Israel / Palestine: Map of Control at Start of Lebanon Incursion - Oct. 6, 2024 (Subscription)

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Map by Evan Centanni, timeline by Djordje Djukic with Evan Centanni

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What some once called the "Gaza War" is now unquestionably something much bigger, with Israel directing much of its military force instead across the Lebanon border at the Hezbollah militia, assassinating enemies across the middle east, and coming under major direct attack from Iran. Ground fighting in the Gaza Strip has eased, but Israeli airstrikes continue, and Israeli military actions have intensified in the West Bank.

See all this and more in the latest update to PolGeoNow's widely-acclaimed map of territorial administration in the Israel/Palestine area. In addition to the updated map, the report also includes a detailed chronicle of changes and events since June 27, 2024, the date illustrated by our previous Israel/Palestine control map.

This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Conflict Mapping Service.

Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our most recent FREE SAMPLE Israel/Palestine map report!

Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control across all areas claimed by either Israel or Palestine, including Hamas and Israeli military control in the Gaza Strip (not in extreme detail), as well as UN peacekeeper deployments just outside the region
  
• Closer-up inset map showing the divisions in the West Bank: Israeli military control ("Area C", including Israeli settlements), Fatah-led Palestinian jurisdiction ("Area A"), zones of shared administration ("Area B"), and the (annexed) area of Israeli civilian control in East Jerusalem
• Lines illustrating the pre-1967 ceasefire boundaries separating Israel proper from the Palestinian-claimed Gaza Strip and West Bank, as well as the Syria-claimed Golan Heights
  
• Labels for contentious areas, like the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, Shebaa Farms, and "no man's land"
• Illustration of which parts of Israel proper are subject to the greatest restrictions by military decree under current war powers: the "Gaza Envelope" in the south and the "Confrontation Line" in the north, and now much of northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
  
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events, including in the West Bank contested towns across the border in Lebanon
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including Khan Yunis, Nevatim airbase, Hatzerim and Tel Nof airbases, Jabalia, Yaroun, Adeissah, Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas, and more, as well as the so-called Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim Corridor in the Gaza Strip
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control since June 27, 2024, with links to sources.
• Additional timeline entries chronicling events in all four additional fronts to the conflict: (1) the Lebanon border, where Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in cross-border strikes and now an Israeli ground incursion; (2) the West Bank, where near-daily Israeli raids on Palestinian-governed cities have have recently become more intense and destructive; (3) attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden near Yemen, where the US and UK have retaliated militarily against the Yemeni "Houthi" government; and (4) increasing related violence across the Middle East, including direct Iranian and Houthi attacks on Israel; Israeli airstrikes and assassinations in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran; and resumed Iran-backed militia attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria (Fronts 3 and 4 are not illustrated on the map).
  

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Parade of Nations: Which Countries Are (and Aren't) in the Olympics? (Paris 2024)

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2012. To see previous versions, view all Olympics articles on PolGeoNow.

Map of all countries in the Olympics and their regional associations. By Evan Centanni, modeled after this map.

The 2024 Summer Olympics are officially opening this Friday, July 26. This year they're officially hosted by the city of Paris, France, though events will be held all around the country. This is the sixth time France has hosted the games (including the Winter Olympics). It's also Paris's third time to host the Olympics, though it took a break for 100 years. The only other city to host three times is London, in the UK.

Of course, it wouldn't be an Olympic opening ceremony without the Parade of Nations. But how many countries are there in the games, and is everyone included? Read on for PolGeoNow's updated guide to the roster of Olympic Nations...

How Many Countries Are There in the World in 2024?

This article, originally from 2011, has been revised and updated to July 2024. You can view older versions of the article in our archives. The main update from last year is the surrender of the self-proclaimed Artsakh Republic (Nagorno-Karabakh), whose territory is now controlled by Azerbaijan.

A world political map published by the US government.

One of the most basic questions for map-lovers is "How many countries are there in the world?" But anyone who just gives you a simple number isn't telling the whole truth. It actually depends a lot on how you define a "country". Here are six of the most common answers, each correct in its own way:

Israel / Palestine: Map of Control Amid Rafah Offensive - June 27, 2024 (Subscription)

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Map by Evan Centanni, timeline by Djordje Djukic with Evan Centanni

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Over the last four months, Israel first withdrew most its forces from the Gaza Strip, soon sent them back into certain areas, then began a scaled-down version of its long-promised Rafah offensive. Its forces now hold part of Rafah and other specific areas, while the UN says there's “no authority in most of the territory”. 

Meanwhile, related violence has continued along the Lebanon border, in the West Bank, and in the Red Sea, with broader Middle East tensions reaching a peak in mid-April with a direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.

See all this and more in the latest update to PolGeoNow's widely-acclaimed map of territorial administration in the Israel/Palestine area. In addition to the updated map, the report also includes a detailed chronicle of changes and events since March 4, 2024, the date illustrated by our previous Israel/Palestine control map.

This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Conflict Mapping Service.

Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our most recent FREE SAMPLE Israel/Palestine map report!

Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control across all areas claimed by either Israel or Palestine, including Hamas and Israeli military control in the Gaza Strip (not in extreme detail), as well as UN peacekeeper deployments just outside the region
  
• Closer-up inset map showing the divisions in the West Bank: Israeli military control ("Area C", including Israeli settlements), Fatah-led Palestinian jurisdiction ("Area A"), zones of shared administration ("Area B"), and the (annexed) area of Israeli civilian control in East Jerusalem
• Lines illustrating the pre-1967 ceasefire boundaries separating Israel proper from the Palestinian-claimed Gaza Strip and West Bank, as well as the Syria-claimed Golan Heights
  
• Labels for contentious areas, like the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, Shebaa Farms, and "no man's land"
• Illustration of which parts of Israel proper are subject to the greatest restrictions by military decree under current war powers: the "Gaza Envelope" in the south and the "Confrontation Line" in the north, as well as known closed areas of the Golan Heights
  
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events, including in the West Bank and along the border with Israel and Lebanon
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including Rafah, Nuseirat Refugee Camp, the US floating humanitarian pier, Mt. Meron, Hebbariye, Jenin, Tulkarm, and more
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control since March 4, 2024, with links to sources.
• Additional timeline entries chronicling events in all four additional fronts to the conflict: (1) the Lebanon border, where Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in cross-border strikes; (2) the West Bank, where near-daily Israeli raids on Palestinian-governed cities have led to intense clashes; (3) attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden near Yemen, where the US and UK have retaliated militarily against the Yemeni "Houthi" government; and (4) the recent flare-up of direct violence between Israeli and Iran, including Israeli strikes on Iran-aligned targets in Syria (Fronts 3 and 4 are not illustrated on the map).
  

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Sudan Control Map & Timeline: Former Rebels Join Fight - June 2023

(To see other maps in this series, view all Sudan articles on PolGeoNow.)

This marks the first fully up-to-date edition of our new Sudan map series, after several retrospective reports on the situations in previous months. The latest of those, featuring a map of control at the end of January 2024, is being published alongside this one. 

To access our full catalog of map reports covering control in Sudan and many other countries, sign up for our Control Map Subscription Service - popular with major government and international organizations, but available to individual subscribers at just US$19.99 per month!

Map by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic, starting from base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com. "Neutral Joint Force" has been redefined to exclude Darfuri former rebel groups who have joined the fight against the RSF, now subsumed under "Govt./SAF & allies". See below for a detailed accounting of which groups are included in each territorial control category. To use this map in your own materials, please contact us to arrange permission.

Timeline by Djordje Djukic and Evan Centanni

Darfur's Joint Force Enters War Against RSF, Kicking off Battle of El Fasher

In the four months since the date depicted on PolGeoNow's previous Sudan control map, lines of control have remained mostly stable, except for a major SAF breakthrough within the city of Omdurman and the RSF's takeover of Mellit, the headquarters of Darfur's Joint Force coalition. Other changes to the map have been made to show where new evidence has emerged of RSF presence (or lack thereof), but these don't represent major victories or defeats. The bigger story has, instead, been a critical realignment in alliances.

The leaders of Darfur's most prominent "Joint Force" former rebel groups, the SLM-MM and JEM-Jibril, have been outspoken against the RSF since November 2023, even recruiting and training new SAF-allied forces in eastern Sudan. But until recently, their field commanders based in Darfur, where the core of each group's forces were stationed, had kept unofficially neutral in the war, helping preserve a year-long, citizen-mediated ceasefire in the city of El Fasher. That all changed after Joint Force troops started fighting alongside the SAF around Khartoum in late March, leading to RSF retaliation across Sudan. By mid-April, the group's major commanders in Darfur had joined the fight, kicking off a devastating, full-scale battle for the region's capital.

A few months ago, "neutral Joint Force" was a useful label for most of the former rebel forces in Darfur, but today it can only fairly apply to the minority of factions who refused to enter the battle, and now say they're launching an official "Neutral Joint Force" separate from the larger SAF-allied one. Our map has been changed accordingly, now subsuming SAF-allied groups within "Govt./SAF and allies", while reserving the "Neutral Joint Force" symbols from the January map for the new strictly neutral coalition. Nearly every Darfuri former rebel group has split into factions over the question of whether to ally with the SAF, with the longtime leaders of the SLM-TC and GSLF, alongside their loyalist factions, heading the neutral camp.

Sudan Control Map & Timeline: RSF Takes Eastern City - Jan. 2024 (Subscription)

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Map and article by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic

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In December 2024, Sudan's defiant Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary made waves by invading new parts of Sudan's eastern heartland, capturing the major city of Wad Medani and most of Gezira (Al-Jazirah) state. Meanwhile, a new battle was brewing in Darfur as tensions reached a peak in El Fasher, where our map now shows areas of control and presence for the neutral former rebel groups of the Joint Force.

(This edition of our new Sudan map series depicts control at the end of January 2024 based on research conducted through mid-June.)

See all this and more in the latest update to PolGeoNow's rigorously-researched and exhaustively cited Sudan control map and report - the most precise and accurate available online. Besides the updated map, the report also includes a brief who's-who of Sudan's rebel and former rebel groups, plus a detailed chronicle of changes and events since December 5, 2023, the date illustrated by our previous Sudan control map.

This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Control Maps Subscription Service.

Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our most recent FREE SAMPLE Sudan map report!

Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control in Sudan's new civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (official government military) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, rigorously corroborated, with areas of ambiguity clearly indicated. 
• Detailed and carefully-researched illustration of territorial control by Sudan's two major "holdout" rebel forces from before the 2023 war: SPLM-N El Hilu in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, and the SLM-AW (SLA-AW) in Darfur's Jebel Marra. 
• NEW: Indication of power centers and area of presence for Darfur's neutral Joint Force of former rebel groups
• Brief who's-who guide to all the major groups and factions among Sudan's rebels and former rebels
• Detailed explanation of what each color represents on the map, and which forces are included as "allies" of each side
  
• Thoroughly-researched depictions of each disputed territory claimed by Sudan along the Egyptian and South Sudanese borders, marking which parts are controlled by the other countries and which parts by other groups (e.g. UN peacekeepers and the Ngok Dinka "Abyei Area Administration").
  
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including El Giteina (Gitaina), Al Hasaheisa, Rufaa, Bara, Habila, Nertiti, Umbro (Umm Baru), Tina border crossing, Shendi, Jebel Moon, Babanusa, Um Rawaba, and many more
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control from December 5, 2023 through January 31, 2024, with links to sources.

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About a Bird? Your Complete Guide to Turkey's 2021-2022 Name Change

Map by Evan Centanni. Contact us for permission to use this map.

Turkey's "New" Name

Over the last two years, PolGeoNow readers might have noticed us using the name "Türkiye" for the country more widely known in English as "Turkey". That's because the Turkish government officially changed the country's name in English (and two other languages) about two years ago, and our policy is to call countries by what their governments say they're called, except in certain special cases. 

Türkiye, a large and influential country traditionally considered to be partly in Europe and partly in Asia, comes up a lot in news about both European and Middle Eastern geopolitics. So that means a lot of people and organizations now have to make a choice: Keep using the name they're used to, or switch the official one chosen by the country's government.

Map Update: Sweden Joins NATO

Graphic modified by Evan Centanni from this map by Wikimedia user Addicted04 (CC BY-SA).

New NATO Ally: Sweden

Northern Europe's Kingdom of Sweden was admitted last month as a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance of countries in Europe and North America, famous for its opposition to the Russia-led "Communist Bloc" in the 1947-1991 Cold War. Sweden's NATO membership officially went into effect on March 7 after the final paperwork and exchange of documents were completed. Sweden is the 32nd country to join NATO.

Sweden, which had positioned itself as a more-or-less neutral country in the Cold War, chose to join the historically anti-Russia alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sweden applied for membership in 2022 at the same time as neighboring Finland, but took almost a year longer to overcome objections from existing NATO members Türkiye (formerly Turkey) and Hungary.

Israel / Palestine: Map of Control on March 4, 2024 (Subscription)

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Map by Evan Centanni, timeline by Djordje Djukic with Evan Centanni

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In the past three months, Israel's counter-invasion of the Gaza Strip has slowly ground on, with the shift focusing from Gaza City in the north to Khan Yunis in the south, and possibly to Rafah next. However, much of the Strip still remains outside of Israeli control, while closely-related violence continues at a lower level in the West Bank, on the Lebanon border, and as far afield as Yemen and Iraq.

See all this and more in the latest update to PolGeoNow's widely-acclaimed map of territorial administration in the Israel/Palestine area. In addition to the updated map, the report also includes a detailed chronicle of changes and events since December 8, 2023, the date illustrated by our previous Israel/Palestine control map.

This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Conflict Mapping Service.

Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our most recent FREE SAMPLE Israel/Palestine map report!

Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control across all areas claimed by either Israel or Palestine, including Hamas and Israeli military control in the Gaza Strip (not in extreme detail), as well as UN peacekeeper deployments just outside the region
  
• Closer-up inset map showing the divisions in the West Bank: Israeli military control (including Jewish settlements), Fatah-led Palestinian jurisdiction, areas of shared administration, and the (annexed) area of Israeli civilian control in East Jerusalem
• Lines illustrating the pre-1967 ceasefire boundaries separating Israel proper from the Palestinian-claimed Gaza Strip and West Bank, as well as the Syria-claimed Golan Heights
  
• Labels for contentious areas, like the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, Shebaa Farms, and "no man's land"
• Illustration of which parts of Israel proper are subject to the greatest restrictions by military decree under current war powers: the "Gaza Envelope" in the south and the "Confrontation Line" in the north
  
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events, including in the West Bank and along the border with Israel and Lebanon
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including Khan Yunis, Jabalia (Jabaliya), Maghazi Refugee Camp, Abasan al-Kabira, Kerem Shalom crossing, Jenin, Tulkarm, and more.
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control since December 8, 2023, with links to sources.
• Additional timeline entries chronicling events in all four additional fronts to the conflict: (1) the Lebanon border, where Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in cross-border attacks; (2) the West Bank, where near-daily Israeli raids on Palestinian-governed cities have led to intense clashes; (3) attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden near Yemen, where the US and UK have retaliated militarily against the "Houthi" government; and (4) tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed militias and the US and Israel in Syria and Iraq (Fronts 3 and 4 are not illustrated on the map).
  

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Ukraine: Map & Timeline of Russian Control in October 2023

(To see other maps in this series, view all Ukraine articles on PolGeoNow.)

Map by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic. Contact us for permission to use this map.

Timeline by Djordje Djukic

Map showing what parts of the claimed territory of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics - now claimed as part of Russia - are controlled by Russian forces and allies, compared to the Ukrainian government. Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic. Contact us for permission to use this map.

Ukraine retakes towns amid slow-going counteroffensive

(The maps in this report show the situation as of October 9, 2023. Further territorial changes will be covered in an upcoming update.) 

Between our previous Ukraine control map of August 2023 and early October, Ukrainian forces managed to secure control of some significant towns and other locations from their Russian opponents, despite Russia having gained more ground overall since the beginning of the year.

Ukraine's capture of Robotyne town in Zaporizhzhia province marked a small step in its efforts to break the Russian "land bridge" of territory connecting Crimea and Donetsk, the focus of Ukraine's much-hyped but ultimately bloody and anticlimactic 2023 counteroffensive.

Meanwhile, the northeastern town of Synkivka was restored to full Ukrainian control after being partly occupied by Russian forces, and Klischivka town, south of the small eastern city of Bakhmut, was captured by Ukraine. In the Black Sea, Ukraine brought the war to the Russian stronghold of Crimea, capturing offshore oil rigs and launching damaging attacks on Russia's navy in Sevastopol.

Sudan Control Map & Timeline: RSF Takes Darfur Cities - Dec. 2023 (Subscription)

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Map and article by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic

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From October to December of 2023, the defiant Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group accomplished a massive consolidation of control in western Sudan's Darfur region. By early December, the country’s official military had lost its footholds in four out of five of the region's state capitals - though the RSF's control of Darfur was still not as complete as most reports implied.

(This second edition of our new Sudan map series depicts control in early December 2023, based on research conducted through January of 2024. Another edition, showing the current situation in 2024, will be coming in the near future.)

See all this and more in the latest update to PolGeoNow's rigorously-researched and exhaustively cited Sudan control map and report - the most precise and accurate available online. In addition to the updated map, the report also includes a detailed chronicle of changes and events since October 9, 2023, the date illustrated by our earlier Sudan control map.

This map and report are premium content, available to paid subscribers of the PolGeoNow Conflict Mapping Service.

Want to see before you subscribe? Check out our most recent FREE SAMPLE Sudan map report!

Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control in Sudan's new civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (official government military) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, rigorously corroborated, with areas of ambiguity clearly indicated. 
• Detailed and carefully-researched illustration of territorial control by Sudan's two major "holdout" rebel forces from before the 2023 war: SPLM-N El Hilu in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, and the SLA-AW (SLM-AW) in Darfur's Jebel Marra.
  
• Thoroughly-researched depictions of each disputed territory claimed by Sudan along the Egyptian and South Sudanese borders, marking which parts are controlled by the other countries and which parts by other groups (e.g. UN peacekeepers and the Ngok Dinka "Abyei Area Administration").
  
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including Nyala, Zalingei, Ed Daein, Ardamata, Balila oil field, Shag Omar oil field, Babanusa, Um Rawaba, and more.
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control from October 9 to December 5, 2023, with links to sources.

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Sudan War Control Map & Timeline - October 2023

There are later versions of this map available. To see them, view all Sudan articles on PolGeoNow.

PolGeoNow proudly presents the first edition of our new Sudan war map series, meticulously researched over many months. We believe these to be the most accurate Sudan control maps available anywhere.

This edition of the map depicts control in early October 2023, based on research conducted through January of 2024. A map of control in December 2023 has been released to our paid subscribers, and we intend to publish another free edition soon showing the current situation in 2024.

Map by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic, starting from base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com. See article below for a detailed accounting of which groups are included in each territorial control category. To use this map in your own materials, please contact us to arrange permission.

Timeline by Djordje Djukic and Evan Centanni

Unknown Territory: Sudan’s New Civil War 

In April 2023, a new civil war broke out in Sudan (officially “the Sudan”)*, pitting the country’s official military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful government-affiliated paramilitary group. Sudan has fought more than one civil war before, but never in its traditional heartland along the River Nile. This new conflict is said to be the first in “at least a hundred years” where control of the capital city, Khartoum, is clearly in the balance. 

Unlike previous wars, the new conflict is essentially a power struggle among members of Sudan’s majority cultural group, the “Arab” people - and yet, analysts say it’s still a continuation of the long-running clash between the country’s central core and outer regions. The RSF’s leadership, and most of its fighters, come from the nomadic Arab communities of Sudan’s Darfur region in the west, who were integrated into Arab culture later in history than the Nile elites, and until recently held little power in the national government. (See below for further discussion of these and other conflict dynamics.)

With at least 13,000 dead as of December 2024, the war is also one of the deadliest in the world today, on par with the Myanmar conflict and only far-surpassed in 2023 by the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. Many thousands of civilians are among the dead, with the United Nations documenting indiscriminate SAF airstrikes in major cities, while also describing an apparent campaign of genocide by the RSF and allies against non-Arab citizens of West Darfur state.

Israel / Palestine: Map of Control After End of Truce (December 8, 2023)

There are newer editions of this map available. To see them, view all Israel articles or Palestine articles on PolGeoNow. 

This map shows the approximate situation on December 8, a week after Israel and Hamas resumed fighting in the Gaza Strip after a seven-day "humanitarian pause".

Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni, incorporating base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com and data from B'Tselem's interactive mapping project. (Contact us for permission to use this map.)

Timeline by Djordje Djukic, with additional reporting by Evan Centanni

Gaza Strip Divided

Just as we were publishing the previous edition of our Israel/Palestine control map, Israel began its long-expected counter-invasion into the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, responding to hardline Palestinian group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 invasion of Israel. Now, one month into Israel's counter-invasion and two months into the war, the densely-populated Gaza Strip is divided between Hamas-led forces and the Israeli military. 

Israeli forces have seized large parts of Gaza City, the biggest population center in the densely-populated Strip, and completely surrounded the parts of it and nearby towns that are still under Hamas control. Meanwhile, since the temporary humanitarian ceasefire between Hamas and Israel ended a week ago, Israel has also pushed deep into the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. For more information on control within the Gaza Strip, maps by online conflict-tracker Suriyak and ISW/Critical Threats give good detailed approximations.

Since our last report, Israel's military has appeared to confirm that it's killed at least about 5,000 Palestinian fighters and 10,000 Palestinian civilians, about ten times the respective numbers of Israeli soldiers and civilians killed by Hamas and allies in their brutal October 7 rampage through the Israeli countryside. This is roughly in line with estimates from the Hamas-affiliated Gaza Health Ministry, which as of Friday estimated a total of 17,000 Palestinians killed, about a third of them adult men (who are assumed to make up the vast majority of Hamas fighters).

Israel / Palestine: Map of Control Before Israel's Gaza Invasion (October 27, 2023)

There are newer editions of this map available. To see them, view all Israel articles or Palestine articles on PolGeoNow.

This map shows the approximate situation early on October 27, 2023, before Israel's announced expansion of military activity within the Gaza Strip. At the time of publication, it's still unclear whether the expected Israeli ground invasion has begun, and little is known of the current situation within the Strip.

Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni, incorporating base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com and data from B'Tselem's interactive mapping project. (Contact us for permission to use this map.)

Timeline by Djordje Djukic, with additional reporting by Evan Centanni

2023 Israel-Hamas Control Map: Temporary Equilibrium

It's been almost three weeks since Palestinian group Hamas and allies burst unexpectedly out of the Gaza Strip, taking brief but unprecedented control over parts of Israel proper (see our map of the height of Hamas control). Israel's long-promised counter-invasion of the Strip may now be starting, two weeks after its military restored the lines of control to roughly the same as before the Hamas attack. But during the wait, there's been no end to violence: Israel has retaliated against Hamas with heavy bombing of that group's stronghold, the densely-populated Gaza Strip, while both Hamas in Gaza and allied Hezbollah in Lebanon have continued striking Israel with rockets and missiles launched across the borders. 

Israel reports that at least 1,400 of its people have been killed, including over 1,000 civilians - mostly in the first day of Hamas's October 7 invasion - while the Gaza Health Ministry says over 7,000 total Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed, about 3,000 of them under the age of 18 (the ministry is part of the Hamas-dominated government of the Gaza Strip, but is generally evaluated as credible by outside observers).

Israel / Palestine Map: Height of Hamas Control in 2023 Invasion (October 7, 2023)

There are newer editions of this map available. To see them, view all Israel articles or Palestine articles on PolGeoNow.

This map shows the approximate situation on the afternoon of October 7, 2023, when control by Hamas and its allies reached farthest into Israel. Now, several days later, Israeli forces are thought to have reversed almost all those gains, returning the lines of control to roughly their same positions as just before the invasion.

Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni, incorporating base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com and data from B'Tselem's interactive mapping project. (Contact us for permission to use this map.)

Timeline by Djordje Djukic

2023 Israel-Hamas War: How much of Israel did Hamas Capture in its Invasion?

Last Saturday, just a day after the 50th anniversary of Israel's last full-scale war, the country was once again thrust into massive turmoil. In an unprecedented invasion of Israel proper, forces of hardline Palestinian party Hamas and smaller allied groups burst out of their stronghold in the Gaza Strip, briefly doubling their area of control while killing hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers alike. The above map shows the approximate situation at the height of Hamas and allied control, later on the same day that the invasion began.

Israel / Palestine Map: Who Controlled What Before the 2023 Hamas Invasion?

This article was originally published in July 2020, but has been revised and updated to October 2023. The design of the accompanying map has also been slightly revised, but there were no changes to territorial control between the previous edition and this one except for the reopening of the Gaza fishing zone.

This map shows the situation just before the current war began. For the war itself, check out our new map showing control at the height of the October 2023 Hamas invasion the next day.

Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni, incorporating base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com and data from B'Tselem's interactive mapping project. (Contact us for permission to use this map.)

Israel and Palestine Controlled Areas: Before the War

October 2023's surprise invasion of Israel by Palestinian fighters from the Gaza Strip has catapulted the area back to the top of world headlines, and the situation on the ground is now in flux. But what exactly was the situation just before this new chapter of the conflict started? This newly-revised version of PolGeoNow's Israel/Palestine explainer article answers all your questions about who's who and what the significance of each disputed zone is. 

The accompanying map has also been slightly revised and newly fact-checked to ensure that it shows the situation accurately as of October 6, 2023, the night before the Hamas-led invasion of Israel (the only change to control is that the Gaza Strip fishing zone was apparently open for most of this year, rather than closed as it was at the time of our 2021 update).

Note that this is a map of who actually controls what, not of who claims which areas. And it's definitely not supposed to imply that any particular party should or shouldn't control any particular area. As always, PolGeoNow takes no side in these disputes, and we have done our best to report only the facts.

Map Update: Record Number of African Union Members Suspended (Sep. 2023)

Map by Evan Centanni, from blank map by Eric Gaba. License: CC BY-SA

AU Suspensions at All-time High

There are now a record of six member countries banned from participation in the African Union (AU), after Niger and Gabon were both suspended in August 2023. AU suspensions are almost always a response to a government overthrow in a member country, implying that coups in Africa are now at their highest point in the organization's 21-year history. The number is also up drastically from our previous African Union map update in June 2021, when we reported that only two countries were currently suspended.

Map: Which Countries are in the African Union?

Correction (2023-09-04): This article was still displaying the previous version of the map after its text was updated yesterday. It has now been fixed.

This map and explainer will be updated whenever there's a change in AU membership, including suspensions and reinstatements. News about each change will be published in separate articles, which you can find listed below, or by viewing all African Union content on PolGeoNow.

Map by Evan Centanni, from blank map by Eric Gaba. License: CC BY-SA

What is the African Union?

Launched in 2002 as a replacement for the earlier Organization of African Unity (OAU), the African Union (AU) is an intergovernmental organization that works on increasing cooperation, stability, and development within the continent of Africa. The organization is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Ethiopia is the only African country that the European empires never colonized, and is also the second most populous country on the continent.)

Ukraine: Map of Russian Control in August 2023 (Subscription)

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Research by Djordje Djukic. Map by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic

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Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian control has made modest progress, even as its forces lose a comparable amount of ground in bits and pieces along the rest of the front. In particular, Russia has pushed back into parts of Kharkiv province while Ukraine makes gains in the south.

(The maps in this report show the situation as of August 18. Territorial changes since that time, including the reported Ukrainian capture of Robotyne, will be covered in the next report.)

See all this and more on the latest update to PolGeoNow's concise, professional Ukraine war control map, which includes a detailed chronicle of changes and events since our previous Ukraine map report of June 30, with sources cited, as well as a close-up map of control within the claimed borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (which now claim to be self-governing regions within Russia).

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Exclusive map report includes:

• Up-to-date illustration of current territorial control in Ukraine, color-coded for the Ukrainian government on one side and the Russian military and allied forces on the other side, with areas of uncertainty indicated. Colorblind accessible.
• Darker color indicating which areas were already under Russian or allied control before the 2022 invasion began
• Lines showing Russia's claimed border after its annexations of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson provinces.
  

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  Donbas close-up map
  

  Close-up map of territorial control within the self-proclaimed boundaries of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, which now claim to be part of Russia
• Detailed indication of city-by-city control, including key towns and other locations important to current events
• Locations of recent control changes and other important events, including Robotyne, Piatykhatky, Synkivka, Kyslivka, Kotlyarivka, Staromaiorske, Urozhaine, Berkhivka, Karmazynivka, and more
  
• Detailed timeline of important events and changes to territorial control since June 30, 2023, with links to sources.

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