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Palestine

December 28, 2025

Ramallah 10:57 am

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Analysis

Gaza realities test Trump’s 2025 Middle East ambitions

During its first year, the second Trump administration confronted wars in Gaza and Sudan, forged new ties with Syria and grappled with the growing nuclear threat from Iran.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a joint news conference with US President Donald Trump (not seen) in the State Dining Room at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.

Analysis

In 2025, Netanyahu saved his coalition but stalled on Gaza, Iran, Lebanon

With 2025 ending, Israelis are frustrated over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to fully end the Gaza war, solve the Hezbollah problem, reach a deal with Syria or find a way to constructively impact talks on the Iranian nuclear program.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

US President Donald Trump speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025.

Analysis

Trump has upper hand over Netanyahu, but is it enough for Gaza?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been stalling on the implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, but at the end of the day, Trump has much more leverage over Netanyahu.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Latest News

Maersk resumes Red Sea passage after two-year halt amid easing Houthi threat

A ship sails along Egypt's Suez Canal near Ismailia, April 16, 2025.

Facing Israeli pushback, Turkey recalibrates public messaging on Gaza force

Saeed Jaras / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Trump's Syria envoy Barrack tests Israel's patience as Netanyahu pushes back

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with US special envoy Tom Barrack, Jerusalem, Dec. 15 2

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

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 woman wearing a face mask amid the Covid-19 pandemic cleans artifacts at her family-run al-Qarara Cultural Museum, as visitors stopped coming following Gaza authoritiess decision to close tourist places to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2020. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza unable to crack down on antiquities smuggling

The antiquities that litter the ruins of Gaza are increasingly being trafficked, with the government unable to keep up.

Pro-Israel group criticizes Georgia Senate candidate for past sermon

Christians United for Israel slammed Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock over a 2018 sermon he gave on the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, but others have defended the candidate for a US Senate seat.

Fighters take part in military exercises by Palestinian armed factions, featuring mock Israeli military targets and vehicles, at a military site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 29, 2020. - Palestinian armed groups staged military exercises in Gaza, including firing rockets into the sea, to mark the anniversary of the start of the 2008 conflict with Israel. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian groups conduct first-ever joint military drill

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other groups held the exercise to prepare for a future conflict with Israel.

Palestine’s 'techno queen' scapegoated by politicians trying to escape responsibility

Misinterpretations of a music video shot in the area of a West Bank holy site cause anger, an arrest of the DJ and the burning of furniture to be used for the development of cultural tourism at the location.

A technician handles collected PCR (polymerase chain reaction) swab samples collected as part of COVID-19 coronavirus disease testing, at the Palestinian Gaza-based Health Ministry central laboratory in Gaza City on December 7, 2020. - The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on December 7 that it will stop testing for the novel coronavirus as it "ran out of examination materials". (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE helps Gaza resume COVID-19 testing as normalization dust settles

The UAE sent a medical aid convoy to the Gaza Strip as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens, in the first such shipment since normalizing ties with Israel.

United Arab Emirates

Nabil el-Salfiti looks on as his wife Faten (R) places the star on top of a Christmas tree at their home in Gaza City on December 22, 2019. - A few hundred Gazan Christians have traditionally been granted permits to attend Christmas festivities in Bethlehem and Jerusalem each year. This year Israel initially didn't announce any permits, prompting criticism among church groups and media. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas walks back 'Christmas ban' in Gaza after uproar

A memo leaked from the Hamas-run Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs in the Gaza Strip taken as a ban on Christmas and New Year festivities outraged Christian and Muslim Palestinians alike.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on January 23, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian, Palestinian leaders discuss Israel-Palestinian peace process

Russia has voiced willingness to mediate between Israel and Palestine in its capacity as a member of the Middle East Quartet.

UAE steps up medical aid to Gaza

The UAE and Qatar are neck and neck in the Gaza Strip, with both parties pumping money and aid into the besieged enclave that is struggling under tough economic, humanitarian and health conditions made worse by the coronavirus.

International aid arrangement targets vulnerable Palestinians

A UN-backed humanitarian aid plan seeks to support 1.8 million Palestinians as a worsening coronavirus pandemic and settlement threat looms.

A man is pictured in the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 20, 2020 after it was re-opened for prayers following strict COVID-19 restrtictions. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian spirits sag as coronavirus steals Christmas

Taybeh, the only village in Palestine where the entire population is Christian, is having a dreary holiday season with residents confined at home due to the pandemic.

Palestinian Orthodox Christians attend a Christmas Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on January 7, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Christians in Gaza celebrate gloomy Christmas this year

Christians in the Gaza Strip will be celebrating Christmas at home this year in light of the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed to stem the skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases.

A Moroccan man walks next to a Palestinian flag during a demonstration against the US Middle East peace plan in the capital Rabat on February 9, 2020. - Morocco has warming but quiet relations with Israel, although they do not enjoy formal diplomatic ties. Israel and Morocco opened "liaison" offices in each other's countries in the mid-1990s but Rabat closed them after an escalation of Palestinian-Israeli violence in 2000. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Why Palestinians found Moroccan normalization easier to take

Unlike Israel's normalization deals with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, the most recent one with Morocco caused little anger among Palestinians.