• Gaza is 365sq km, 45 km long and 5-12km wide, entirely sealed off from the outside world by an Israeli fence, guarded by watchtowers, snipers and tanks

• Since the 19th century it has been occupied by the Ottomans until the First World War, then the British until 1948 and the Egyptians until 1967. Israel has held the Gaza Strip under military occupation for 38 years, since the Six Day War in 1967

• Gaza's 8,000 settlers are 0.6 per cent of the Gaza Strip's population, alongside 1.3 million Palestinians. Gaza's population exploded in 1948-49 when thousands of Palestinian refugees fled into Gaza to escape fighting between Arab and Jewish forces.

• Most Palestinians in Gaza are the descendants of those refugees: 960,000 live in breeze-block refugee camps such as Jabalya, Beach Camp in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Nusseirat and Rafah.

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• These camps contribute to population densities of 3,954 people per sq km, compared with 463 in the West Bank and are breeding grounds for extremist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

• According to October 2004 figures 38 per cent of Gazans were unemployed and 47 per cent of Palestinians live under the poverty line of $2.1 a day.

• The World Bank identifies Israeli closures, roadblocks and curfews as the main cause of economic disruption. Israel says they are necessary to stop suicide bomb and gun attacks on its population.

• Gaza City is the main Palestinian town, where the Palestinian Authority and security forces have their headquarters. It also has beachside hotels, a football stadium and tower blocks.

• Beit Lahiyah and Beit Hanun are northern towns from which Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have fired home-made rockets into Israeli town and settlements, prompting Israeli retaliation.

• Karni is the truck crossing point from which cheap Palestinian goods pass into Israel. Israeli security precautions require a slow back-to-back system by which trucks are unloaded and loaded onto Israeli vehicles the other side. Palestinians want this replaced with a door-to-door system that would move goods faster. Israelis fear bombs will be smuggled into Israel.

• Rafah is the gateway to Egypt, through an Israeli-controlled crossing point. It was the scene of intense fighting until this year's truce, with nightly gun battles between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

• Often isolated even from the rest of Gaza by Israeli road closures, Rafah is poverty-stricken, angry and a haven for smugglers using tunnels to bring arms and contraband from Egypt. The Palestinians’ airport has lain unused since the start of the intifada after Israel bulldozed the runway.

• There are 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza. Fifteen are in the Gush Katif bloc, where the vast majority of the settlers live. The largest settlement in this cluster is Neve Dekalim, where the municipality offices shops and kosher cafes.

• There is a cemetery with 48 Jewish graves in Gush Katif, including six Israelis killed by Palestinians militants. These will be disinterred.

• Inhabited mainly by religious families Gush Katif is likely to be the final area evacuated, and police fear radical West Bank extremists may put up a fight in some of its more radical settlements, such as Kfar Yam.

• Unlike all the other settlements Kfar Darom was a Jewish area even before the 1948 war, interrupted by Egyptian control of Gaza from 1948-1967.

• The Morag and Netzarim settlements are isolated and ultra-conservative. Netzarim is a deeply unpopular settlement with Palestinians, because of its vital strategic location from which tanks can seal off the north-south Palestinian beach road within minutes.

• The Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit settlements in northern Gaza are small, relatively un-ideological settlements. Many will take the compensation money and leave.

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