About GazaToday

GazaToday.com is an unofficial visitors guide for Gaza Strip-Palestine. Our aim is to provide useful up-to-date information about Gaza City and the Gaza Strip as a whole to foreign visitors and locals alike. The website is an online directory that includes all types of information that foreign visitors need when planning a visit to Gaza: Hotels, restaurants, cultural centers, service providers, events and other information about Gaza. The website also features articles, maps, photo galleries that will help visitors form a better picture about the city.
GazaToday.com is an online service developed and managed by SADAF Technology Development.
 

 

The history of Gaza Strip

The earliest known reference is an inscription in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, Egypt, dated 1500 BC, which states that the town of Gaza is 'flourishing'. And for a long time it did: a staging post on trade routes connecting Asia and Persia with Arabia, Egypt and Africa, even the name means "treasure" in Arabic. Alexander the Great laid siege to the town in 332 BC, executing 10,000 defenders after being held off for two months. Later, the town was held by the Romans, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Ottomans and briefly even by the French in 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte set up camp on his way to defeat in Egypt. The Turks took it back, then lost it to the British in World War I. The Egyptian army grabbed it during the 1948 war that led to Israel's independence, opening camps for Palestinian refugees - and the current situation began when Israel occupied the Strip in 1967.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza]

[http://wikitravel.org/en/Gaza#b]

 

Geography

The Gaza Strip is a narrow, 40-km long slice of land between the Mediterranean to the west and the Negev desert to the east. Egypt lies to the south, The urban sprawl of Gaza City, mostly stretching along and around the 3-km long Omar al-Mukhtar Street, covers much of the north. The other main towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah are near the southern border, with most of the rest covered with agricultural land. 

 

Temperatures

Temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers.

[http://local.msn.com/worldweather.aspx?eid=11884&q=Gaza-Gaza Strip]

 

Transportation

There is no public transport in Gaza, but there are numerous service taxis. Navigation is done by landmark, not street address. Stand on the side of the road that is in the desired direction of travel. When a driver stops indicate the destination landmark e.g., "Shifa" and the number of passengers. Near al-Shifa hospital is a line of taxis that travel to destinations beyond Gaza city. The drivers yell out their destination and wait until their vehicle is pretty much full before they leave.

[http://www.gazatoday.com/taxi-offices/]

 

Speak

The standard language is Arabic. Hebrew is also understood to some extent, but English is a safer option.

 

See

Gaza is not exactly a top tourist destination and most of its attractions have taken quite a beating during the past 50 years. The following are all in Gaza City.

The Great Mosque (Al-Jame’ Al-Kbeer) makes up for its lackluster appearance with an interesting history: it's a converted Crusader church built on the site of a Hellenic temple with pillars from a 3rd-century Jewish synagogue.

More educational might be a UNRWA-arranged visit to one of the refugee camps that dot the strip. The UNRWA office is on al-Azhar St, near the Islamic University, call ahead to see if they can arrange a little tour. Your most probable destination is the optimistically named Beach Camp, a warren of concrete huts and open sewers housing 63,000 people, built next to a sandy beach - and you can walk there on your own, 15 minutes to the north from the intersection of Omar al-Mukhtar St. with the seafront road. UNRWA wisely recommends avoiding military clothing. The Jabaliya refugee camp is also a nearby option.

Hamam al-Sumra.The last of the 'turkish baths' in Gaza Different hours for men and women, excellent service and a proper scrub down Between Palestine Square and the Saladin Road.