Skip to main content Palestine — Military Capability Assessment
Rankings · Power · Military

Palestine — Military Capability Assessment

Force structure, readiness, power projection, and deterrence: the Bureau’s strategic assessment of Palestine’s military capability — scored 0–100 across 24 causal dimensions.

#71Palestine38.03/100
Active personnel (est.)28,000
World rank by personnel#65 / 121
Military power rank#71 / 195
Assessment coverage52%
Inventory depthSummary
Why this score — the assessment, decomposed

The 38.03/100 rests first on Force mass (66.00), Land warfare (66.00), Command & control (65.00). The binding constraints: Air power (8.00), Submarine force (8.00), Nuclear survivability (6.50) — in a causal model, capability can never rise above its weakest observed link. What would move the needle: Air power (8.00) — the weak link in the spending → equipment → readiness → capability chain.

  • Alliance architecture adds a +5.78 bonus.
  • Nuclear deterrence contributes a capped +0.73 bonus — it cannot manufacture top-tier conventional standing on its own.

12 of 24 dimensions could not be observed (Equipment quality, Readiness & training, ISR & intelligence, Missile forces, Air defense, Cyber & space…); missing data caps the score — it never inflates it.

The six sub-scores

Conventional capability33.60
Nuclear deterrence15.00
Power projection12.80
Sustainment—
Mobilization & regeneration34.62
Strategic resilience17.32

All 24 causal dimensions

Force mass Geographic & structural data · Bureau structural assessment66.00
Mobilization Bureau structural assessment · Conventional forces data15.80
Equipment qualitynot observed
Readiness & trainingnot observed
Command & control Geographic & structural data · Bureau structural assessment65.00
ISR & intelligencenot observed
Air power Bureau structural assessment8.00
Land warfare Geographic & structural data · Bureau structural assessment66.00
Naval power Bureau structural assessment12.80
Submarine force Bureau structural assessment8.00
Missile forcesnot observed
Air defensenot observed
Cyber & spacenot observed
Logisticsnot observed
Strategic liftnot observed
Overseas basingnot observed
Expeditionary capabilitynot observed
Defense industrynot observed
Wartime productionnot observed
Combat experience Historical record10.00
Alliances Bureau structural assessment · Geographic & structural data48.12
Nuclear deterrence Nuclear taxonomy · Bureau structural assessment15.00
Nuclear survivability Bureau structural assessment · Nuclear taxonomy6.50
Geographic advantage Bureau structural assessment · Geographic & structural data25.05

Assessment coverage: 52.2% — 12 of 24 dimensions observed. Kernel v10, run 2026-10-04; evidence snapshot: CIA World Factbook 2026-09-28, SIPRI arms-producer revenue, v9 nuclear taxonomy.

Air power
Structured summary · assessment coverage 52%

Kernel assessment: Air power 8.00/100 (observed).

Type-by-type inventory in preparation — this dossier deepens as coverage grows. Nothing here is estimated silently.

Land power
Structured summary · assessment coverage 52%

Kernel assessment: Land warfare 66.00/100 (observed).

Type-by-type inventory in preparation — this dossier deepens as coverage grows. Nothing here is estimated silently.

Sea power
Structured summary · assessment coverage 52%

Kernel assessment: Naval power 12.80/100 (observed).

Type-by-type inventory in preparation — this dossier deepens as coverage grows. Nothing here is estimated silently.

Missiles & air defense
Structured summary · assessment coverage 52%

Missile forces could not be observed in this assessment — missing data caps the score, it is never treated as zero.

Type-by-type inventory in preparation — this dossier deepens as coverage grows. Nothing here is estimated silently.

Nuclear
Structured summary · assessment coverage 52%

Status: no standing army and no nuclear program; non-nuclear-weapon entity

Nuclear deterrence15.00
Nuclear survivability6.50
Force structure — record

Armed forces

per the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not permitted a conventional military but maintains security and police forces; PA security personnel have operated exclusively in the West Bank since HAMAS seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007; PA forces include the Palestinian National Security Forces, Presidential Guard, Civil Police, Civil Defense, Preventive Security Organization, the General Intelligence Organization, and the Military Intelligence Organization (2024)

Personnel strength

the PA police and security forces have approximately 28,000 active personnel, including about 11,500 National Security Forces (2024)

Note

Palestinian Authority security forces maintain security control of 17.5% (called Area A) of the West Bank, as agreed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in the Oslo Accords, although Israeli security forces frequently conducted security operations there; Israeli security forces maintain responsibility for the remaining 82.5% of the West Bank, including Area B (22.5%), where the Palestinian Authority has administrative control, and Area C (60%), where Israel maintains administrative control (2024)

Magna assessment

MILITARY POWER 38.03/100 — The Magna Military Power score is our 0–100 measure of causal military capability — 24 dimensions (mass, equipment, readiness, projection, industry, nuclear deterrence), aggregated through a dependency graph, never by simple addition.

Momentum 0 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).

The quarter passed without decisive turns. Governance continued, markets functioned, and the score reflects that uneventfulness.

For countries like this, the real story is always the slow one — and this quarter added no new chapter to it.

Related

Power indexMilitary indexLargest armiesPalestine — FactbookPalestine — RankingsLeader: Palestine

Across the Bureau

Palestine — Country ProfileHistory of Palestine — TimelineMohammad Mustafa — Leader of PalestinePalestine Ranking — Magna Country RankingsWhat is the population of Palestine?Who is the president of Palestine?Afghanistan — Country ProfileAlbania — Country Profile