Gaza

Gaza (now called Guzzeh), one of the five chief cities of the ancient Philistines, situated in the south-west of Palestine, about three miles from the sea, on the borders of the desert which separates Palestine from Egypt. It is often mentioned in the history of Samson, and was the scene of constant struggles between the Israelites and the Philistines. In 333 B.C. it was taken after a five months' siege by Alexander the Great, and from that time down to 1799, when the French under Kleber captured it, it witnessed the victories of the Maccabees, the Calif Abu-bekr, the Templars, and the heroic Saladin. Constantine the Great, who rebuilt the town, made it the seat of a bishop. The modern Guzzeh is a scattered group of villages. Pop. 16,000.