Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Olmert

Interview

Olmert: Only Israel-Lebanon deal can curb Hezbollah, occupation 'unviable'

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Al-Monitor that Israel will only be able to defang Hezbollah if it reaches an agreement with the Lebanese government.

Children and families gather to receive free meals shortly before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan at a displacement camp in central Gaza City, on Feb. 27, 2026.

Iran war deepens Gaza crisis as prices soar, aid falters

Gazans fear that Israel could exploit the wider regional war to reenter Gaza, especially as buffer zones along the border continue to expand and civilians are targeted to keep them away.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

A group of foreign ministers struck out at a new Israeli law requiring the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in military courts.

Israeli settler violence graffiti

Settler violence spike exposes Israeli government rift with military

Knesset member Ram Ben-Barak of centrist Yesh Atid told Al-Monitor that the government must permit the use of administrative detention for extremist settlers to curb the violence.

Latest News

Analysis

India's Modi arrives in Israel as fears grow of US-Iran conflict

PM Netanyahu - X

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

Analysis

Why Turkey’s exclusion from Gaza force may be a strategic blessing

ANKARA, TURKEY - JANUARY 21: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to MPs at his party's group meeting in the Turkish parliament on January 21, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is among world leaders that have been invited by United States President Donald Trump, to join the Gaza Board of Peace, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also included as an appointed member. (Photo by Serdar Ozsoy/Getty Images)

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Interview

Huckabee confirms US-Israel alignment on Iran, says Hamas will disarm 'sooner or later'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, March 25, 2025.

Lebanese firefighters put out a fire in a car after an Israeli strike in the southern city of Sidon on August 21, 2024. An Israeli strike in Lebanon's southern city of Sidon on August 21, killed a Fatah official, said a leader from the Palestinian group and a security source, marking the first such attack reported on Fatah in over 10 months of cross-border clashes. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel assassinates Fatah official in Lebanon, a first since Gaza war began

In a first since the Gaza war, a senior Fatah official was killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanese soil, as Israel-Hezbollah cross-border hostilities continue to escalate.

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Israel-Hezbollah tension expands to Golan Heights amid rocket attack

The Israeli military is threatening to retaliate after more than 50 Katyusha rockets were fired by Hezbollah at the Golan Heights town of Katzrin, following overnight strikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah ammunition depots.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Blinken, Fidan discuss Gaza ahead of cease-fire talks in Egypt

The conversation followed the top US diplomat’s latest visit to the region without a breakthrough.

Bassem Youssef attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Cinema Cafe on January 31, 2020, in Park City, Utah.

Culture

Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef no longer on X: What we know

The exiled comic has been a vocal critic of Israel, highlighting the plight of the Palestinians during the Gaza war but has recently been accused of antisemitism.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Blinken meets with Egypt's Sisi as Philadelphi Corridor remains sticking point in Gaza talks

Cairo will host a new round of talks this week to secure an agreement on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours the region to mobilize support.

Yahya al-Sinwar (C), Gaza Strip chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, waves to supporters during a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the group's foundation, in Gaza City on December 14, 2022. Hamas will end talks on securing a prisoner exchange with Israel unless there is progress soon, the militant group's leader in the Gaza Strip said on December 14. Since Israel's 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip, the Islamist group has held the bodies of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, altho

Analysis

As Netanyahu hedges, Hamas' Sinwar undecided between deal or regional war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived closer to the moment of truth where he must decide for or against a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas and a cease-fire in Gaza.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Fire sweeps over the Marjayoun plain in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel after being hit by Israeli shelling on August 16, 2024, amid the ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel intensifies Lebanon strikes, kills Hezbollah commander, hits warehouse

Israel struck Hezbollah weapons in the Bekaa Valley, causing large explosions amid fears of an all-out war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the press at David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv on Aug. 19, 2024.

US calls for Hamas to accept cease-fire proposal now backed by Israel

The top US diplomat visited Israel days after the United States put forward a so-called bridging proposal in the cease-fire negotiations.

Pro-Palestine protesters march ahead of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 18, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

Pro-Palestinian voices protest and participate in DNC in Chicago

Protesters from across the country are in Chicago for the DNC, demanding an end to aid for Israel as Vice President Harris and the Democratic Party grapple with how to handle the Gaza war.

This picture taken from the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip, shows a damaged building on July 4, 2024, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza cease-fire talks to resume in Egypt with Rafah, Philadelphi corridor in focus

Following two days of talks in Doha, the US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are expected to resume negotiations on a Gaza cease-fire in Cairo this week in the presence of Israeli officials.

Israeli security and emergency personnel cordon off the site of an explosion in Tel Aviv, Aug. 18, 2024.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for Tel Aviv explosion: What we know

Police are investigating a blast that occurred Sunday evening in the southern part of the city, killing the person who carried the explosive device.

Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters wave flags and hold placards along with a Guy Fawkes mask as they walk past a McDonald's during a protest in central London on March 30, 2024, calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Analysis

Global brands still can’t shake Israel boycotts hitting Starbucks, McDonald’s

Consumer backlash continues hitting the bottom line of multinationals as the Gaza war nears the one-year mark.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech