Under Assyrian and Babylonian Rule. Toward the close of the ninth century B.C.E., through his prophet Amos, Jehovah stated that he would send “a fire” onto the walls of Gaza, this in retribution for its taking exiles to hand over to the Edomites. (Am 1:6, 7) Although the “exiles” are not specifically identified as Hebrews, likely the allusion is to captives taken by the Philistines in raids on Judah.​—Compare 2Ch 21:16, 17; Joe 3:4-6.

Not long thereafter, about the middle of the eighth century B.C.E., Gaza began to experience the “fire” of war. According to Assyrian annals, Tiglath-pileser III conquered Gaza, but its king, Hanno, fled to Egypt. (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, p. 283) Apparently Hanno was soon able to return to Gaza, for Sargon II claims to have defeated both him and the Egyptian army under Sibʼe allied with him. Sargon II claims to have personally captured Hanno and taken him away in fetters.​—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 285.

In the time of Jeremiah, Egypt’s army struck down Gaza. (Jer 47:1) Before this event, Jehovah’s utterance against the Philistines indicated that calamity from the N awaited them: “Baldness must come to Gaza.” (Jer 47:2-5; see also Jer 25:17, 20.) As suggested by other passages in Jeremiah (1:14; 46:20), the “waters” from “the north” mentioned at Jeremiah 47:2 evidently denote the Babylonian armies. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did, in fact, gain control over this area (2Ki 24:1, 7), and the king of Gaza is mentioned in Babylonian inscriptions. (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 308) Consequently, the words “before Pharaoh proceeded to strike down Gaza” (Jer 47:1) appear simply to identify the time when the utterance of Jehovah regarding the Philistines came to Jeremiah. They would not necessarily be directly related to the coming expression of judgment “from the north” thereafter discussed.

Destroyed. The prophet Zephaniah, a contemporary of Jeremiah, sounded a like judgment from Jehovah for Gaza: “An abandoned city is what she will become.” (Zep 2:4) And Zechariah’s prophecy, recorded after Babylon’s fall, pointed to future calamities: “[Gaza] will also feel very severe pains.” (Zec 9:5) History confirms the fulfillment of the foretold calamities. In the latter half of the fourth century B.C.E., Alexander the Great, after a five-month siege (two months, according to Jewish Antiquities, XI, 325 [viii, 4]), took Gaza. Many of its inhabitants were slain and the survivors were sold into slavery. Over 200 years later, the Jew Alexander Jannaeus, after a year’s siege, completely devastated the city.​—Jewish Antiquities, XIII, 364 (xiii, 3).