Gaza was originally settled by the Canaanites in Genesis times.
Who were the Canaanites?
The Canaanites were a group of ancient people who lived in the land of Canaan on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Canaan is described in the Bible as extending from Lebanon toward the Brook of Egypt in the south and the Jordan River Valley in the east. In the Bible, notably in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34, this was called the “land of Canaan” and occupies the same area that is occupied by modern Lebanon and Israel, plus parts of Jordan and Syria.
The Canaanites are mentioned over 150 times in the Bible. They were a wicked, idolatrous people descended from Noah’s grandson Canaan, who was a son of Ham (Genesis 9:18). Canaan was cursed because of his and his father’s sin against Noah (Genesis 9:20–25). In some passages, Canaanites specifically refers to the people of the lowlands and plains of Canaan (Joshua 11:3); in other passages, Canaanites is used more broadly to refer to all the inhabitants of the land, including the Hivites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hittites, and Perizzites (see Judges 1:9–10).
More info where that came form
Gaza Gets Passed Around
Sometime later after the Canaanites had been living in the area for quite some time, folks in Egypt decided they wanted to expand the land of their country. After that the Philistines wanted it for themselves, so they took it from the Egyptians. It should be noted that Egyptians and Philistines believed in many gods. None of them were the one true triune God the Father, Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah, and God the Holy Spirit. Or in the case of Jews “We like God the Father, but we don’t know what to think about the other two.” This is a long way of saying that there is no Jewish influence in the area yet. During the time of Egyptians and Philistines occupying Gaza, the Jews of the Biblical nation of Israel (Not to be confused with the Israel we have now) would live next door to these folks who weren’t living how The Lord was telling them to live. There was more tension. Just like God said there would be in Genesis We looked at that in the last chapter.
Then the Assyrians wanted it, then Alexander the Great, who was Macedonian wanted it for the expansion of his empire and Greek ideology. Learn about him here.
After him, the Persians and Babylonians had a crack at Gaza.
Most of the inhabitants were killed during the assault, and the city, which became a center for Hellenistic learning and philosophy, was resettled by nearby Bedouins. The area changed hands regularly between two Greek successor-kingdoms, the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt, until it was besieged and taken by the Hasmoneans in 96 BC.
As people like to do. The city of Gaza was rebuilt after much war and destruction by this guy, Pompey, who then gave it to Herod the Great. He wasn’t that great, but he thought he was.
This is the very same Herod who was so insecure he killed all the boys 2 and under upon hearing about Jesus’ birth and that people were talking about Him being the King of Kings.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[d]19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Matthew 2
At some point this trio would have to be near by Gaza on the way to Egypt. Also this provides historical context for where we are in the world timeline.
Once Herod was dead, the region converted to Christianity for a brief time until General Amr ibn al-As took over and wanted everyone living in Gaza to become Muslims. Learn more about the things he did here. The thing about Islam is that it absolutely needs to be the “most popular” religion even when it’s false. I learned about that during a “Worldview” class at University. My group project was to visit a Mosque, We went there when they happened to have a wedding, and they let us crash it. They were nice to us. We got along with them, but during this time in history that’s not the thing that was going on. You have Islam who wants to expand at any cost. They aren’t going to be willing to get along with Jews or Christians. Not like our friends at the Mosque I just mentioned. You have the Jews living next door, expanding through having kids, so they want Gaza to make more room for that. On top of that you have Christians also living next door. Christians who are called by The Lord to do things like…
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19
and…
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 3:15
and…
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18
Meanwhile, the other two just want to get violent to prove a silly point. As Christians we want everyone to know and love Jesus like we do, but we can’t force anyone to do that. We can be available for God to us us, but the Holy Spirit does all the “conversion work” in a person. It’s not fully up to us. We don’t have to fight anything. God has already won and is in control anyway.
That doesn’t remove the tension of this situation. The Muslims want a place to be, and will fight to keep it. Israel wants to expand and somehow thinks all the people who live in Gaza will magically agree with them when they’ve been taught otherwise.