Arabic form of Hebrew 'az "force, strength." Gaza Strip was created by the division of 1949.
Entries linking to gaza
gauze n.
1560s, gais, from French gaze, which is of uncertain origin. It has been conjectured to be from Arabic gazz "raw silk" [Barnhart], or from Gaza, Palestinian city associated with production of this fabric [Klein, Du Cagne], but Century Dictionary calls the latter conjecture, and there has been no evidence for either.