Understand Palestine

United Nations agencies use the term occupied Palestinian territory, or oPt, for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The territories are geographically separated. The Green Line—the 1949 Armistice demarcation line—is the reference line used in UN mapping; it was not established as a permanent international border.

The Gaza Strip is a narrow Mediterranean coastal territory of about 365 square kilometres. The West Bank lies west of the Jordan River and includes a varied landscape of central highlands, the Jordan Valley and the western slopes. East Jerusalem is treated by the UN as part of the occupied Palestinian territory; Israel disputes that characterization and regards the whole city as its capital. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Major Palestinian population centres include Gaza City, Khan Younis, Rafah, Deir al-Balah and Jabalia in the Gaza Strip; and Jerusalem, Hebron/Al-Khalil, Nablus, Ramallah and al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Jericho in the West Bank. These names describe cities and governorates as well as distinct cultural and economic regions.

The 1995 Interim Agreement divided the West Bank into Areas A, B and C as an interim administrative arrangement. OCHA mapping describes Area C as more than 60 per cent of the West Bank. The divisions concern degrees of Palestinian and Israeli civil and security responsibility; they do not create separate sovereign territories.

A useful map should state its date, boundary convention and source. OCHA's interactive maps document communities, governorates, access restrictions and humanitarian conditions. UN cartography carries a standard disclaimer that names and boundaries do not imply official endorsement or acceptance.

UNRWA defines Palestine refugees, for its operational purposes, as people whose normal place of residence was Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and livelihood because of the 1948 conflict. Descendants of male Palestine refugees may also register. This is an agency eligibility definition; it is not a complete census of every displaced Palestinian.

UNRWA says approximately 5.9 million Palestine refugees are eligible for its services, and more than 1.5 million live in 58 recognized camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The figures on this page were consulted in September 2026; readers should follow the agency link for revisions.

OCHA's 16 November 2024 displacement map used a current population estimate of about 2.1 million and recorded approximately 1.9 million people displaced from evacuated areas. Earlier and later OCHA snapshots used different cut-off dates and methods, so they should not be combined as if they were one running count.

Displacement can be repeated: the same person may be forced to move several times. A count of displacement movements is therefore not the same as a count of distinct people. Curated Humanity preserves the date and reporting organization whenever it cites such figures.

The Palestine Liberation Organization was recognized by the UN General Assembly in 1974 as the representative of the Palestinian people and received observer status. The Palestinian Authority was created through the Oslo process as an interim self-government body with limited responsibilities in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.

In 2012, UN General Assembly resolution 67/19 accorded Palestine non-member observer State status in the United Nations. This changed its status at the UN but did not resolve borders, sovereignty, Jerusalem, refugees or other final-status questions.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank. Hamas has exercised de facto control in Gaza since 2007. Israel controls major dimensions of movement, borders, airspace and security, with the exact legal and operational arrangements differing by place. Any account of governance should therefore specify both the institution and the territory being discussed.

OCHA coordinates the humanitarian response and publishes needs assessments, access reporting, appeals and maps. UNRWA provides education, health, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and emergency assistance to registered Palestine refugees across its five fields of operation.

WHO leads health coordination and publishes health-system data; UNICEF works principally on children's rights and services; WFP focuses on food assistance and logistics. The International Committee of the Red Cross works under its mandate in international humanitarian law, including protection, detention work, family links and support to medical services.

Agency dashboards often cite local authorities, partner assessments or field reports. Responsible use keeps the original attribution, the reporting period and any methodological note. An appeal figure measures requested funding, not money received; a people-in-need estimate is not a casualty count; and an agency statement is a primary source about that agency's work, not independent journalism.

UNESCO's Palestine list includes the Church of the Nativity and Pilgrimage Route in Bethlehem, Battir's terraced cultural landscape, Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town, and Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan. The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls is listed separately by UNESCO; its status remains contested and UNESCO does not assign it to a state party on the list page.

Inscription documents explain the specific cultural value for which a site is recognized. They should not be read as ownership rulings or complete histories of the places concerned.