Canaanite Era (3000-1200 BC)

In the Canaanite era, the coastal road occupied a special importance, and it was called the Horus Road, as it served as a major trade route linking Egypt to Egypt and Syria. In the land of Canaan, there was both peace and war, and the beginning of urbanization was a few kilometers away from the shore and parallel to it, as there was exploitation of the natural phenomena, which was confined between the eastern and western hills of the city.

The effects of the Canaanites in Gaza showed that the economy of this area was based on agriculture and industry.

The effects of the Canaanites in Gaza showed that the economy of this region was based on agriculture and industry as Gaza is a strategic border city, the well-known historian adds that the city of Gaza in its early stages was flourishing, surrounded by a huge wall, and was famous for its land and sea trade with the countries of Europe, East Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. It was dug for the purpose of storing grain and shipping it to the island of Crete and the countries located in the Mediterranean basin.

The city naturally provided an element of safety, as it was not possible to see travelers from the sea. In the Canaanite era, the city of Gaza became one of the five largest cities in Palestine: Akron, Gate, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza . The Canaanites were city builders and were skilled in the art of building and cutting huge stones.

As for the location of the original city, it is still subject to doubts and assumptions, but it is believed that the old city originated, in most cases, in one of these sites:

• Tel al-Ajal in the north of the Gaza Valley, but it was abandoned to the current location of Gaza as a result of the destruction and the spread of epidemics and diseases that afflicted Tal al-Ajal after the defeat of the Hyksos over the Fari'ah.
• The current location of the old town.
• Next to the beach, next to the Anthedon area, northwest of the city.

Greek Era (332-65 BC)

The city was surrounded by defensive walls, where the wall had eight main gates, each called the site or the city he is heading to, and during this period, the port of Anthedon was established northwest of the city. Sidra Street is currently part of the old road between the city center and the port.

The city prospered and gained from the Greek civilization the manufacture of mosaics, which spread in the buildings.” Claire Mann Gano says in the book Archaeological Research in Palestine, describing the Greek period (that the houses of Gaza show that the city is one of the richest Palestinian cities) “and this is evidenced by the engraved stones, huge columns and walls scattered in City.

Roman and Byzantine Era (65 BC- 637 AD)

Gaza enjoyed a commercial character as a port on the southern trade road and the presence of its active port. Byzantine Mr. Doni described the port of Gaza as filled with various commercial and military ships of the empire, painted in gold, a symbol of the navy. “Gaza city was isolated from its port on the coast, and the city had a huge wall, on which were defense castles spread across four strategic points near the gates, and the fence took a rectangular shape.” The streets were planned perpendicular. The city has two main perpendicular streets, and the center of the intersection is a square, with the city's central market.

The city was reconstructed after it was demolished and many temples were built in it, the most important of which is the Temple of Marna, the paving of roads, the construction of a drainage network and the construction of dams. Among the remaining monuments in Gaza City is the Roman wall in the Balakhiya area, east of Anthedon port, north of Al-Shati refugee camp. During the Christian entry into Gaza city, the pagan temples were closed.” Orthodox Church and Church of St. Porphyrios.

Gaza became a commercial center in the second and third centuries AD; The Romans established a residential city on the site of the current Balachia on the shore of the sea and the Romans established tombs.

A map of the city of Gaza appeared during the Byzantine era on the mosaic floor of Madaba in Jordan. It dates back to the last period of Emperor Justinian's reign (565 - 537 AD), where streets, public buildings, markets and the city's theater appeared.

Islamic Era (638-1100 AD)

Gaza remained with its commercial status.” And since the Islamic conquest, the governor has taken it as an administrative capital from which his orders fall away Because of its distinguished location, the Crusaders built strong fortresses when they occupied Gaza after demolishing the old walls.

In the early Islamic periods, the city was destroyed due to natural factors, successive wars, and the Crusaders. “Since the Islamic conquest, the population has settled within the city walls.” The city remained walled with doors that closed after sunset, the eight gates of Gaza City:

1. On the northern side of the city, Bab Ashkelon is related to the city of Ashkelon and is located next to the Sidra junction.
2. On the northern side of the city, Bab Ashkelon is also located near Al-Shawa Square.
3. From the eastern side of the city, Bab al-Khalil is located near the Shejaiya police station and the Post office.
4. From the eastern side of the city, Bab Al-Muntar is located at the confluence of the end of Al Kamaliya Street with Helmy Street Tarzani and offset by Tal Al-Mentar.
5. From the military side of the city, Bab Al-Darum, near the Al-Sham`a Mosque.
6. From the southwestern side of the city, Bab al-Bahr is located near the Asqaleh junction.
7. From the western side of the city, Bab Mimas is related to the port of Gaza in the Roman era.
8. From the western side of the city, Bab Al-Balakhiya, near the Khalid Mosque.
   

After Salah al-Din returned to Gaza, new neighborhoods began to appear on the eastern side.” Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood, which was named after one of its leaders, who was built at the gates of the city, and he is the bravest of the Kurdish religion.” Its southern part is the Turkmen neighborhood in relation to the Turkish Turkmen tribes on whom Salah al-Din relied in his battles; After the second defeat of the Crusaders after Hattin in the middle of the thirteenth century AD, the number and density of the population increased in the city of Gaza and its surroundings, the Shujaiya neighborhood, and the Al-Mashahra tribe settled north of the city within the Al-Tuffah neighborhood as well as the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, during the reign of the righteous King Najm Al-Din Ayoub, the last king of the Ayyubid state.

The main streets were established, such as Salah El-Din Street.” During the Mamaki era, the city developed and was built Mosques, schools, and bimarstins.” During their reign, Gaza City was considered the main city in Palestine.

Mumluk Era (1100-1517 AD)

In the Mamluk period, which started from 648 AH corresponding to 1250 AD and lasted more than two and a half centuries that it is still standing.” The traveler Ibn Battuta described it in 1377 AD, saying: “Then we walked until we reached the city of Gaza.” It is the first of the Levant countries that follow Egypt. In 1418 AD, he mentioned that “Gaza is on the edge of the sand between Egypt and the Levant, taking between the land and the sea on both sides, built on a high outcrop about a mile from the Roman Sea.” It is medium-sized with mosques, schools, corners, and markets with healthy air, and its people drink from wells and where rain gathers.

The first stage of urban planning for the mother city (the hill)

The hill city was so named as a result of its height above its surroundings on all four sides, and it is almost round in shape its area is about 700 dunums; It was surrounded by a wall before the Greek era “and continued in the later periods” and around the city were many orchards and their houses were built of mud and mud. As for mosques and baths, they were built of stones.

The buildings were compact apartment blocks with narrow and winding streets and closed alleys (the compact fabric) »and the city’s definitions were functional according to the craft practiced by the residents »there are the Zayatin market, the carpenter market, and the Soroujia market, located in the Zaytoun neighborhood, then the linen, Ghazaleen and Khadaria market in the center and west of the city, which is to the west The Great Omari Mosque is called Al-Bergalia (currently the Al-Daraj neighborhood) and was named for the residence of the towers’ soldiers there. In the center of the city and around its citadel, there are baths in the middle of Rabat Al-Mansuri (later Al-Zeit Khan) with all its functions as a commercial exchange and a hotel for travelers and merchants “and the baths have their recreational and health functions” until Ibn Khaldun made them From the manifestations of (seafaring cities); And there are three bathrooms centered in its heart, which are the market bath, the castle bath, and the tannoura bath, as mentioned in the Ottoman notebook, which is the location of the Samra bath. The cemetery of Bani Mays is on the edge of the eastern city, on which the school of Hashem was built. On the north, the cemetery of al-Awza’i. On the west and near Bab al-Bahr, the cemetery of Sheikh Shaaban Abu al-Qarun. On the southern side, opposite Bab al-Darum, where the martyrs of the Crusade were buried, their names were recorded on marble columns, so it was called a cemetery. The pillars »» this is the first episode of the hill city of Gaza to expand during the Ayyubid and Mamluk period and bypass these tombs to enter the second phase, represented in the neighborhood of Al-Shujaiya, Al-Tuffah and Al-Zaytoun.

The second stage of urban planning for the hill

The city has reached the pinnacle of maturity in its size and breadth, and the city has come out of its walls to extend eastward In the south and north, since the Ayyubid period, reaching the full extent of its expansion with the end of the Mamluk period; And there are new neighborhoods, which are Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood, which includes the Turkmen and Al-Jadida in the east, and Hakar Al-Tuffah in the north, and Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the south, and it lives in the mother city (Al-Taliyah) as a horse shoe. As for the western side, it was sand dunes and unsuitable for agriculture. Like the area of ​​the mother city (the hill) » what was built by the Ayyubids and the Mamluks over a period of about two centuries exceeds thousands of years:

1. Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood: It is located to the east of the hill city. The first inhabitants of this neighborhood were the Turkmen Islamic tribes, who came with the Ayyubids to the Crusaders’ shell, where they settled in the southern part of the neighborhood that was named by their name, the Turkmen.” As for the northern section, it is known as Al-Jadida neighborhood, whose streets were inhabited by Kurds opposite the Sayyid Ali al-Mughrabi Mosque. It was called the Kurdish Quarter. The mosques were among the prominent signs in the planning of the new neighborhoods. Most of the streets in this neighborhood are hardly devoid of a mosque at its beginning, middle, or end. »This neighborhood consists of two main streets perpendicular from north to south and from east to west »and branched from them are parallel and semi-straight longitudinal streets« at the intersection of the two main streets there is the main market of the district» and from the beginning of this street from the north side there is the mosque of Sayyid Ali Al-Mughrabi (Al-Tawashi) with his school in the middle of them Shrine of Sheikh Masfari, and from the military side of this street in the Turkman neighborhood is the end of the market. “This market street is where different professions are distributed.” At its southern end is the blacksmiths market, then comes the carpenters market in the north, then the Al-Gharabeliyah market in the middle, followed by the Al-Attarin market, and at the intersection the vegetable market ends in the north with the shops of dyers There are many mosques in the neighborhood, as well as schools, including the Mosque of Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Maghrabi School, the Jami’ Ibn Othman School, the Bastieh School, the Court School and the Qaitbay School. Which disappeared to end in the southeast with the sheep market and a cemetery that marks the end of the Mamluk urban borders, called the cemetery of Al-Tunisi or Al-Taflisi.
2. Haker al-Tuffah neighborhood: The name was derived from the large number of apple trees in this neighborhood. Its houses were gathered around its main mosque, the Ibaki Mosque and the Ali bin Marwan Mosque, which was next to it, and the Ibn Othman Mosque. To the north of it, another mosque was destroyed, the Juma Mosque. To the north of it directly there is amputation. Al-Ajmaqiyah, its sabil, and a mill.” And near Al-Ajmiyya, the Sidra Mosque.
3. Al-Zaytoun neighborhood: It has been famous for its abundance of olive cultivation since ancient times. It extended with the southern foot of the city and behind Bab The Darom” and several mosques were built in it and they have disappeared.” It contains the cemetery of the martyrs, and it contains columns with the names of the martyrs written on it. It was known as the cemetery of the pillars. And this is the second cycle of urban development in the city until the end of the Mamluk period and it also ended with tombs “and its urban status continued to be stable throughout four centuries of the Ottoman era and until the beginning of the British Mandate” so its borders remained the same where from the north the pool of Qamar, which is adjacent to the Al-Ajmiya waterwheel. To the east, the Friday market in Shejaia, to the south by Al-Awamid neighborhood in the Zaytoun neighborhood, and to the west by Firas market.
   

Ottman Era (1517-1916 AD)

The Al-Ridha family inherited the rule of Gaza since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire from 1530-1681 AD. During some periods of their rule, the city witnessed stability, security and economic prosperity. During the Ottoman era, some buildings were renewed and reconstructed, such as the Sheikh Khalid Mosque, the Sayyid Hashem Mosque, and the Cateeb Mosque.

Some buildings such as Qashkar Mosque, Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque, Sabeel Al-Rifai, Al Radwan Palace, and a large number of residential homes.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the Turkish tourist (Eulia Chalabi) visited the city of Gaza. He mentioned that the city has six neighborhoods that contain 1,300 houses, all of which are built of stone and their roofs are covered with mud and lime.” The names of these neighborhoods were mentioned in the Ottoman notebook 522 for the year 1549 A.D.: Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood and Dar Al-Khader neighborhood Hekar Al-Tuffah, Al-Zaytoun Neighborhood, Al-Bergalia and Al-Akrad Quarter (now the new), as well as the city had ten markets and forty-nine mosques and mosques, of which twenty-three mosques were destroyed. Many of them to transfer their property to the endowment.

In Gaza at the end of the eighteenth century there were about four thousand houses; five hundred shops; Forty machines for textiles, two soaps, four sesame oil presses, six oil presses, one mill, and six coffee houses. Travelers descend on the Khans, including Khan al-Zayt.

British occupation Era (1918-1948 AD)

The city of Gaza expanded during this period in a way that differed from the traditional style of the city, especially towards the west (the sea) where the sand dunes are located. Especially for the regulation of cities, such as the City Planning Law of 1936 AD; And the system of buildings in the old city of Gaza in 1938 AD, and these laws have remained until today without change or development. These laws had an impact on the city’s shape and planning, and the architectural character differed due to the economic and social development “and the entry of new building materials and construction methods different from the previous” and the lands were divided into pieces and vouchers», which led to the emergence of separate buildings such as villas instead of conventional adjacent buildings related.

Many of the remaining mosques were demolished under the pretext of constructing and expanding roads, including the Sheikh Ali Al-Andalusi Mosque to open Fahmy Bey Street and Al-Mubasher Bath, and as a result of neglecting all public facilities and archaeological buildings, which collapsed and disappeared and turned into ruins. (Gaza Municipality 21996 » pg 4) » Many buildings have been restored, especially the Great Omari Mosque after it was destroyed during the period of occupation of Gaza City by the British forces. Also, Omar Mukhtar Street was connected to Salah al-Din Street, which demolished some buildings as shown in the pictures.

Egyptian Era (1948-1967 AD)

After the catastrophe in 1948, large numbers of immigrants fled to Gaza, where they were accommodated in tents, then the Shati refugee camp was built on the sea of the city in the early fifties. A detailed plan was drawn up for New Gaza, which includes the northern and southern sand regions.

Israel occupation Era (1967-2022 AD)

During this period, Sheikh Radwan neighborhood appeared in Gaza City; And there were difficulties in issuing building permits as well as the construction process “in addition to closing the streets and destroying houses” and the neighborhoods were planned according to the Zionist military vision “which led to impeding proper urban growth” and neglecting infrastructure development projects” and thus negatively affected any urban development and increased in The occupation continued to encroach on land and endowment properties, which worsened the archaeological areas.

Palestinian authority Era (1994-2022 AD)

After the demise of the Israeli occupation and the advent of the Palestinian National Authority, many of the obstacles that the occupation had placed in the face of Palestinian construction, have been removed. This led to the emergence of a comprehensive urban boom. Figure (1/1), but there were no ready-made plans to work according to them, especially at the beginning of this urban revolution.Which led to randomness in the construction and planning, as well as the conflict between the regulatory laws and land ownership led in many cases to a defect in the use of lands used by lands.

In addition, the citizens’ failure to observe some of the regulatory laws and the spread of many buildings without permits and without adherence to the regulatory conditions and laws led to various urban problems.

However, some improvements began to appear in some aspects of the infrastructure, registration of some archaeological facilities, the restoration of some of them, and the issuance of laws to prevent the demolition of any archaeological and monumental facilities, and the destruction of valuables, and some individuals and associations concerned with this field appeared, and combined efforts to achieve this, but things started to deteriorate again after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.