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Gaza is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, settled for approximately 5,000 years at the junction of trade routes between North Africa and the Levant that empires have always needed and always fought over. The ancient Egyptians recorded it in the military dispatches of Thutmose III in the 15th century BC. The Philistines held it as one of their five city-states. The Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods each left architectural traces, of which the most enduring is the Great Mosque of Gaza, built on a site that was successively a Philistine temple, a Byzantine cathedral, and a Crusader church before its current form.

The Mamluk period, from 1277 to 1516, was by most historical accounts a golden age for the city.

It served as the virtual capital of Palestine under the Ridwan dynasty, a lineage of governors who brought stability and prosperity and left behind some of the most impressive stone architecture still visible in the old city. The ablaq decoration, alternating bands of red and white limestone visible on the Ridwan Castle remains and other Mamluk structures, is a technique that Gaza was particularly known for. The Church of Saint Porphyrius, dating from the Byzantine period with later Crusader and Mamluk alterations, is among the oldest churches still standing in the world.