Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

July 9, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:01 pm

26°C

Former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot speaks during the launch of the Yashar party's election campaign in Hod Aharon, in central Israel, on June 30, 2026.

New Israeli election poll puts Eisenkot ahead of Netanyahu: What to know

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party has now bypassed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud in the polls, cementing his status as Netanyahu’s main opponent.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not shown) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump declares MoU with Iran 'over' as Hegseth cancels trip to Israel

Trump said diplomacy with Tehran was “a waste of time” after renewed attacks around Hormuz, as US defense chief reportedly cancels Israel visit.

Froun

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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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)

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

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

ABIR SULTAN / AFP via Getty Images

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

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

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (C) prays prior a meeting with his leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 9, 2014. Abbas has demanded Israel "immediately stop" its air campaign on the Gaza Strip and called on the international community to pressure the Jewish state. Israeli warplanes pounded targets in the Gaza Strip today as a major campaign to stop volleys of Palestinian rocket fire entered its second day. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Im

Abbas' lack of action on Gaza war infuriates Hamas

Hamas officials have scolded President Mahmoud Abbas for attending a peace conference in Tel Aviv during Israel's assault on Gaza.

Israelis run towards a bomb shelter as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets in the southern city of Ashkelon July 9, 2014. Israeli air strikes shook Gaza every few minutes on Wednesday, and militants kept up rocket fire at Israel's heartland in intensifying warfare that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 44 people in the Hamas-dominated enclave. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3XVKO

Media circus causes panic in Israel

News anchors, security experts and Knesset members are all raising the panic level through the media over the rocket fire, enjoying the attention they are receiving during the “disaster marathon.”

A Palestinian woman harvests barley on a farm near the border of southern Gaza Strip with Israel April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: AGRICULTURE) - RTR3MW60

Israel levels Gaza farms in search of tunnels

Israeli airstrikes on seemingly empty tracts are often agricultural lands vital to Gaza’s food production.

Palestinian medics inspect the remains of a car, which police said was hit in an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City July 9, 2014. An Israeli aircraft targeted a civilian car in the center of Gaza City's busiest shopping street on Wednesday night and at least one person in the car, the driver, was killed, medics said.Video of the destroyed car showed it had large red stickers that read "TV". The killed driver, Hamed Shehab, 30, worked for the Gaza-based news website Media 24. A Media 24 journalist told Reuters

Israeli strike hits media vehicle, kills driver

A first-hand account of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hamid Shehab, the driver of a media vehicle.

A Palestinian boy places a Hamas flag atop the rubble of a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip July 9, 2014. At least 23 people were killed across Gaza, Palestinian officials said on Wednesday, by a bombardment Israel said may be just the start of a lengthy offensive against Islamist militants whose rockets struck deeper than ever before into Israel. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3XQSM

Hamas readies for Israeli ground offensive with tunnels, traps

Hamas has developed a sophisticated network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip in the event of an Israeli ground invasion.

An ultra-Orthodox Jew speaking on a mobile phone gestures in front of a fire that broke out after a rocket landed near the southern town of Sderot July 9, 2014. Israeli air strikes shook Gaza every few minutes on Wednesday, and militants kept up rocket fire at Israel's heartland in intensifying warfare that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 37 people in the Hamas-dominated enclave. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) - RTR3XTBG

Hamas surprises Israel

Western analysts misjudged the actions of a desperate Hamas, which considers honor and face-saving above all, launching an attack against Israel when it has nothing to lose.

Women, children killed in Gaza as death toll rises

Israeli strikes on Gaza have targeted residential homes, killing numerous women and children.

Medics treat a man, whom they said was wounded in an Israeli air strike, at a hospital in Gaza City on July 8, 2014. BY Wissam Nassar.

Gaza hospitals ill-equipped for Israeli onslaught

Gaza’s hospitals are lacking essential medicines to deal with the anticipated spike in casualties from Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (C) leaves after holding a news conference at parliament in Jerusalem July 7, 2014. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3XFO1

Liberman positions himself as Mr. Security

By denouncing Prime Minister Netanyahu for not retaliating against the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman positioned himself as a responsible political leader who is assertive about security.

Ibraheem Hamed, a Palestinian television cameraman from Watan TV, stands in the station's studio in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 29, 2012. Israeli soldiers raided two Palestinian television stations, including Watan TV, in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, seizing transmitters the military said were interfering with air traffic communications. The Israeli military said Watan TV and Alquds educational television, which is also based in Ramallah, had been asked repeatedly by Israel to stop using

Palestinian press losing media war in current crisis

Palestinian media has failed to articulate an alternative narrative to the crisis with Israel, often relying on Israeli sources to write reports, following the killing of three Israeli youths and a Palestinian teen.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in his office in Jerusalem July 6, 2014. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3XBCD

Netanyahu under pressure for a large military operation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces demands by his coalition partners for a strong reaction to the Gaza rocket fire, while the international community will surely refrain from backing him on a large-scale military operation.

Iron rods ready for shipment are piled at Israel Shipyards Port in Haifa February 5, 2014. Three years after Syria plunged into violence, Israel is reaping an unlikely economic benefit. Exports from Turkey have begun to flow through Israel and across the Sheikh Hussein Bridge to Jordan and a few Arab neighbours. The trade is growing enough to encourage long-held Israeli hopes that the Jewish state can become a commercial gateway to the Arab world. Picture taken February 5, 2014. To match Insight ISRAEL-TRAD

Trade, security concerns bring Turkey, Israel closer

Turkish-Israeli relations are still far from normalized, but developments in the region are converging the two countries' security and economic interests.