Wildlife of Egypt north, Libya to the west and Sudan to the south. To the east lies the Red Sea, and the Sinai Peninsula, the Asian part of the country, which is bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel. Egypt is a transcontinental nation, providing a land bridge between Africa and Asia. This is traversed by the Suez Canal which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean by way of the Red Sea. This results in the flora and fauna having influences from both Africa and Asia, and the marine life from both the Atlantic / Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea
Gaza Strip weeks preceding the operation. Israel advised people near military targets to leave before the attacks. Palestinian medical staff claimed at least 434 Palestinians were killed, and at least 2,800 wounded, consisting of many civilians and an unknown number of Hamas members, in the first five days of Israeli strikes on Gaza. The IDF denied that the majority of the dead were civilian. Israel began a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on 3 January 2009. Israel rebuffed many cease-fire calls but later declared a cease fire although Hamas vowed to fight on. A total of 1,100–1,400 Palestinians (295–926 civilians) and