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Palestine

May 13, 2026

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Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

European foreign ministers have agreed to sanction extremist West Bank settlers, but are still discussing the list of names.

An elections employee tapes a poster with instructions to voters ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 21, 2026.

Feature

Gazans show cautious hope ahead of first local elections in 20 years

The city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza is set to hold municipal elections for the first time in nearly two decades.

Rasha Abou Jalal

By Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Women read instructions to voters ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 21, 2026.

Analysis

On eve of Palestinian local elections, competition in short supply

With many races unopposed and rivals excluded, the vote underscores a calibrated effort to contain dissent and prioritize stability.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

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.

Ehud Olmert

Ehud Olmert

Former Israeli prime minister

Latest News

Meloni suspends Italy's military cooperation agreement with Israel

Meloni

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

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Settler violence spike exposes Israeli government rift with military

Israeli settler violence graffiti

Wartime closures at Jerusalem holy sites raise fears of lasting shift among Palestinians

Muslim worshippers break their fast outside the old city walls of Jerusalem on March 17, 2026, as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound remains closed.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Daoud Kuttab

Palestine Columnist

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Fatima AbdulKarim

In Ramallah, reporting on the West Bank

A Palestinian boy helps his mother remove the sewage water that flooded into their house during a power cut at Shatti (beach) refugee camp in Gaza City September 15, 2015. Power has been provided to different areas in the impoverished coastal territory in six-hour shifts as Gaza's lone power plant shut its generators on Saturday due to a fuel shortage, energy officials said. Electricity is also supplied to the Gaza grid through power lines from Israel and Egypt. Gaza's plant provides electricity to two-thir

How Gaza's electricity crisis is becoming Israel's water catastrophe

The inability to treat wastewater in the Gaza Strip because of a lack of electricity is threatening to contaminate the water supplies of Gaza as well as Israel unless immediately addressed.

A traveller waits for his luggage at the Allenby Bridge Crossing July 9, 2009. Israel said on Wednesday it would allow the crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan to remain open 24 hours a day to help the Palestinian economy. The Israeli-controlled terminal leading to the Allenby Bridge across the Jordan River is the West Bank's only land link to the Arab world. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK POLITICS) - RTR25HFS

PA upset as 'VIP' travelers breeze over Allenby Bridge

The Palestinian Authority is accusing Israel of intentionally stifling the flow of travelers through a border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan to promote a new and expensive VIP service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Jerusalem July 10, 2016 REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTSH5NC

Will Egypt's warming ties with Israel leave Palestinians out in the cold?

Egyptian-Palestinian relations are tense after the rapprochement between Egypt and Israel as questions arise about the future of Egypt’s role in the Palestinian cause.

Palestinian policemen loyal to Hamas guard outside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters during a protest demanding to resume financial aid for refugees, in Gaza City April 15, 2013. Robert Turner, UNRWA's director of Gaza operations, said the agency faced a $68 million shortfall in 2013 and that it had decided to cut a $40 annual handout to 106,000 Gaza refugees to save some $5.5 million. To soften the blow, the agency offered job programmes to help the poorest families. REUTERS/M

Israeli centrist leader finds himself alone in battle against UN agency

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Yesh Atid Leader Yair Lapid expressed surprise that his government is cooperating with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, while the rest of the Israeli political establishment is reluctant to disrupt the aid that keeps Gaza afloat.

A Palestinian money exchanger displays money at a market in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 25, 2015. Israel's decision to withhold $130 million a month in revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinians is strangling the economy and leaving the banking system dangerously exposed, the Palestinian central bank governor said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RTR4UT7Y

Palestinians fight back against currency counterfeiters

Gaza officials say counterfeiting there is mostly limited to small-time operators, though sometimes high-quality foreign forgeries slip in.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) enters to a media conference together with Israel's new Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, following Lieberman's swearing-in ceremony at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem May 30, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX2EVOW

Will Netanyahu dare to engage in regional settlement?

According to a New Wave Institute poll, most Israelis support the regional guidelines proposed by the Israeli Initiative group — namely the two-state solution, normalization of economic ties with Arab states and international security guarantees.

An Israeli border policeman stands guard during the demolition of a Palestinian house under the order of the Israeli army, in the West Bank town of Dura, south of Hebron January 20, 2016. The owners of the house said they were informed by the Israeli army that the demolition was carried out because they did not have an Israeli-issued construction permit. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RTX236ZL

UN report: West Bank house demolitions up 25%

The number of Palestinian homes demolished by Israel has sharply increased this year, leading experts to question Israel's agenda.

Musician Carlos Santana (L) performs during a concert at the Starlite Festival in Marbella, southern Spain, July 24, 2016. REUTERS/Jon Nazca - RTSJFY7

How Carlos Santana is helping to promote coexistence in Israel

Carlos Santana will transfer part of his Tel Aviv concert benefits to the Hand in Hand network of Jewish-Arab joint schools in Israel.

Why Abbas-MEK meeting made waves everywhere but Palestine

Though many observers fret that the meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi was a sign that Abbas is taking sides in the region, the event was barely on the Palestinian radar.

Palestinians update their details at a centre run by the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), in Gaza City February 11, 2013.The Palestinian Central Election Commission on Monday began registering voters in Gaza and the West Bank for an upcoming election hoped to help with healing nearly six years of political rifts among rival factions. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3DMR0

Gaza youth show zeal for upcoming local elections

With the municipal elections Oct. 8 in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the youth in Gaza seem eager to form their own lists as independent candidates.

Palestinian teenagers handle a nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem January 4, 2001. The Dheisheh refugee camp hosts thousands of Palestinian refugees since the 1948 Israeli occupation. [Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat began consulting Arab leaders in Cairo on Thursday on U.S. President Bill Clinton's peace proposals before announcing whether he accepts them. ] - RTXK7RJ

Prices of illegal weapons in West Bank on the rise

The Palestinian police have been leading wide-scale efforts to crack down on gun manufacturing and illegal trade in a bid to reduce the phenomenon of tribal and family shootings, while prices of illegal weapons have been soaring.

Palestinians cast their vote at a polling station in the West Bank town of Jenin, January 25, 2006. Palestinians voted in their first parliamentary elections in a decade on Wednesday, a ballot that could bring the militant Islamic Hamas movement into government for the first time. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTR18X2V

Hamas, Fatah no longer the only candidates in Palestinian elections

In a bid to break the acute polarization between Hamas and Fatah, the Palestinian left-wing forces are running in the Palestinian elections on a unified list.