Aligned Nations · The wars

Gaza and the West Bank

⚔ The aggressor

Israel, as the occupying power

Israel has occupied the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 and blockaded Gaza since 2007; the ICJ held in July 2024 that the occupation is unlawful and must end. The current war was opened by Hamas's attack of 7 October 2023, itself a crime against civilians.

Backed by

  • The United States → IsraelAt least $21.7 billion in military aid since October 2023 (Brown University, Costs of War), on top of $3.8 billion a year, and its veto of Security Council ceasefire resolutions.
  • Germany → IsraelIsrael's second arms supplier — about 30% of its major arms imports in 2019–23 (SIPRI).
  • Iran → HamasMoney, weapons and training for Hamas and Islamic Jihad over many years, by Iran's own leaders' account.

Their case: Israel says the 7 October attack made it the defender, acting in self-defence against Hamas.

Palestine · since October 2023 · updated 2026-10-12

Deaths: More than 74,000 Palestinians (Gaza Health Ministry; a Max Planck study puts it at 100,000–126,000) and about 2,000 Israelis

A year into a US-brokered ceasefire that more than 100 aid groups say exists in name only, Israel still strikes Gaza daily and holds most of it, while settler violence in the West Bank is at record levels.

🇮🇱 Israelaggressor0%

Summary

The war began on 7 October 2023, when a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages. Israel's offensive on Gaza since then has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians by the Gaza Health Ministry's count — almost 30% of them children — and independent studies put the true toll higher. Famine was formally declared in August 2025, a UN Commission of Inquiry found in September 2025 that Israel committed genocide, and the ICC has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

The ceasefire of 10 October 2025 brought hostage and prisoner exchanges but not peace: Israel holds roughly two-thirds of the Strip, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, and the second phase — disarmament, a stabilisation force and reconstruction — has stalled. In the West Bank, which the ICJ held in 2024 to be unlawfully occupied, the UN records settler attacks, displacement and annexation accelerating with state involvement.

Where it stands: The ceasefire marked one year on 10 October 2026 but is largely nominal: daily Israeli strikes at reduced scale, no peacekeepers, no reconstruction, and 1.4 million people facing crisis-level hunger. South Africa's ICJ genocide case continues, with a merits ruling years away.

The parties

  • Israel

    0%

    A response to 7 October that the UN Commission of Inquiry calls genocide: mass killing of civilians, a starvation siege and the destruction of Gaza, with the ICJ's orders and the ceasefire both breached.

    • More than 74,000 Palestinians killed by October 2026 (Gaza Health Ministry), 21,976 of them children; a Max Planck study estimates 100,000–126,000 violent deaths.
    • Famine declared by the IPC in August 2025 after aid was blocked; aid obstruction reported by UN experts after the ceasefire.
    • Three binding ICJ provisional-measures orders; South Africa has filed evidence of non-compliance. ICC arrest warrants for the prime minister and former defence minister.
    • More than 1,400 Palestinians killed since the October 2025 ceasefire; record settler violence and annexation in the West Bank (OHCHR, March 2026).

    🇮🇱 Israel in the nations ranking0%

  • Hamas and Palestinian armed groups

    A people resisting an occupation the ICJ has ruled unlawful has a cause Islam recognises, but the 7 October killing of civilians and the taking of hostages are plainly forbidden.

    • Killed about 1,200 people on 7 October 2023, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages — war crimes by the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry, HRW and Amnesty.
    • Fired rockets indiscriminately at Israeli towns.
    • Accepted the October 2025 ceasefire and carried out the hostage exchanges; refuses to disarm under phase two.

    An armed group, not a nation — not scored in the ranking.

Articles

How each nation is scored — the ten principles of our policy reforms
  1. Justice (adl). No one's land, life, rights or wealth taken unjustly; justice upheld for everyone, even enemies, and what was wrongly taken given back. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  2. Protection of life (hifz al-nafs). Life is sacred: non-combatants never targeted, war only against real aggression, and no help given to another's aggression. Political Policy Reform; the objectives of the sharia (maqasid)
  3. Prohibition of usury and speculation (riba, gharar). Public and private finance built on shared risk and real assets, not interest-bearing debt or speculative bets. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  4. Circulation of wealth and zakat (tadawul al-mal). Wealth must not circulate only among the rich; zakat, endowments and fair wages meet every person's basic needs. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  5. Trust over common resources (amana). Water, energy, minerals and public assets belong to the whole community — not privatised, monopolised or signed away for private or foreign gain. Economic and Financial Policy Reform
  6. Accountability and truthfulness (muhasaba, sidq). Rulers, security forces and firms answer to law and to the public; no coups, state capture, bribery or concealment. Economic, Political and National Policy Reform
  7. Legitimate authority by consultation (shura). Rule rests on the community's consent, given through consultation and a free pledge — not inheritance, force or foreign backing. Political and National Policy Reform
  8. Kept covenants and peacemaking (wafa bil-ahd, sulh). Treaties, contracts and rulings honoured; an offer of peace met with peace; disputes ended by reconciliation. Economic, Financial and Political Policy Reform
  9. Independence and self-reliance (izza). No foreign power or creditor in control of the nation's revenues or decisions; its own strength, industry and knowledge built. Financial and Political Policy Reform
  10. Human dignity, privacy and freedom of worship (karama). Every person's dignity protected — citizen or migrant; no spying on private lives; faiths and places of worship free and safe. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform

These are the principles the Policy Reform pages draw from the expert opinions. Each nation is marked 0–5 on each from its record as a state — its economy, government and treatment of its people, and its conduct in its wars — drawn from UN bodies, the ICJ and ICC, human-rights monitors and the reporting under each war. The ten marks make the percentage; each war a nation started, provoked or joined against another people then takes 15 points off it, and an aggressor always ranks below every nation that started no war. The score judges a state's conduct, not its people or their faith.