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.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich meets with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington on March 5, 2025.

Israel’s Smotrich gets warm embrace in Washington, first visit under Trump

Israeli ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington, marking his first high-level meeting with a US official after having been shunned by the Biden administration.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman walks to welcome France's President (not pictured) ahead of their meeting in Riyadh on December 2, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron touched down in Riyadh, the capital of the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, where he was due to hold talks with de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later on December 2, an AFP journalist said. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia's MBS throws support behind Arab plan, rejects displacement of Palestinians

Saudi affirmation of the Arab League plan would also see it stepping into a broader role in the development of Gaza vis-a-vis the commitment of funds, as Gulf states are seen as the primary financiers of reconstruction.

A Palestinian family (C-L) eat an iftar meal, the breaking of the fast, in their destroyed house amid the rubble of buildings in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 4, 2025, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. UN chief Antonio Guterres said he strongly endorsed an Egyptian plan put to Arab leaders at a summit in Cairo on March 4 for Gaza's reconstruction without displacement of its Palestinian inhabitants. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP) (Photo by BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images)

White House rejects Arab plan for postwar Gaza, insists on Trump's

The Trump administration has rejected a joint Arab proposal for postwar Gaza out of hand, insisting on its plan to treat Gaza as a real estate development that observers have likened to ethnic cleansing.

People watch on a big screen as Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, welcomes Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas ahead of an Arab League summit on Gaza on March 4, 2025.

Arab states back Egypt’s $53 billion Gaza plan, ‘technocratic’ administration

The plan, which additionally calls for the UN to consider sending peacekeepers to the Palestinian enclave, could face obstacles from Israel and Hamas.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Live Updates

Arab summit adopts Egypt’s alternative plan to Trump’s Gaza takeover: What to know

Arab states adopted an Egyptian plan calling for a “technocratic" committee to administer the Gaza Strip under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority as part of a broader two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 02: (L-R) Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham accept the Documentary Feature Film award "No Other Land" onstage during the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Culture

Palestinian-Israeli documentary, Iranian film win at Oscars: What to know

Two films from the Middle East won Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards, highlighting the growing reputation of the region's film industry at a time of ongoing tensions and crises.

OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

Gaza’s fragile calm teeters as Israel balks at full pullout

Israel and Hamas face a Saturday deadline to implement the next phase of the ceasefire, which includes the full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the release of the remaining hostages.

A journalist tries to avoid mud splatter as Israeli forces drive on a destroyed road in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near Tulkarem, after reportedly issuing demolition notifications for several houses amid a weeks-long offensive in the occupied West Bank on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Could Israel's West Bank operation lead to annexation long sought by right?

The Israeli military is currently operating in West Bank Area A, which under the Oslo Accords should be administered fully by the Palestinian Authority.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Smoke billows after an explosion over the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli raid on Feb. 24, 2025.

In first since 2002, Israel sends tanks to occupied West Bank as 40,000 Palestinians flee

Israel has stepped up its raids in West Bank towns and cities over the weekend in an apparent response to bus bombings near Tel Aviv last week.

Israeli soldiers walk along the buffer zone between northern Israel and southern Lebanon, Feb. 18, 2025.

Analysis

Israel facing 3 options after extending military presence in south Lebanon

Israeli forces remain at five outposts after their deadline to withdrew, and the parameters for their departure remain unclear.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Security forces and bomb disposal units are deployed to the scene of a bus explosion in Bat Yam on Feb. 20, 2025.

3 buses explode near Tel Aviv in suspected ‘terror attack’: What to know

Israel’s defense minister said they would boost operations in the West Bank in response to the explosions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C) walks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, on Feb. 19, 2025.

UAE conveys frustrations to US' top diplomat Rubio over Gaza, Ukraine

Arab states have grown increasingly frustrated over the US administration's rhetoric about displacing 2.1 million Gazans from the enclave.

United Arab Emirates