The camp is currently under the control of the
IDF.[3]
History
Al-Shati was established in 1948 for about 23,000 Palestinians who
fled or were expelled by Zionist militias from the cities of
Jaffa,
Lod and
Beersheba as well as surrounding villages during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1971, Israeli authorities demolished over 2,000 shelters for the purpose of widening the roads for security reasons. About 8,000 refugees were forced to leave the camp to the nearby housing project in
Sheikh Radwan in
Gaza City.[2][4][5][6]
Before September 2000, when Israel closed off its border with the
Gaza Strip due to the violence of the
Second Intifada, the majority of al-Shati's work force were laborers in
Israel or worked in agriculture. Today, some refugees work in workshops and sewing factories.[citation needed] A sizable number of the camp's 2453 families depend on fishing for income. It contains a sewage system, a health center and 23 schools (17 primary, 6 secondary).[2]
^BadilArchived 2012-02-16 at the
Wayback Machine During the 1970s, the Israeli military administration destroyed thousands of refugee shelters in the occupied Gaza Strip under the guise of security. Large refugee camps were targeted in particular. Refugees were forcefully resettled in other areas of the occupied Gaza Strip, with a smaller number transferred to the occupied West Bank. In the occupied Gaza Strip, several housing projects were established for these refugees. Some of these projects today are referred to as camps. These include the Canada project (1972), the Shuqairi project (1973), the Brazil project (1973), the Sheikh Radwan project (1974), and the al-Amal project (1979).