How large is Gaza?

Today, the world news is on two dreadful things: yesterday’s shooting down of a Malaysian airlines plane over Ukraine, and the continual fighting in Gaza and Israel. As I was watching the newsreel momentarily in the office, a colleague pondered ‘how large is Gaza’?

The answer is 360 sq km, with a population of 1.82m (Wikipedia); Israel 20,770 sq km, 7.91m; and Wales, by comparison, 20,761 sq km, 3.064m.

(An area the size of Wales is the standard British comparator). Overlaid on a graph (using mapfrappe.com):

So, 60% of the people as compared to Wales, in an area 58 times smaller. Or about one quarter of the people than Israel, in an area also around 58 times smaller.

Of course, the above says nothing about the conflict or its causes. To me, it just adds to the tragedy of the region.

Posted with Blogsy