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Palestine

December 29, 2025

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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

Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh greets supporters during a visit to the Ain el-Helweh camp, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon on September 6, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Haniyeh’s visit to Lebanon further deepens Palestinian rift

Fatah has criticized the recent visit of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, where he received a strong welcome.

Arab Foreign Ministers take part in their 153rd annual session at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on March 4, 2020. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab League refuses to back Palestinians in rebuke of Israel-UAE deal

The pan-Arab body dropped a resolution that would have condemned the recent normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

TOPSHOT - Members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group take part in a military parade during a condolences ceremony for the movement's former leader Ramadan Shalah in Gaza city, on June 8, 2020, two days after his death in neighbouring Lebanon. - The 62-year-old was buried in Syria on June 7, a day following his death after a long illness. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza factions say Hamas cut them out of deal with Israel

Hamas’ abrupt announcement of a Qatari-brokered deal with Israel to contain the escalation in Gaza was met with doubts as some parties complained of being left out of the talks.

Qatari official details mediation between Israel, Hamas

The chairman of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi, says mediation "helped to deescalate the conflict and spare innocent Palestinian civilians."

Israeli children play with the flag of the United Arab Emirates during an anti-government rally in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, on August 29, 2020. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli-Arabs split over agreement with the Emirates

Some Israeli-Arabs reject the deal with the UAE, while others cheer the opening to the Arab world.

United Arab Emirates

President Mahmoud Abbas (C) wears a protective mask as he attends a meeting of the Palestinian leadership to discuss the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalise relations, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 18, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMAD TOROKMAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian leaders grasp for unity in Ramallah-Beirut meeting

While the Sept. 3 meeting between major Palestinian faction leaders in Ramallah and Beirut was an unusual accomplishment in itself, many observers are cautious about crucial obstacles to change.

Yasser Arafat’s widow lashes out at PA over criticism of UAE-Israel deal

The widow of late Palestinian President Yasser Aafat lashed out at the Palestinian Authority, accusing it of threatening her because of her position on the UAE-Israel normalization deal.

United Arab Emirates

An impoverished area in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Yunis is pictured on May 13, 2019. - Qatar began distributing millions of dollars in aid in the Gaza Strip today in a fresh bid to restore calm after a flareup with Israel, a Qatari official said. Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, along with an allied militant group, fired hundreds of rockets at Israel on May 4 and 5, saying they were frustrated by the slow implementation of a previous ceasefire deal. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Ph

Qatar brokers Israel-Hamas cease-fire

Hamas says it has reached understandings with Qatar and Israel to contain the escalation in Gaza, but details of the agreement are murky.

A Palestinian family whose house located in area C of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was demolished by the military last month, is pictured at the ruins of their home, near the village of Yatta, south of Hebron, on August 10, 2020. - "Area C" is a stretch of land accounting for 60 percent of the West Bank over which Israel has control under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s. It is extremely difficult for Palestinians to receive building permits from Is

Palestinians say not even caves safe from Israeli bulldozers

Residents of the West Bank village of Farasin are living in fear of displacement after receiving demolition notices for their houses, tents and even caves.

The Gaza Strip's Hamas Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh (L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands in front of the lawmakers of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party at the Parliament in Ankara on January 3, 2012. Haniyeh's visit was a show of solidarity with the Islamic aid group IHH, which had planned to send the Mavi Marmara vessel with another Gaza flotilla last year but then dropped the plan. AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty

Turkey courts Hamas despite US pressure

Despite US and Israeli criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting with the Hamas leadership, the relationship between Turkey and Hamas remains strong.

Congressman beats challenger who wants to condition US aid to Israel

Rep. Richard Neal's victory over progressive Alex Morse came after pro-Palestine Democrats won primaries earlier in the election year. Neal was endorsed by a large pro-Israel group.

Governor of Jerusalem for the Palestinian Authority Adnan Ghaith poses for a photograph in his office at the Palestinian Ministry of Jerusalem affairs' headquarters in the occupied West Bank town of al-Ram, near Jerusalem, on November 4, 2018. - Israeli forces raided the offices of the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem on November 4, authorities said, after reports of an investigation related to a land sale. Israeli authorities confirmed the raid in Al-Ram, just on the other side of Israel's separation wall

Palestinian governor of Jerusalem boxed in by Israeli authorities

Since assuming his post, Palestinian Governor of Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith has been subjected to a harassment campaign by the Israeli authorities who have restricted his movement within the city.