Gaza & Israel, Explained

A plain-English guide · Updated 1 November 2026

Gaza and Israel: the story behind the news

What is happening, how it started, and why it is so hard to stop — told in 10 short chapters you can read in about 35 minutes. With maps, key numbers and their sources, and the way each side sees the story.

Start the story →See the maps

The conflict in 60 seconds

Two peoples — Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs — see the same small piece of land, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, as their homeland. Jews trace their roots there back about 3,000 years. Palestinians have lived there for many centuries and were the large majority until 1948.

In 1948, after Arab leaders rejected a UN plan to divide the land, war broke out and the State of Israel was founded. For Israelis it was independence, won against five Arab armies three years after the Holocaust. For Palestinians it was the NakbaArabic for 'catastrophe'. Palestinians use it for the loss of their homeland in 1948, when about 700,000 fled or were driven out and were not allowed to return. Palestinians mark it every year on 15 May.Palestinians: the central injustice of their history — an expulsion that, they say, has never ended.Many Israelis: a tragedy caused mainly by the war the Arab side started, not by a plan to expel; some Israeli historians disagree.All words explained → — the catastrophe — when about 700,000 of them fled or were driven from their homes and were not allowed to return. In a 1967 war Israel took the West BankLand west of the Jordan River. Jordan ruled it from 1949 to 1967; Israel has occupied it since 1967. About 3.4 million Palestinians and over 700,000 Israeli settlers live there (counting East Jerusalem). Many Israelis call it by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria.All words explained → and Gaza StripA narrow piece of land on the Mediterranean coast, between Israel and Egypt, about 41 km long. Egypt ruled it from 1949 to 1967. Israel occupied it from 1967; in 2005 it withdrew its settlers and soldiers but kept control of Gaza's coast, airspace and border with Israel, so the UN says the occupation continued. Hamas took control in 2007. Since the 2023–25 war, Israeli troops hold most of it.All words explained →, and the Palestinians living there came under Israeli military rule. Israel still occupies the West Bank; it pulled its settlers and soldiers out of Gaza in 2005. Peace talks in the 1990s raised hopes, then collapsed in violence.

Gaza — a strip of land home to People living in Gazaabout 2.1 millionAs of end of 2025Palestinian official estimate (2,127,034). Before the war it was about 2.2 million. About half are children. Most are descendants of refugees from 1948. No census has been possible since the war began.Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) — The Palestinian people at the end of 2025 (Dec 2025)Official Palestinian statistics. No census has been possible in Gaza since the war; Israel disputes some wartime PCBS figures. Palestinians — has been controlled by the IslamistDescribes a political movement that wants government and society to follow Islamic law and values. It is not the same as 'Muslim': most Muslims are not Islamists.All words explained → group HamasA Palestinian Islamist movement with an armed wing, founded in 1987. Its 1988 charter called for Israel's destruction and contained antisemitic language; a 2017 document accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines as a 'national consensus', but still did not recognise Israel and called for the liberation of all of Palestine. It won the 2006 election and took control of Gaza in 2007; since the 2025 ceasefire it still controls the parts of Gaza not held by Israeli troops. The US, the EU, the UK, Canada and others list it as a terrorist organisation.Its supporters: a resistance movement against occupation, and a political party that won an election.Israel and its allies: a terrorist organisation whose aim is to destroy Israel, as 7 October showed.All words explained → since 2007. Hamas and other groups fired thousands of rockets at Israel, and Israel and Egypt kept Gaza under a blockade. On 7 October 2023, Hamas led an attack that killed People killed in Israel on 7 October 2023about 1,200As of October 2026About two-thirds were civilians — around 800, including more than 30 children and dozens of foreign workers. The rest were soldiers, police and security guards. Israel first said 1,400, then corrected it in November 2023.Sources: UN OCHA (UN humanitarian office) — Reported impact snapshot: Gaza Strip, 28 October 2026 (28 Oct 2026)Casualty numbers come from Gaza's Ministry of Health and from the Israeli authorities; the UN marks figures it has not verified itself.AFP, via France 24 — Israel social security data reveals true picture of Oct 7 deaths (15 Dec 2023)Human Rights Watch — October 7 crimes against humanity, war crimes by Hamas-led groups (17 Jul 2024) people in Israel, most of them civilians, and took People taken hostage into Gaza251As of 7 October 2023Babies, children, elderly people, soldiers and foreign workers (mostly from Thailand). Some were already dead when taken. Four other Israelis had been held in Gaza since 2014–15.Source: AP, via WBAY — The last hostage recovered from Gaza, Ran Gvili, died fighting to save a kibbutz (26 Jan 2026) hostages. The war that followed has killed Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October 202374,564As of 28 October 2026Figure from Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government. It does not say how many were fighters. The UN uses these figures; Israel disputes them. Two independent studies published in medical journals suggest the real number of deaths is higher, not lower.Sources: UN OCHA (UN humanitarian office) — Reported impact snapshot: Gaza Strip, 28 October 2026 (28 Oct 2026)Casualty numbers come from Gaza's Ministry of Health and from the Israeli authorities; the UN marks figures it has not verified itself.Gaza Ministry of Health — Casualty reports, as published by UN OCHA (2023–2026)The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government in Gaza. Its counts do not separate fighters from civilians. The UN uses them and found them broadly accurate in earlier wars; Israel disputes them. people in Gaza, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters, and damaged or destroyed most of its buildings.

A ceasefire since October 2025 brought the hostages home. But Gaza is in ruins, Israeli troops hold at least 60% of it, Hamas has not disarmed, Israeli strikes continue, and the deepest questions — borders, security, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and who governs Gaza — are still open.

Tip: tap any bold number to see its source, and any dotted word to see what it means.

The story in 10 chapters

Read them in order — each one builds on the last. About 35 minutes in total.

  1. Chapter 1: The place and the peopleToday · 3 minWhere Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are, who lives there, and why this small piece of land matters so much.
  2. Chapter 2: Two peoples, one land1880s–1947 · 4 minJewish and Arab national movements grow up at the same time, Britain makes promises to both, and the UN proposes to split the land.
  3. Chapter 3: 1948: one war, two memories1947–1949 · 3 minIsrael is born. About 700,000 Palestinians flee or are forced out. Israelis call it the War of Independence; Palestinians call it the Nakba.
  4. Chapter 4: 1967 and the occupation1949–1987 · 4 minIn six days Israel takes the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Sinai and the Golan. Military rule and settlements begin.
  5. Chapter 5: Uprisings and peace talks1987–2005 · 3 minA Palestinian uprising, a historic handshake, a massacre in Hebron, suicide bombings, a prime minister assassinated, a failed summit and a bloodier second uprising.
  6. Chapter 6: Gaza: Hamas and the blockade2005–2023 · 3 minIsrael pulls out of Gaza. Hamas wins an election, then takes Gaza by force. A blockade and repeated wars follow.
  7. Chapter 7: October 7, 20237 October 2023 · 4 minHamas-led fighters break into Israel, kill about 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. It is the deadliest day in Israel's history.
  8. Chapter 8: The war in Gaza2023–2025 · 5 minIsrael's campaign, which Gaza's Health Ministry says has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians; the hostages, famine, destruction on a historic scale, and the courts.
  9. Chapter 9: Ceasefire, and where things standOctober 2025 – today · 3 minA US-brokered ceasefire brings the hostages home and slows the killing. But Gaza lies in ruins and the hardest questions are still open.
  10. Chapter 10: Why is peace so hard?The big questions · 3 minBorders, Jerusalem, refugees, security and settlements — what each side wants, and the futures people imagine.

Explore

Map through time →Slide from 1947 to today and watch the lines move.Key numbers →Population, casualties, destruction — every figure with its source and date.Timeline →From ancient kingdoms to this week, on one page.Words to know →Zionism, Nakba, occupation, terrorism, genocide — what the words mean and why they are disputed.

How this guide tries to be fair

  • Facts first, with sources. Every number says where it comes from and when. When a number is disputed, we say who disputes it.
  • Two stories, told honestly. Where Israelis and Palestinians see events differently, we show both views side by side, in their own terms.
  • Careful words. Many words in this conflict are loaded. We explain them instead of taking sides through vocabulary.
  • People are not their governments. Criticism of a government or an armed group is not criticism of a whole people.

Read our full method →

Content note: this guide describes war, terrorism and the deaths of civilians, including children. It contains no photographs or graphic images.