Rafah is situated in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in Palestine, at the border with Egypt. In ancient times, it was an important settlement on the Othmans road, connecting Egypt with the Al-Sham countries
(Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine).

According to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel at Camp David in 1982, Rafah was divided into two parts: One part was assinged to Egypt, the other part to the Gaza Strip (Palestine).

Today, the city has about 130.000 inhabitants and is surrounded by several refugee camps.