Why Is The Gaza Strip So Important in the Bible?

Headlines bombard us with news about the devastation in Gaza—the staggering death toll, the increasing war and bloodshed, the innocent lives lost. People on both sides cry for an end to the violence and the pain.   As Christians, we hear the news, and our hearts fill with compassion and anguish. Why is this happening? Why are people so eager to fight—and die—over this one small section of land? Gaza, also called the Gaza Strip, is a thin piece of land of about 140 square miles located between Israel and Egypt. Roughly 2.3 million Palestinians live there, and it is a Palestinian territory. It is situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, with Egypt on its southwest and Israel on its east and north. However, there is longtime animosity between Israel and Palestine. In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. This was to accommodate a post-World War Two desire for a Jewish homeland, but it came against the will of the local Arab population. On October 7, 2023, the Islamic militant group Hamas killed more than a thousand people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. Israel immediately declared war on Hamas, and as of this writing, more than 30,000 people have been killed. Beyond a territory for present-day Palestine, the land is much desired by both groups. But there is also much biblical importance and history surrounding Gaza.