History

In antiquity, Gaza was the principal port city on the Mediterranean that served the Incense Road

Incense Road

The Incense trade route or the Incense Road of Antiquity comprised a network of major ancient trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with Eastern sources of incense , stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Arabia to India...

. It was originally known as "Maioumas," which is linked to a licentious pagan festival. The Port of Gaza was at the end of the Nabataean spice road

Spice trade

Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...

. Where trade with the West in herbs, spices incense, drapery, glass and food on the backs of camels came from Southern Arabia (the Kingdom of Sheba

Sabaeans

The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula.Some scholars suggest a link between the Sabaeans and the Biblical land of Sheba....

) through Petra

Petra

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...

, the Arava Valley

Arabah

The Arabah , also known as Aravah, is a section of the Great Rift Valley running in a north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea and continuing further south where it ends at the Gulf of Aqaba. It includes most of the border between Israel to the...

 and crossing Negev

Negev

The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

 Desert via Avdat

Avdat

Avdat , also known as Ovdat or Obodat was the most important historic city on the Incense Route after Petra between the 7th and the 1st centuries BCE. It was inhabited by Nabataeans, Romans and Byzantines. It was a seasonal camping ground for Nabataean caravans travelling along the early Petra -...

 and ending at the port of Gaza for dispatched to the European markets.Alexander Jannaeus

Alexander Jannaeus

Alexander Jannaeus was king of Judea from 103 BC to 76 BC. The son of John Hyrcanus, he inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus I, and appears to have married his brother's widow, Shlomtzion or "Shelomit", also known as Salome Alexandra, according to the Biblical law of Yibbum...

' conquest of Gaza (99 BCE) that denied the Nabateans access to the port and trade with Rome led to Obodas

Obodas I

Obodas I was King of the Nabateans from 96 BC to 85 BC. He was the successor of Aretas II, from whom he inherited the war with the Hasmonean kingdom. He defeated them around 93 BC on the Golan Heights....

 launching a military campaign against the Hasmonean

Hasmonean

The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...

 King. The destruction of the Hasmonean army in the Golan Heights precipitated a decline in Hasmonean fortunes. Gaza Port was rebuilt after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 in 63 BCE under the command of Pompey Magnus and trade routes were reopened.

Modern times

The Port of Gaza is located in the Rimal

Rimal

Rimal or Remal is a district in Gaza located from the city center. Situated along the coastline, it has been considered the most prosperous neighborhood in Gaza. The main street that runs through Gaza, Omar Mukhtar Street runs northwest-southeast in the district and the main coastal road, Ahmad...

 district of Gaza

Gaza

Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

. Before World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, it was a busy port. It is home to the Palestinian

Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

 Naval Police force. In 2007, after the election of Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 imposed a naval blockade. Restrictions were tightened after Hamas took full control. Several attempts to break the Israeli blockade were made. Israel has prevented most ships from docking at the port of Gaza, but has allowed at least two boats, carrying activists and some supplies to reach the port. An Iranian ship sailing from Bandar Abbas

Bandar Abbas

Bandar-Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās , also Romanized as Bandar ‘Abbās, Bandar ‘Abbāsī, and Bandar-e ‘Abbās; formerly known as Cambarão and Port Comorão to Portuguese traders, as Gombroon to English traders and as Gamrun or Gumrun to Dutch merchants) is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on...

 to the port of Gaza, with humanitarian aid, was diverted during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict

2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict

The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...

.

In 2005, Israel approved Palestinian plans to rebuild and complete the Port of Gaza, which was destroyed by Israeli forces following the outbreak of the Second Intifada. Some academics have argued that a port which is under full Palestinian control is an essential step to achieving a lasting peace between Israel and a future Palestinian state.