 Alexander the Great besieged Gaza — the last city to resist his conquest on his path to Egypt — for five months , finally capturing it 332 BCE . Led by a eunuch named Batis and defended by Arab mercenaries , Gaza withstood the siege for two months , until it was overcome by storm . The defenders , mostly local elements , fought to the death and the women and children were taken as captives . The city was resettled by neighboring Bedouins , who were sympathetic to Alexander 's rule . He then organized the city into a polis or " city @-@ state " and Greek culture took root in Gaza which gained a reputation as a flourishing center of Hellenic learning and philosophy . Belonging at first to the Ptolemaic kingdom , it passed after 200 BCE to the Seleucids . 
