ABSTRACT
The area of the Gaza Strip is 140 sq. miles. It is 29 miles long and for the most part 3-5 miles wide. Its widest point in the south near the Egyptian border is 10.6 miles. It is long and narrow and mostly covered by sand dunes. It has two linear transport arteries, a coastal road and a railway. Three areas are discernible in the Strip: the western belt characterized by dunes 3 miles wide, among which are small cultivated sectors using underground water which is close to the surface there; the folded valley in the centre, 1.2-1.8 miles wide, where most of the cultivable land is to be found, with alluvial soil that was deposited by Wadi Gaza; and a sandstone ridge 240-300 ft. high cut in several places by riverbeds.
