Al-Monitor Staff - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Ambassadors to the UN observer a minute of silence for Kuwait's emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah prior a UN Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on December 19, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

UNSC passes watered-down Gaza resolution as US refrains from veto

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on Dec. 10, 2023, shows smoke rising above the northern part of the Palestinian enclave amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Day 77 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Friday, Dec. 22

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Smoke billowing following Israeli bombardment in southern Gaza amid ongoing battles with the Palestinian Hamas militant group, Dec. 21, 2023.

Day 76 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Thursday, Dec. 21

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Members of the UN Security Council hold sideline meetings as they take a break at the United Nations headquarters on Dec. 19, 2023, in New York City.

Day 75 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Dec. 20

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Egyptian school children stand on a pier in the port town of Ismalia, 120 kilometers northeast of Cairo, as the US guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan transits the Suez from the Red Sea towards the Mediterranean on its way back home after a six-month counter-piracy operation around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Day 74 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Dec. 19

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Ariel Hermoni/Israel's Defense Ministry

Day 73 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Dec. 18

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Israel's Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu presents the new government to parliament at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Dec. 29, 2022.

Day 72 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Dec. 17

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Yakov Argamani, father of 26-year-old Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, speaks to media outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, now informally called the "Hostages Square", in Tel Aviv on Dec. 16, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The Israeli army was on December 16 investigating the killing of three hostages which it said had been mistakenly identified as a threat by soldiers, an incident that sparked protests in Tel Aviv.

Day 71 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Dec. 16

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes on their homes in the village of Khuzaa, near Abasan east of Khan Yunis near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on Nov. 27, 2023.

Day 70 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Friday, Dec. 15

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on December 10, 2023

Day 69 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Thursday, Dec. 14

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Family members of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, including (L-R) Yael Alexander, Orna Neutra, Adi Alexander and Liz Naftali, talk to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on Dec. 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

Day 68 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Dec. 13

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

US President Joe Biden (L) listens to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he joins a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023.

Day 67 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Dec. 12

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff