The Gaza Strip is a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Israel to the east and Egypt to the south. The 141-square-mile (365-sq-km) area, home to about 2.3 million people, has been separated by a fence since 1994 and under a land, sea and air blockade since 2007. Gaza is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist militant group, Hamas, which has been in conflict with Israel for decades. This weekend, Hamas broke the Gaza-Israel barrier in a violent attack, and

Israel removed parts of a concrete anti-tank barrier in southern Israel as plumes of smoke rose from the Gaza Strip on Monday (September 1). Concrete barriers erected between Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip to shield the community from tank fire were dismantled, more than two years after their installation, in a move signaling a reduced threat level from the enclave. | ABS-CBN News