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

Israel cover image

Israel

October 7, 2026

Tel Aviv 7:20 pm

26°C

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during the state memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, Oct. 5, 2026.

Why Netanyahu still resists an independent probe 3 years after Oct. 7

Alongside official memorial ceremonies taking place across Israel on Monday, civil society groups are holding protests calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attacks.

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinian families in the West Bank rely on the olive harvest for primary or secondary sources of income, according to the United Nations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the state memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of Oct. 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, Oct. 5, 2026.

Analysis

Three years after Oct. 7, Hamas’ grip on Gaza tests Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’

Israeli intelligence assessments indicate that Hamas remains active, with the group estimated to have about 30,000 armed fighters, roughly the same as its estimated strength before the attack.

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

Latest News

Israel bars UK Greens leader over Zionism-racism resolution: What to know

Green Party leader Zack Polanski delivers his speech during day one of the Green Party annual conference at Brighton Centre on Oct. 2, 2026, in Brighton, England.

Analysis

How Netanyahu is capitalizing on MBZ meeting, FlyDubai attack to gain in election polls

Israeli Prime Minister and Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters at the lectern during a party campaign rally at Expo Tel Aviv on Sept. 17, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Analysis

How FlyDubai attack exposes gaps in Israel-UAE security ties

Abraham Accords signing

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

Exclusive

Rights, faith groups urge Congress to block $2.8B bomb sale to Israel

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

A Palestinian boy rides in a car driving past residential buildings in Beit Lahiya town, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during the Israeli offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip August 7, 2014. Mediators worked against the clock on Thursday to extend a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinians as the three-day ceasefire went into its final 24 hours. Israel has said it is ready to agree to an extension as Egyptian mediators pursued talks with Israelis and Palesti

Israeli media wakes up to Gaza destruction, criticism

With the war nearing its end, Israeli media features the destruction of Gaza, not only in numbers but in images, exposing the Israeli public to the suffering of the Palestinians and to harsh criticism voiced by European leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Martin Indyk leaves a briefing room at the State Department in Washington July 29, 2013. Kerry named former U.S. ambassador to Israel Indyk as his main envoy in Israeli-Palestinian talks starting in Washington later on Monday seeking "reasonable compromises" in the tough negotiations. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX123XL

Peace talks to get underway, Kerry names Indyk envoy

Following informal talks between Israeli, Palestinian, and US diplomats, US Secretary of State john Kerry will host Israeli and Palestinian negotiators for an iftar dinner as the peace process resumes after a three year hiatus.

Vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. , Martin Indyk, speaks during the U.S.- Islamic World Forum in Doha June 9, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous (QATAR - Tags: RELIGION) - RTX10HPL

Kerry names Indyk peace envoy, calls for reasonable compromise

Secretary of State John Kerry has named former US envoy to Israel and Clinton peace negotiator Martin Indyk as his new special peace envoy.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) listens to Foreign Affairs and Defence committee chair Zeev Elkin during a committee meeting at parliament in Jerusalem June 2, 2014. Netanyahu warned on Sunday against any international rush to recognise a Palestinian government due to be announced under a unity pact between the Fatah and Hamas Islamist groups.REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RRU6

Knesset to investigate Gaza operation

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Zeev Elkin explains his decision to open an inquiry of the Gaza operation, in spite of objections from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice speaks at the White House in Washington, in this February 28, 2011 file photo. Rice is on a "short list" of possible U.S. candidates to head the World Bank, according to media reports on March 13, 2012. Picture taken February 28, 2011. REUTERS/Jim Young/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR2ZA4O

Kerry, Rice brief Jewish, Arab American groups on Mideast peace talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice briefed Jewish and Arab American groups Thursday and Friday on the Israel-Palestine peace talks in an effort to bolster support.

Pro-Israel demonstrators take part in a demonstration called by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg January 14, 2009. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (FRANCE) - RTR23DLX

Israelis dream of Europe

The Gaza incursion provoked a wave of anti-Semitism in Europe and a surge in the number of Jews emigrating to Israel, but in Israel, the war has provoked some to consider emigration to safer, less polarized countries.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon attend a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv July 31, 2014. Netanyahu, facing international alarm over a rising civilian death toll in Gaza, said on Thursday he would not accept any ceasefire that stopped Israel completing the destruction of militants' infiltration tunnels. Gaza officials say at least 1,372 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded. Fifty-six Israeli soldi

Israel prepares for an international legal assault

Israel prepares to face the UN Commission and the private complaints that might be submitted against it in the aftermath of the Gaza incursion, compiling a "defense dossier" with the footage it gathered through the operation days and even testimonies of foreign journalists who covered Gaza.

Israeli soldiers look towards Gaza from Israel August 3, 2014. The fighting on Sunday pushed the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials to 1,726, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian rockets have also killed three civilians in Israel. Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating the operation into ground incursions. RE

Poor Israelis suffer from war, support it anyway

In the Israeli paradox, those suffering from economic insecurity support the parties that promise to stand firm against security threats, while actually contributing to social inequality.

An Israeli soldier lifts a shell at a site where mobile artillery units are deployed, outside the Gaza Strip July 21, 2014. The Palestinian death toll in an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip jumped to more than 500 on Monday, as the United States, alarmed by escalating civilian bloodshed, took a direct role in efforts to secure a ceasefire. Israel's losses also mounted. Following the death of 13 soldiers on Sunday, Israel said seven more troops had died on Monday, including four killed when a group of mil

Leftist Knesset member blames Netanyahu for Gaza war

“The security situation of Israeli citizens only gets worse from round to round,” says Knesset member Dov Khenin in an interview with Al-Monitor, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “is responsible for this war in every imaginable way.”

Israeli soldiers take off their jackets as they stand atop a tank after returning to Israel from Gaza August 5, 2014. Israel pulled its ground forces out of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR41AVX

Hamas pressured to accept Egypt’s cease-fire demand

The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was announced after heated exchanges between the Egyptian and Hamas delegations during negotiations in Cairo, where Hamas reluctantly accepted Egypt’s demand for a cease-fire without preconditions.

An overturned bus lies at the scene of a suspected attack in Jerusalem August 4, 2014. A construction vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian and overturned the bus on a main street in Jerusalem on Monday in what police suspect was a Palestinian attack, which ended when policemen shot dead the driver of the yellow excavator. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR41625

Israel fears terror spillover from Gaza to West Bank

The growing economic crisis in the West Bank coupled with Hamas assaults on Israel and the destruction in Gaza risk provoking more terror attacks in the West Bank.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon sit in front of a display of M302 rockets, found aboard the Klos C ship, at a navy base in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat March 10, 2014. Netanyahu, displaying on Monday what Israel said were seized Iranian-supplied missiles bound for militants in Gaza, called on the West not to be fooled by Tehran's diplomatic outreach over its nuclear programme. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GGUG

Israeli defense minister rejected demands to retake Gaza

The pragmatic line advocated by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on the Gaza incursion has earned him the esteem of many in the general Israeli public but might have cost him the support of the far right.