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July 7, 2026

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Explainer

Lebanon's latest damage estimate outlines reconstruction challenge

More than 1 million Lebanese residents fled their homes after Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon intensified in March, when Hezbollah entered the conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes US President Donald Trump (R) upon his arrival on Air Force One at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026, before attending the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Trump's F-35 push for Turkey runs into CAATSA — and Israel

Israel fears that Washington may be shifting its strategic options toward Turkey as the two rivals push for regional hegemony.

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

ABIR SULTAN / AFP via Getty Images

Israel, Greece conduct military drills ahead of NATO summit in Turkey

Photos published by the Greek military showed fighter jets from both countries flying side by side over the Aegean Sea.

Latest News

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

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

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Rina Bassist

Associate Editor (Israel)

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a joint news conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri in Cairo October 12, 2014. Kerry said on Sunday the United States was deeply concerned about what he called the "tragedy" in the Syrian town of Kobani, where Islamic State fighters have been tightening their grip. REUTERS/Carolyn Kaster/Pool (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR49W49

Kerry's three Israel-Palestinian options

The Obama administration objects to the Palestinian plan of turning to the UN for recognizing Palestine, thus hesitating between two options: a new outline based on former negotiations or a series of gestures and negotiations without a deadline.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (C) waves as he visits houses that witnesses said were destroyed during the recent seven-week Israeli offensive, in the Shejaia neighbourhood, east of Gaza City October 9, 2014. Technocrat Hamdallah arrived in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip on Thursday to convene the first meeting of a unity government there since a brief civil war in 2007 between Hamas and forces loyal to the Fatah party. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES O

Has Israel accepted the Palestinian unity government?

Israel has allowed trucks with goods to enter Gaza, thus cooperating with the same Fatah-Hamas government it refused to recognize four months ago.

Tubs of cottage cheese 'Tnuva' are seen at a shop in Jerusalem July 27, 2011. A two-week-long cottage cheese boycott caused Israelis to question the power of the country's tycoons. A scathing parliamentary report from June last year found that 10 large business groups control 30 percent of the market value of public companies, while 16 control half the money in the entire country. Picture taken July 27, 2011. To match Special Report ISRAEL-CONCENTRATION/ REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (ISRAEL - Tags: BUSINES

Israeli social justice protests still alive, just not in streets

In an interview with Al-Monitor, social activist Itzik Alrov argues that even though people don't take to the streets to protest, as they did in the summer of 2011, they keep watch on the distortions of price centralization and expect the government to intervene.

What it's like to fight for Hamas

Abu Abdel Rahman, a fighter with Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, still dreams of fighting against Israeli forces in the last Gaza war.

A man walks near the village of al-Sira, one of dozens of ramshackle Bedouin Arab communities in the Negev desert which are not recognised by the Israeli state, in southern Israel August 20, 2013. For decades Arab Bedouins have eked out a meagre existence in the Negev desert, largely under the Israeli government's radar, but now many will have to make way for new developments. Israel has already invested around $5.6 billion to build military bases in the Negev desert and plans to build 10 new communities th

Social revolution and the new Negev pioneers

The third anniversary of the social justice movement was marked in Sheizaf with great satisfaction: A young, flourishing community has been established in the Negev Desert and several education and development plans are in store.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the Gaza international donors conference in Cairo October 12, 2014. Kerry announced on Sunday an additional $212 million in aid to the Palestinian people at a Cairo conference on rebuilding Gaza following a war earlier this year. REUTERS/Carolyn Kaster/Pool (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR49UL4

Will Gaza donors conference encourage multilateral talks?

The Gaza donors conference, the third of its kind, is different from the two previous meetings in that the host has called on Israel to embrace the Arab Peace Initiative and join a multilateral negotiation track.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon speaks during a joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (not pictured) at The Kirya, the Israeli Defense Force headquarters, in Tel Aviv May 15, 2014. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3PAZF

Israeli defense minister warns of 'bad Iranian deal'

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warns of Iranian aspirations for regional hegemony, claiming that the West did not present tough enough negotiation stances: ''Current discussions would result in an agreement that isn’t a good one.''

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Arens listens during a press conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen (L) at the Pentagon April 27. The two defence ministers answered questions about the Middle East peace process and Israel's cooperation in the Kosovo crisis.

GMH/ELD/AA - RTRUC7L

Former Israeli defense minister says conflict looms with Hamas

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Defense Minister Moshe Arens contends that Israeli politicians depict a false picture of deteriorating Israeli-US ties, especially in regard to Congress, saying that ''relations are very stable."

The Dome of the Rock is seen in the background as Israeli policemen stand guard before Palestinian men begin to pray in the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud September 26, 2014. Israeli police declared an age limit on Friday for Palestinians wanting to enter the Old City, only allowing males above the age of 50 and all females to enter. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR47U0S

Can Israel, Palestine exist as parallel states on same land?

Contrary to what politicians on both sides are willing to admit, the Israeli and Palestinian people can live together side by side, and might accept an idea of having two parallel, “overlapping” states established on the same land.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) leaves after casting his ballot for the Likud party leadership election at a polling station in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Givat Zeev, near Jerusalem November 25, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3AUN8

Netanyahu prefers right-wing electorate to new Middle East

While preparing early primaries for the Likud Party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers strengthening his right-wing leader image to seizing a historic opportunity to promote a changed regional order in the Middle East.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - SEPTEMBER 15: In this photo provided by the U.S. Department of State, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks on at the Prime Minister's Residence September 15, 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel. Netanyahu and Abbas are deadlocked in peace negotiations over Israeli settlement building. (Photo by U.S. Department of State via Getty Images)

Can P5+1 formula work for Israel, Palestinians?

While Palestinian officials partially welcome the idea of a P5+1 framework for multilateral negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's associates count on the Americans to nip this idea in the bud.

An African migrant walks outside the Holot open detention centre in Israel's southern Negev desert September 22, 2014. Israel's high court on Monday outlawed a detention centre where African migrants are held without trial and ordered some 2,000 inmates there released over the next three months. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTR47A6X

Asylum seekers pawns in political power struggle

The Knesset and the government have a variety of ways to address the issue of African illegal immigrants short of jailing them without trial, but the right wing prefers to use them to attack the judiciary.