CFR Education’s mission is to empower young people with the essential knowledge, skills, and perspective to be responsible citizens and navigate the news. We’ve assembled a list of resources to help students understand what’s happening in the Middle East sparked by the war between Israel and Hamas—and why it matters.
History
Lead your students on a deep dive into the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role the United States has played with CFR Education’s conflict timeline and a resource on U.S. foreign policy from CFR.
What’s Going on in Gaza?
Give your students concise analysis and context on the rise and role of Hamas in the region, and on the spread of Israel’s ground war in Gaza.
- Virtual Media Briefing: Update on Hamas and the Gaza Conflict
- One Year After the October 7 Attacks: The Impact on Four Fronts
- Israel’s Ground War Against Hamas: What to Know
- What Is Hamas?
What’s Going on in Lebanon?
Help your students understand how and why the conflict has spread to Lebanon.
- What’s Happening in Lebanon? A Guide to the War-Torn Democracy
- What Is Hezbollah?
- The Nasrallah Killing Is a Crushing Blow to Hezbollah
How is Iran Involved?
Learn about the implications for Iran’s presence in a wider Middle East conflict.
- What Are Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Capabilities?
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
- The Threat of Regional Military Expansion in the Middle East
What's Going on in Syria?
Learn about the origins of Syria's civil war, its recent escalation, and how it's connected to the wider Middle East crisis.
- Syria's Civil War: The Descent Into Horror
- What Syria’s Revived Civil War Means for the Region
- Mini Simulation: A Red Line in Syria in 2013
Humanitarian Issues
Explore the humanitarian issues around this conflict through CFR Education resources on civilians in conflict, which include comprehensive teaching resources, and analysis from CFR on the situation in Gaza.
- The Civilian Consequences of Conflict
- How Do Humanitarian Corridors, Cease-Fires, and Pauses Address Violence in Conflict?
- The Israel-Hamas War: The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza
Implications for International Law
Use CFR Education resources, which include comprehensive teaching resources, to understand the role of international law in global affairs, and explore analysis from CFR on the specific international legal questions raised by the conflict.
- What Is International Law?
- What International Law Has to Say About the Israel-Hamas War
- The Laws of War, With Matthew Waxman
- Holding Hamas Accountable at the ICJ Through Palestine
What Could the Future Hold?
Help your students understand the potential for regional escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and help them to think about the long-term future of the Palestinian people and their relationship with Israel.
- Are Israel and Iran Headed for All-Out War?
- Open to Debate: Is the Two-State Solution Still Viable?
- Who Governs the Palestinians?
Learn More About the Region
Explore the historical, political, economic, and social trends that have shaped the Middle East and North Africa with CFR Education's Region's of the World resources.
Keep Up-to-Date With the Latest from CFR
Check back for all the latest from CFR on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and war in the Middle East.
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on cfr.org
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on CFR's Global Conflict Tracker
- Conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon on CFR's Global Conflict Tracker
- Conflict in Syria on CFR's Global Conflict Tracker
- Israel-Hamas War at Foreign Affairs
CFR Education leverages the knowledge of Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) experts to make complex global affairs and foreign policy issues accessible for middle school, high school, higher education students and educators.