Gaza: Maps and data on the closed coastal strip

Middle East
Gaza in maps and data: A profile of the sealed-off coastal strip

Since the terrorist attack by Hamas and Israel’s military response, Gaza has once again been the focus of global interest. A profile of the sealed-off coastal strip on the Mediterranean in data and maps.

Population in the Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. According to the United Nations, around 365 square kilometers large stretch of land on the Mediterranean in September 2023 more than 2.2 million people, Ascending trend. On average, around 6,000 people live in Gaza per square kilometer. Particularly densely populated areas, such as in Gaza City, have as many as 30,000 people per square kilometer.

For comparison: Hamburg With around 1.9 million inhabitants and an area of ​​around 755 square kilometers, which is more than twice as large, it has an average population density of around 2,500 inhabitants per square kilometer. The most densely populated districts have around 18,000 inhabitants per square kilometer.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Gaza has recently had about 1.6 million internally displaced people. For weeks, Israel has been calling on civilians in the city of Gaza and in the north to move to the south of the sealed-off coastal strip for their own safety because Israeli forces are taking action against Hamas in the north. But there have also been air strikes in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The population in the Gaza Strip is young, half of the people are younger than 18 years. The living conditions in the sealed off region are harsh, and many people have no prospects. The Unemployment rate According to UN information, it was recently around 46 percent, 60 percent of the residents of Gaza were from Poverty affected.

They are trapped in a strip of land. And in a conflict that they cannot escape. The young people of Gaza want a normal life – but is that even possible?From the stern-Plus archive:

Energy supply in the Gaza Strip

A persistent problem in Gaza is the supply of electricity. The only power plant in the sealed-off coastal region stopped operating at the beginning of October due to a lack of fuel. Since Israel also no longer supplies electricity, Gaza has been largely without electricity since October – apart from emergency generators and solar energy. The graphic below compares two nighttime NASA satellite images – one taken on October 6, 2023, one on November 16, 2023. Move the slider back and forth over the highlighted Gaza Strip to see the differences.

It is clearly visible how the Gaza Strip is in darkness in the image taken in November. The electricity supply in the Gaza Strip was already extremely patchy. The company’s own power plant and supplies from Israel were not sufficient to cover demand, so that the electricity supply was only guaranteed for a little more than half of the day. The graphic below makes this clear.

The situation is also critical when it comes to drinking water. Since the escalation began, a large proportion of people in Gaza have had little or no access to clean drinking water. According to OCHA information, processing plants in the Gaza Strip are not functioning due to, among other things, the lack of electricity, and lines from Israel have dried up. Aid deliveries to the region are limited.

Sources: BBC, “CNN”“Financial Times“, “Guardians”, NASA World View, NBC,PCBS, Statistics North, UN OCHA I, UN OCHA II, UN OCHA III

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