The Old City of Gaza occupied a low hill in the centre of modern Gaza City and contained nearly all of the strip's significant historic buildings: the Great Mosque, the Church of Saint Porphyrius, Qasr al-Basha, the Hamam al-Sammara, a network of Mamluk- and Ottoman-era mosques and madrasas, and a dense quarter of stone-built courtyard houses. Until the early twenty-first century it remained a working, lived-in district, with the Souk al-Zawiya market threading between its monuments.
The Old City was subdivided into traditional quarters — Daraj, Zaytun, Tuffah, and Shuja'iyya outside the historical walls — each with its own mosque and character. Much of the district has been heavily damaged in successive conflicts, including extensive destruction during the war that began in 2023.