Answers reflect publicly available information as of October 2026. Each answer links to a full page with sources so you can check the facts for yourself.
Background & History
What is the Israeli–Palestinian conflict about, in simple terms?
At its core, it is a dispute between two peoples with deep historical ties to the same small land. Jews returned to rebuild a national home in their ancestral homeland, while Palestinian Arabs sought a state of their own. Israel has repeatedly accepted compromise proposals for two states; the conflict has persisted largely because those offers were rejected and because groups like Hamas reject Israel's existence altogether.
Read the full answer →How did the State of Israel come to be in 1948, and what happened to Palestinians at that time (the “Nakba”)?
Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, following the UN's 1947 vote to partition British Mandate Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Jewish leadership accepted the plan; Arab leaders rejected it, and five Arab armies invaded. In the war that followed, roughly 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled — what Palestinians call the Nakba — while a similar number of Jews were later forced out of Arab countries and absorbed by Israel.
Read the full answer →Why is Jerusalem so important to Jews, Muslims and Christians?
Jerusalem has been the spiritual center of Judaism for 3,000 years — the site of the First and Second Temples and the direction of Jewish prayer worldwide. It is also holy to Christians as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, and to Muslims as the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Since reuniting the city in 1967, Israel has guaranteed access to holy sites for all faiths.
Read the full answer →What are the West Bank and Gaza, and who governs them?
The West Bank and Gaza are the two Palestinian territories. Under the 1990s Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into areas run by the Palestinian Authority and areas under Israeli control pending a final agreement. Israel withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005; Hamas seized it by force in 2007, and since the October 2025 ceasefire Gaza has been divided between Israeli-held areas and areas still controlled by Hamas.
Read the full answer →What is Zionism, and is anti-Zionism the same as antisemitism?
Zionism is the movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland — in essence, the belief that Jews, like other peoples, have the right to a nation-state. Criticizing specific Israeli policies is not antisemitic. But denying Jews alone the right to self-determination, or calling for Israel's elimination, is widely regarded as antisemitism, including under the IHRA working definition adopted by dozens of governments.
Read the full answer →The Current War
What happened on October 7, 2023?
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorists broke through the Gaza border and attacked southern Israeli communities, a music festival and army posts. About 1,200 people were murdered — the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust — and 251 people were taken hostage into Gaza. The atrocities, including documented sexual violence, triggered the war in Gaza.
Read the full answer →What is Hamas, and what does it want?
Hamas is an Islamist militant group founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others. Its 1988 charter calls for Israel's destruction, and it ruled Gaza from 2007 until the 2023 war, using the territory to build a vast tunnel network and rocket arsenal.
Read the full answer →Why did Israel go to war in Gaza, and what were its goals?
Israel went to war in self-defense after the October 7 massacre. Its stated goals were to bring every hostage home, dismantle Hamas's military and governing capabilities, and ensure Gaza could never again threaten Israeli citizens. By January 2026, every hostage — living and deceased — had been returned; the remaining goal of disarming Hamas is still unfinished.
Read the full answer →How many people have been killed in Gaza and in Israel, and who counts the casualties?
About 1,200 people were killed in Israel on October 7, and hundreds of Israeli soldiers have since fallen in combat. In Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry reports more than 70,000 deaths; in January 2026 a senior IDF official said Israel's own estimate was similar. Those totals do not separate civilians from combatants — the IDF says it killed more than 22,000 terrorists — and every death in this war is a tragedy that Hamas set in motion.
Read the full answer →What is the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and how does aid get in?
The war caused severe hardship for Gaza's civilians, and conditions remain difficult. Israel facilitated the entry of large volumes of food, medicine and fuel through its crossings throughout the war, while Hamas diverted aid for its own use. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, aid flows have increased, the Rafah crossing reopened in February 2026, and an international stabilization mission is beginning to support distribution.
Read the full answer →What happened to the hostages, and are any still in Gaza?
Hamas and other groups took 251 hostages on October 7. Through military rescues and negotiated deals, all of them have now come home: the final 20 living hostages were released on October 13, 2025, and the remains of the last deceased hostage were recovered on January 26, 2026 — fulfilling Israel's promise to bring every one of them back.
Read the full answer →Is there a ceasefire, and what are its terms?
Yes. A ceasefire based on President Trump's 20-point peace plan took effect on October 10, 2025, and was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803. Phase one — the return of all hostages, prisoner releases and a partial Israeli pullback — is complete. Phase two, which requires Hamas to disarm before Israel withdraws further and reconstruction begins, has stalled because Hamas refuses to give up its weapons.
Read the full answer →Legal & Moral Questions
Is Israel committing genocide? What did the International Court of Justice actually rule?
No court has found that Israel committed genocide. In South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice, the Court issued provisional measures in 2024 but made no ruling on the merits; the case is still in written pleadings, with filings scheduled into 2029. Israel rejects the accusation as false: genocide requires intent to destroy a people, while Israel's documented aim was to defeat Hamas and free the hostages.
Read the full answer →What does international law say about self-defense, proportionality and civilian casualties?
International law recognizes every state's right to self-defense and allows attacks on legitimate military targets. "Proportionality" does not mean equal casualties; it means the expected civilian harm must not be excessive compared to the concrete military advantage expected. The law also places responsibility on parties like Hamas that deliberately use civilians and civilian sites as shields.
Read the full answer →Are the West Bank settlements legal?
This is one of the most contested legal questions in the conflict. Israel's position is that the West Bank is disputed territory to which the Jewish people have deep historical and legal claims, so Jewish communities there are not illegal. Most of the international community, the UN Security Council (Resolution 2334) and a 2024 ICJ advisory opinion take the opposite view under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel rejects.
Read the full answer →Is Israel an "apartheid" state?
No. Israel's roughly two million Arab citizens — about one in five Israelis — vote, serve in the Knesset, sit on the Supreme Court, practice medicine and have served in a governing coalition. Apartheid was a South African system of legally enforced racial segregation; the situation in the West Bank stems from an unresolved national and security conflict, not a racial ideology.
Read the full answer →Regional & Global
What role do Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis play in the conflict?
Iran leads the "Axis of Resistance," funding and arming Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq and Syria to attack Israel from all sides. After the October 7 attack, these proxies opened multiple fronts. Israel and the U.S. struck Iran's nuclear program in June 2025, and a wider U.S.–Israeli war with Iran began in February 2026; Hezbollah and the Houthis joined in, and the situation remains unsettled.
Read the full answer →What are the Abraham Accords, and could Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel?
The Abraham Accords are U.S.-brokered agreements, beginning in 2020, that normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan; Kazakhstan joined in 2025–26. They have survived years of war and produced booming trade, tourism and security cooperation. Saudi normalization remains the biggest prize: the U.S. has tied it to a civil nuclear deal, while Riyadh has insisted on a credible pathway for Palestinians.
Read the full answer →Why does the U.S. support Israel, and how much aid does it give?
The U.S. supports Israel because of shared democratic values, deep cultural and religious ties, and strategic interests — Israel is America's most capable ally in a volatile region. Under a 2016 agreement, the U.S. provides $38 billion over ten years (2019–2028), mostly as military aid that must be spent in the United States. In 2026, the two countries opened talks on a new framework that would shift from aid toward joint development and trade.
Read the full answer →The Future
Is a two-state solution still possible, and what would peace look like?
Many leaders still describe two states as the goal, but most Israelis today believe a Palestinian state is impossible while Hamas remains armed and incitement continues. Peace will require Palestinian leadership that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, renounces terrorism and accepts demilitarization. Normalization with Arab states, regional economic cooperation and Gaza's reconstruction without Hamas could build the foundations.
Read the full answer →