treating Gaza as occupied territory. These measures reconfigured daily life, land ownership, and the possibilities for Palestinian self‑rule, and they became central to later negotiations and disputes over sovereignty [5] [3].
4. Oslo accords, limited Palestinian governance, and the persistence of Israeli control
The Oslo process in the 1990s introduced a new layer: interim Palestinian Authority administration over parts of the West Bank and a limited role in Gaza, creating a patchwork of responsibilities but not a full transfer of sovereignty [6] [5]. From 1994 onward, the Palestinian Authority undertook civil administration in Gaza for the first time, yet critical aspects of control—Israel’s authority over airspace, maritime access, and many border crossings—remained in Israeli hands. This division mattered because it constrained Palestinian autonomy despite local governance. Analysts emphasize that even with Oslo arrangements the underlying security and border controls kept Gaza subject to Israeli levers of power, foreshadowing how subsequent political ruptures would play out [2] [5].
5. The 2005 disengagement and the continuing reality of de‑facto Israeli control
Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement removed Israeli settlers and regular troop deployments from inside Gaza, but did not end Israeli control over Gaza’s airspace, territorial waters, and primary land crossings; those enduring controls have been central to international legal and political debates about whether Gaza is still effectively occupied [2] [3]. The disengagement altered the visible footprint of occupation but left durable control mechanisms in place, including border regulation and restrictions affecting movement of people and goods. Subsequent governance changes—Hamas’s takeover in 2007, repeated conflicts, and blockades—have interacted with those controls to produce Gaza’s current condition: territorially confined, economically constrained, and subject to military and administrative pressures originating both inside and outside the strip [2] [3].