FACTBOX: Key facts about the Gaza Strip

(Reuters) - Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip continued for a 17th day on Monday.

Following are some key facts about the territory.

WHAT IS IT, AND WHERE?

* The Gaza Strip is a sliver of towns, villages and farmland at the southeast end of the Mediterranean, 45 km (25 miles) long and at most 10 km (6 miles) wide. It is wedged between Israel to the north and east, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the south.

HISTORY OF THE TERRITORY:

* The city of Gaza has been settled for 3,000 years. A hub for trans-Arabian camel trains linking Asia and Europe, it was a crossroads of civilizations. In the Bible, blinded Jewish hero Samson brought down the temple at Gaza of the Philistines, whose name gives us today's Palestinians. It is also believed to be the burial place of the Prophet Mohammad's great grandfather.

* Four centuries of rule by the Ottoman Empire were briefly interrupted by Napoleonic France and also saw growing Egyptian influence until Britain took control of Gaza and the rest of Palestine in World War One. Land Egypt occupied around the city in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war became known as the Gaza Strip.

* The Strip's population tripled in 1948-49 when it absorbed about a quarter of the 700,000 or more Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced out of areas that are now part of Israel.

* Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the 1967 war and pulled out again in September 2005.

* In January 2006, the Islamist movement Hamas, helped by support in Gaza, won a Palestinian parliamentary election.

* Israel conducted large-scale ground operations in June 2006 after militants tunneled across the Gaza border and captured an Israeli soldier, who is still being held.

* A year later, Hamas Islamists took control of the Gaza Strip after routing President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces.

* Israel tightened the closure of its borders with Gaza, curbing fuel supplies and limiting movement of people. International organizations have condemned the blockade, which Israel says is meant to curb rockets fired by militants.

* Under an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in June, Hamas agreed to halt rocket fire in return for Israel easing the blockade. Hamas declared the end of the truce on December 18.

* Israel launched an air offensive on December 27 and a ground campaign on January 3. In 17 days, over 900 Palestinians died, many of them civilians. Israel lost 7 soldiers and 3 civilians.

WHO LIVES THERE?

* About 1.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, more than half of them classed as refugees from past wars with Israel, including their descendants. Gaza has one of the highest population densities and demographic growth rates in the world.

* Most Gazans live on less than $2 a day and up to 80 percent are dependent on food aid, according to aid groups.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)