 In 1723 , the Ottomans appointed Salih Pasha Tuqan of the Nablus @-@ based Tuqan family to govern Gaza and two other sanjaks until his death in 1742 . In the 1750s , a local Bedouin tribes disposed of the plunder from a Meccan caravan , consisting of 13 @,@ 000 camel @-@ loads of goods , into Gaza 's markets , boosting the city 's wealth . The attack on the caravan was a reprisal to the Ottomans who had recently replaced the governor of Damascus . In 1763 , there was a revolt in Gaza against the Ottomans . Then , in November 1770 , Ali Bey al @-@ Kabir , the rebellious Mamluk sultan of Egypt , sent troops to Gaza to aid Zahir al @-@ Umar in the Galilee , helping him check the power of the Ottomans in the Levant . Gaza was briefly occupied by the French Army under Napoleon Bonaparte , who referred to it as " the outpost of Africa , the door to Asia " , in 1799 . Most of its inhabitants fled as a result . His forces easily razed the remains of the city walls ( which had not been rebuilt since their destruction by Saladin ) , but abandoned the city after their failed siege of Acre that same year . The duration of French influence in Gaza was too short to have a palpable effect . 
