The Egyptians administered this territory, but refused to annex it, contrary to what Jordan did in the West Bank. David Ben Gurion proposed to annex the Gaza Strip and to resettle its Palestinian refugees throughout Israel.

This offer was rebuffed both by the United Nations and by the Arab states, which would not accept Israeli territorial expansion. An Egyptian-run Gaza inexorably became a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism. It was sometimes directed against Egypt’s ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser, as during an uprising in 1955. Or it could be manipulated by Egyptian intelligence, which trained the first Palestinian Fedayeen ― freedom fighters or terrorists, depending on your point of view ― for missions in Israel.

Source: International New York Times. August 27, 2014.