Sources

Data and statistics

• 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.
• UN OCHA — West Bank monthly snapshot: casualties, property damage and displacement (September 2026) (Oct 2026)
• 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.
• UNOSAT (UN Satellite Centre) — Gaza Strip comprehensive damage assessment (satellite imagery of 16 June 2026), as reported by UN OCHA (June 2026)
• Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) — Journalist casualties in the Israel–Gaza war (24 Sep 2026)
• Peace Now (Israeli anti-settlement group) — Settlements data: population and number of settlements (2026)
• Wikipedia (summary of Times of Israel, NYT and others) — 2023 Israel–Hamas war ceasefire (the November 2023 truce)
• Wikipedia (citing B'Tselem and HaMoked, Israeli rights groups using Israel Prison Service data) — Palestinian prisoners in Israel
• Wikipedia (summary) — International recognition of Palestine
• Wikipedia (summary of news reports) — 2026 Iran war
• Wikipedia (summary, including the Israeli army's findings) — World Central Kitchen aid convoy attack (1 April 2024)
• Wikipedia (summary, including the Israeli army's inquiry) — Killing of 15 medics and rescue workers near Rafah (23 March 2025)
• Wikipedia (summary) — 2025 Donald Trump Gaza Strip takeover proposal
• Wikipedia (summary of intelligence and investigators' findings) — Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion (17 October 2023)
• Wikipedia (summary) — 1929 Palestine riots
• Wikipedia (summary) — Qibya massacre (1953)
• Wikipedia (summary) — Kafr Qasim massacre (1956)
• Wikipedia (summary of the historians' debate) — Plan Dalet (1948)
• Government of Palestine (British Mandate) — Census of Palestine, 1922 and 1931 (summary) (1922, 1931)
• United Nations — Land ownership in Palestine, 1945 (based on the Mandate's Village Statistics) (1945)
• Wikipedia (summary of historians' and UN estimates) — List of estimates of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
• Wikipedia (summary of historians' and Israeli government figures) — Jewish exodus from the Muslim worldIsrael's official figure is about 850,000 from Arab countries and Iran. Historians debate how much of this movement was expulsion and how much was emigration under pressure.
• B'Tselem (Israeli human-rights group) — Statistics on fatalities, including the first and second intifadas
• Wikipedia (Central Elections Commission data) — 2006 Palestinian legislative election
• Wikipedia (summary) — Israeli disengagement from Gaza (2005)
• UN OCHA and B'Tselem (via Wikipedia summaries) — Deaths in the Gaza wars of 2008–09, 2012, 2014 and 2021Israeli military counts for these wars are somewhat lower and include more fighters.
• Wikipedia (summary) — Abraham Accords
• 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.
• Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) — Population of Israel on Independence Day 2026 (Apr 2026)Israel's official figures include residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
• UNRWA (UN agency for Palestine refugees) — Palestine refugees
• Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) — Palestinian public opinion polls
• Israel Democracy Institute — Israeli Voice Index (monthly Israeli public opinion polls)
• Natural Earth (public domain) — Admin 0 – Countries, lakes and coastlines, 1:10m
• UN OCHA / Humanitarian Data Exchange — State of Palestine – subnational administrative boundaries

Reports and reference works

• UN OCHA — Humanitarian situation report, 22 October 2026 (22 Oct 2026)
• UN OCHA — Humanitarian situation update #330: West Bank (Oct 2025)
• UNRWA — Situation report #236 on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank (Oct 2026)
• European Union, United Nations and World Bank — Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (final, covering 24 months of war) (20 Apr 2026)
• World Bank — New report assesses damages, losses and needs in Gaza and the West Bank (18 Feb 2025)
• IPC (global hunger monitor) — Gaza Strip: acute food insecurity and malnutrition, April–December 2026 (23 Jul 2026)
• Human Rights Watch — October 7 crimes against humanity, war crimes by Hamas-led groups (17 Jul 2024)
• European Union (EEAS) — Report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem (January–December 2024) (2025)
• B'Tselem (Israeli human-rights group) — Welcome to Hell: the Israeli prison system as a network of abuse camps (Aug 2024)Israel says detainees are held lawfully and that complaints of abuse are investigated.
• Wikipedia (summary of the US-led Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee report) — Mitchell Report (2001) on the causes of the second intifada
• UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) — Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds (16 Sep 2025)Israel rejected the report as 'distorted and false'.
• The New York Review of Books — Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors (Robert Malley and Hussein Agha) (2001)Written by a US negotiator and a Palestinian adviser. For the Israeli and US negotiators' views, see Dennis Ross, 'The Missing Peace' (2004).
• UN OCHA — Gaza Strip: the humanitarian impact of 15 years of the blockade (June 2022)Israel says the blockade is a security measure to stop weapons reaching Hamas.
• UN OCHA — Protection of civilians report: Great March of Return protests, 2018–2019 (Jan 2020)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Israel
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Gaza Strip
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Zionism
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Arab–Israeli wars
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Six-Day War
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Intifada
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Hamas
• Council on Foreign Relations — Global Conflict Tracker: Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Courts

• International Court of Justice — Application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) (2023–)
• International Court of Justice — Advisory opinion: legal consequences of Israel's policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (19 Jul 2024)
• International Court of Justice — Advisory opinion: legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (9 Jul 2004)
• International Court of Justice — Advisory opinion: obligations of Israel in relation to the UN and other organisations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (22 Oct 2025)
• International Criminal Court — Situation in the State of Palestine (including the arrest warrants of 21 November 2024 for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant) (2024–2026)A warrant was also issued for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed in July 2024.

Original documents

• World Health Organization — Director-General's remarks on humanitarian access and health in Gaza (24 Sep 2026)
• Wikipedia (summary, with the plan's 20 points) — Gaza peace plan (President Trump's 'Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict', 29 September 2025) (2025–2026)
• UN Security Council — Resolution 2803 (2025), endorsing the Gaza peace plan, the Board of Peace and an international stabilisation force (17 Nov 2025)
• Wikipedia (summary) — Arab Peace Initiative (2002)
• Wikipedia (summary) — Palestinian Declaration of Independence (1988), accepting UN Resolutions 181 and 242
• International Committee of the Red Cross — Gaza closure: not another year! (calls the closure a collective punishment) (14 June 2010)Israel says the blockade is lawful self-defence against Hamas.
• Avalon Project, Yale Law School — The Balfour Declaration (2 November 1917) — full text (1917)
• UN General Assembly — Resolution 181 (II): Future government of Palestine (the Partition Plan) (29 Nov 1947)
• UN General Assembly — Resolution 194 (III), including paragraph 11 on refugees (11 Dec 1948)
• UN Security Council — Resolution 242 (1967): 'land for peace' (22 Nov 1967)
• US State Department, Office of the Historian — The Camp David Accords and the Arab–Israeli peace process
• US State Department, Office of the Historian — The Oslo Accords and the Arab–Israeli peace process
• Bill Clinton (US President) — The 'Clinton Parameters': proposal for a final agreement, presented to both sides (23 Dec 2000)
• Avalon Project, Yale Law School — The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas charter), 1988 — English translation (1988)
• Middle East Eye — Hamas in 2017: the document in full ('A Document of General Principles and Policies') (1 May 2017)

Scientific studies

• The Lancet (peer-reviewed medical journal) — Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip, 7 Oct 2023 – 30 June 2024: a capture–recapture analysis (Jamaluddine et al.) (9 Jan 2025)
• The Lancet Global Health (peer-reviewed journal) — Household survey of violent and non-violent deaths in Gaza, Oct 2023 – Jan 2025 (Spagat et al.) (Feb 2026)Israel's government disputes these estimates.

News reports

• Times of Israel — 3 years of war: data shows IDF hit 100,000 targets as 31,500 projectiles fired at Israel (7 Oct 2026)Reports Israeli military (IDF) figures, which cannot be independently checked.
• IPC (global hunger monitor), reported by AP — Famine confirmed in parts of Gaza; 500,000 people experiencing catastrophic hunger (22 Aug 2025)Israel's aid agency COGAT rejected the finding, saying it relied on partial data from Hamas.
• UN News — IPC update: famine pushed back in Gaza, but hunger remains critical (19 Dec 2025)
• The National — Famine reversed in Gaza but hunger crisis remains acute, UN-backed analysis finds (includes COGAT's response) (19 Dec 2025)
• Middle East Monitor, a pro-Palestinian outlet (citing Gaza's Ministry of Health and the Anadolu agency) — Starvation killed 466 Palestinians since 2024, says Gaza health ministry (16 Oct 2026)Ministry figure; not independently verified.
• UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), reported by Vatican News — UN decries 1,760 killed while trying to collect emergency food (Aug 2025)The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the Israeli army disputed these figures.
• AFP, via France 24 — Israel social security data reveals true picture of Oct 7 deaths (15 Dec 2023)
• AFP, via RNZ — Israel army acknowledges 'complete failure' on 7 October (27 Feb 2025)
• Jerusalem Post — IDF probe into the Nova music festival massacre (3 Apr 2025)
• UN News — Reasonable grounds to believe conflict-related sexual violence occurred in Israel on 7 October (UN envoy Pramila Patten's mission report) (4 Mar 2024)
• Times of Israel — All 20 remaining living hostages return to Israel after over 2 years in Hamas captivity (13 Oct 2025)
• AP, via WBAY — The last hostage recovered from Gaza, Ran Gvili, died fighting to save a kibbutz (26 Jan 2026)
• Adnkronos (citing the Israel Prison Service) — Israel has released 1,968 Palestinian prisoners (13 Oct 2025)
• Al Jazeera — What has Trump's Board of Peace achieved in a year since the Gaza ceasefire? (10 Oct 2026)
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Trump's Board of Peace charter signed at Davos (22 Jan 2026)
• Times of Israel (Reuters) — Board of Peace has received only a tiny fraction of the $17 billion pledged for Gaza (Apr 2026)
• AAP (Australian Associated Press) — Israel PM tasks army to take 70 per cent of Gaza Strip (May 2026)
• The National — UN Commission of Inquiry: Israel 'continuing to commit genocidal acts' in Gaza despite ceasefire (26 Oct 2026)Israel rejected the findings and called for the commission to be dissolved.
• Semafor — Gaza's Rafah crossing to Egypt reopens for pedestrians (2 Feb 2026)
• Al Jazeera — At least four Palestinians killed in Gaza as Israeli attacks continue (31 Oct 2026)
• Times of Israel — With all votes counted, Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats, Eisenkot's 48, Arab parties 19 (30 Oct 2026)
• AP, via Boston Globe — Israel's security cabinet approves measures to expand control over the West Bank (8 Feb 2026)
• Jurist (citing a UN Human Rights Office report) — UN report finds Israeli forces forcibly displaced Palestinians from West Bank refugee camps (Sep 2026)Israel describes the operation as counter-terrorism against armed groups in the camps.
• AP, via CBS News — Israel recovers hostages' remains in Gaza; eight hostages rescued alive during the war
• Arab News (AFP, citing Lebanon's Health Ministry and Israeli authorities) — Death toll of the Israel–Hezbollah war (Dec 2024)
• Reuters — US government analysis found no evidence of systematic Hamas theft of US-funded aid in Gaza (July 2025)Israel says Hamas stole aid on a large scale.
• +972 Magazine, Local Call and The Guardian — Reports on an internal Israeli military database of fighters killed in Gaza (Aug 2025)The Israeli army disputed the reports.
• Times of Israel (MEMRI translation of Lebanese TV) — Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad says the group will repeat 7 October 'again and again' (Nov 2023)
• JNS — International Court of Justice extends timeline in South Africa's genocide case against Israel (May 2026)
• Reuters, via GV Wire — US imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court (9 Oct 2026)
• Al Jazeera — What are Areas A, B and C of the occupied West Bank? (2019)

Books — to go deeper

Historians disagree about this history. These books are respected but written from different perspectives; reading at least one from each side is the best way to understand the argument.

• Benny Morris (Israeli historian) — 1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War (Yale University Press) (2008)
• Benny Morris (Israeli historian) — The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge University Press) (2004)
• Rashid Khalidi (Palestinian-American historian) — The Hundred Years' War on Palestine (Metropolitan Books) (2020)
• Anita Shapira (Israeli historian) — Israel: A History (Brandeis University Press) (2012)
• Walid Khalidi, ed. (Palestinian historian) — All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 (Institute for Palestine Studies) (1992)
• Benny Morris (Israeli historian) — Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956 (Oxford University Press) (1993)
• Walid Khalidi (Palestinian historian) — Why Did the Palestinians Leave? (Middle East Forum, 1959; reprinted in the Journal of Palestine Studies, 2005) (1959)

Map credits

Maps are drawn by this site from open data: Natural Earth (public domain) for countries and coastlines; UN OCHA / Humanitarian Data Exchange for the boundaries of Gaza and the West Bank; and other datasets listed in the file data/geo/SOURCES.md of this site's code. Lines from 1947 and today's front line in Gaza are approximate and simplified.