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Palestine

December 28, 2025

Ramallah 7:03 pm

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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

Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is seen as he receives Italy's interior minister at a hotel in Jerusalem on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Envoy lambasts UN over seven anti-Israel resolutions

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, claims the seven resolutions adopted yesterday are full of hypocrisy and lies.

Families of ancient Palestinian village struggle to survive settler attacks

Al-Monitor spent the day with Muhannad Salah and his family, some of the few remaining residents of the historic Shushahla village in Area C that has struggled to survive amid settlement expansion.

A Palestinian woman walks down a street in the Amari refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 29, 2020. - A second wave of coronavirus infections sweeping the Israeli-occupied West Bank is fuelling fears of a surge in overcrowded Palestinian refugee camps where social distancing is widely seen as impossible. The Palestinian health ministry's Tuesday update logged more than 10,860 confirmed cases of infection since the start of the pandemic, including more than 75 deaths. (Photo by ABBAS MOMA

Dahlan supporters complain of PA crackdown in West Bank camps

Supporters of exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan say they have been targets of a crackdown by Palestinian security forces since the UAE-Israel normalization agreement.

Israeli soldiers gather at a checkpoint near Nablus in the occupied West Bank where a Palestinian who shot at Israeli troops on November 4, 2020 was killed when soldiers returned fire, Israel's army said. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP) (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian who fired at Israeli troops fatally shot, IDF says

The Palestinians describe Bilal Rawajba's death as an "extrajudicial execution."

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Israel test positive for COVID-19

As of Tuesday evening, more than 80 prisoners at the Gilboa prison in central Israel had contracted the coronavirus, according to the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' Affairs.

Palestinian fishermen fish in the Mediterranean sea in Gaza City on May 10, 2019 a week after a deadly two-day escalation in violence between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Israel. - Israel announced it is loosening restrictions on fishermen off the blockaded Gaza Strip by allowing them to travel up to 12 nautical miles into the Mediterranean one week after a ceasefire. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt to negotiate sea border with Palestine

Egypt reached demarcation agreements with Greece and Cyprus in August.

This picture taken on February 1, 2020 shows a view at an Arab League emergency meeting discussing the US-brokered proposal for a settlement of the Middle East conflict, at the league headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo. - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas announced on February 1 a cut of all ties with Israel and the United States, including security cooperation, days after Washington unveiled a controversial Middle East peace plan. Abbas spoke at an Arab League meeting in Cairo called after US Preside

Hamas balances ties between Turkey, Egypt

A Hamas delegation has concluded a visit to Cairo to brief Egyptian officials on the latest efforts to bring about elections after reaching an agreement with Fatah in Turkey.

Palestinian Muslim worshippers hold a protest sign against the normalisation of ties between Israel and two Arab states, during Friday noon prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem on September 18, 2020. - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed agreements establishing full diplomatic ties at a ceremony at the White House. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinians furious as Israel escorts Arab delegations to Al-Aqsa

Tension is rising at Al-Aqsa Mosque, where self-appointed Jerusalemite defenders are harassing Gulf Arab visitors who come under Israeli protection.

Palestinian international peace conference gaining traction

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ proposal to hold an international conference on peace in the Middle East has gained the support of several member states of the United Nations Security Council.

Palestinian Football Association (PFA) head and member of the Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on September 3, 2018. - The head of the Palestinian football association pledged on September 3 to appeal a 12-month ban and 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,600, 17,700 euros) fine against him by FIFA over comments made about Lionel Messi for "inciting hatred and violence", after calling on fans to burn the latter's pictures and jerseys in the buil

Palestinian president stacks Jerusalem branch with loyalists

The selection of members loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Fatah movement’s Jerusalem branch raised the ire of other Fatah leaders who called to review the selection process.

TOPSHOT - Flames are seen following an Israeli air strike in the town of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, early on October 23, 2020. - The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel on the night of October 22, without causing any casualties or damage, and that one had been intercepted by air defences. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel bombs Gaza after sustaining rocket fire

Israel frequently clashes with Hamas and other groups in Gaza, and the two last agreed to a cease-fire in September.

A picture taken on October 20, 2020, shows an Israeli observation post at the Gaza-Israel border, east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. - Israel on October retaliated with airstrikes against a rocket fired from the Gaza strip, after it said it had discovered a tunnel that crossed "dozens of meters (yards) into Israel from Gaza" leading from Palestinian into Israeli territory, the army said. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli technology exposes Gaza attack tunnel, challenges Hamas

The Israel Defense Forces know that the uncovering of a large Hamas terror tunnel does not mean that group would abandon its efforts to attack Israel.