Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Somalis celebrate the victory of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he won the presidential run-off election during the celebration organized by the government in Mogadishu, on May 29, 2023.

Analysis

Turkey casts Israel’s Somaliland move as overreach, but Somalia’s fragility poses risks

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is widely dismissed in Ankara as a strategic overreach, but it is nevertheless exposing the limits of Turkey’s influence in Somalia.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

This aerial view shows residents waving Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel's announcement recognizing Somaliland's statehood in downtown Hargeisa, on Dec. 26, 2025.

Somalia’s president heads to Turkey as Israel’s Somaliland recognition rattles region

The Somali leader’s visit comes amid a heightened Turkish-Israeli rivalry, fueled by Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, in the region and beyond.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a joint news conference with US President Donald Trump (not seen) in the State Dining Room at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.

Analysis

In 2025, Netanyahu saved his coalition but stalled on Gaza, Iran, Lebanon

With 2025 ending, Israelis are frustrated over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to fully end the Gaza war, solve the Hezbollah problem, reach a deal with Syria or find a way to constructively impact talks on the Iranian nuclear program.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Saeed Jaras / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Facing Israeli pushback, Turkey recalibrates public messaging on Gaza force

Turkey’s top diplomat has suggested that being part of the Gaza stabilization force is not Ankara’s priority.

Latest News

Qatar’s prime minister meets US officials as Gaza plan stalls

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) shakes hands with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at the State Department in Washington, on Dec. 17, 2025.

Over 600 Israeli ex-security chiefs urge Trump to disarm Hamas, back PA in Gaza

President Donald Trump speaks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Oct. 13, 2025 in Jerusalem.

Analysis

Stunt or recalibration? Israel's Raam to break with Muslim Brotherhood

Head of Israel's Raam, Mansour Abbas, speaks at his campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Tamra before national election polls close, on Nov. 1, 2022

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

How the Trump administration reshaped US diplomacy toward Hamas

Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner (L), White House special envoy Steve Witkoff (C) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a meeting between President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (not pictured) at a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, Oct. 13, 2025.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Arab Israeli protesters lift Palestinian flags and spoons, reportedly the digging tool used by six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison, as they demonstrate in the mostly Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, on Sept. 10, 2021, to denounce punitive measures taken by the Israel Prison Service against Palestinian prisoners following the jailbreak.

Jailbreak unites Palestinians, confounds Israelis

And: required reading to understand the last two decades in the Middle East: the 'Axis of Evil' speech

Arab Israeli protesters demonstrate in the mostly Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, on Sept. 10, 2021, to denounce punitive measures taken by the Israel Prison Service against Palestinian prisoners, after six of them escaped from the northern Gilboa prison.

Rocket fired into Israel after two Palestinian escapees caught

Two of the six escaped prisoners were caught in the northern city of Nazareth. Israeli forces previously searched the homes of the prisoners' families, according to Palestinian media.

Supporters of Islamic Jihad distribute sweets to celebrate the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison, Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sept. 6, 2021.

Gaza factions suspend popular activities to advance mediation efforts

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to suspend popular activities until mid-September, to allow the mediators’ efforts for the reconstruction process to succeed.

Israeli security forces patrol along the security fence in the village of Muqeibila near the West Bank town of Jenin on Sept. 6, 2021, following the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison.

Palestinian prison break embarrasses Israeli government

The last thing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett needed right now was a spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners from a high-security jail.

A relative of Mahmud al-Ardeh, one of six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison, stands next to a banner showing him (L) and another prisoner, Raddad al-Ardeh, by his home in the village of Arabah, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 8, 2021.

Jailbreak from Israeli prison shakes up Palestinian public

The escape of six Palestinians from a maximum security Israeli prison jolted observers.

Police and journalists gather around a hole used by six Palestinians to escape from the Gilboa Prison after they dug a tunnel beneath a sink, in northern Israel on Sept. 6, 2021.

Palestinian media alleges rights abuses during Israeli search for escaped prisoners

The Palestinian Authority is demanding the release of more prisoners following an escape at a high-security Israeli prison.

Isaac Herzog, a veteran of Israel's left-wing Labor party, delivers a speech after being sworn in before parliament as the Jewish state's 11th president, replacing Reuven Rivlin, in Jerusalem, on July 7, 2020.

Israel’s president takes lead on ties with Jordan, Palestinians

President Isaac Herzog has been busy these past few days on the Arab and Palestinian fronts, secretly visiting Jordan and speaking on the phone first with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Police officers search as they investigate an area where six Palestinian prisoners managed to escape from Gilboa prison overnight on Sept. 6, 2021 near Kibbutz Beit HaShita in the Gilboa region, Israel. The prisoners, who include Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade leader Zakaria Zubeidi, are believed to have escaped through a tunnel overnight.

Israel vows to capture escaped Palestinian prisoners

After the escape of six Palestinian prisoners and following riots in prisons and in the West Bank, Israel expects more violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett looks on during a plenum session on the state budget on Sept. 2, 2021.

Boxed in: Bennett, Abbas can’t win despite ‘goodwill gestures’

Domestic politics are complicating any moves toward better ties, and Hamas is seeking an advantage by stoking resistance.

Fatima Shbair/Getty Images

Israel asks Egypt to pressure Hamas to end border violence

In a meeting yesterday between senior Israeli and Egyptian defense officials, Israel asked Egypt to pressure Hamas to stop the ongoing nightly demonstrations by the Gaza border.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Gestures toward Palestinians leave Bennett in bind

With his rightwing base on the one side, the Biden administration and his coalition partners on the other, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place on bettering the lives of Palestinians.

A picture taken on October 18, 2018 shows the US consulate in Jerusalem.

Palestinians welcome US plan to reopen Jerusalem consulate

Palestinians reacted positively to the US plan to fulfill one of President Joe Biden’s promises of reopening the US mission in Jerusalem, which will be providing services and a liaison to the people of Palestine.