Gaza City was founded in the 15th century BC and is one of the major and ancient Palestinian cities. It was one of the cities of the five Palestinian kingdoms. Canaanite ruins and pagan temples were found there. It was an important commercial center throughout the ages. It was mentioned in the Bible several times and appeared on the Madaba mosaic archaeological map (6th century AD).

The ancient city of Gaza was built on a hill, and was surrounded by a wall with five towers, two of these towers at the southern entrance to the city, and there are two rows of columns along the north-south colonnaded street, showing on Madaba’s mosaic map several important places and buildings, as indicated above.