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Palestine

December 29, 2025

Ramallah 5:05 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

An Israeli farmer uses a tractor in an attempt to extinguish a fire in a wheat field near the Kibbutz Nahal Oz, along the border with the Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2019 after it was caused by inflammable material attached to helium balloon flown by Palestinian protesters from across the border. - Palestinians are marking the 1948 Nakba, or "catastrophe", which left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war accompanying the birth of the Jewish state. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Phot

After understandings with Hamas, Israel pushes for comprehensive cease-fire

Israel warns Hamas that in order for the temporary cease-fire to be implemented, balloon terror from the Gaza Strip must stop.

Palestinians cover their ears as a masked man fires a volley from his rifle, during the funeral of Dalia Ahmed Suleiman Samudi, 23, in Jenin city in the occupied West Bank on August 7, 2020, who was killed by Israeli fire during clashes. - Samudi died of a gunshot wound after being shot near the site of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP) (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Private gun ownership soars in West Bank

Crime rates are rising in the West Bank, where illegal weapons are turning family feuds deadly.

Hamas announces deal to end Gaza flare-up with Israel

Under the Qatari-brokered agreement, the militants will cease their attacks in return for Israel lifting restrictions at the border.

Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erakat speaks during the 2019 J Street National Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on October 28, 2019. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by MANDEL NGAN has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [Saeb Erakat] instead of [Saab]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have

Palestinian public diplomacy blitz to block other Arab countries following UAE lead

The Palestinian leadership seeks to counter US and lsrael diplomacy with Sudan, Bahrain and Oman to secure another normalization deal.

United Arab Emirates

Exiled former senior Fatah member Mohammed Dahlan attends a Palestinian legislative Council meeting in Gaza City through video conference from the United Arab Emirates on July 27, 2017 following developments at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Palestinians were set to return to pray at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site after Israeli authorities removed controversial new security measures, potentially ending a nearly two-week crisis that sparked deadly unrest. Dahlan, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's exiled r

Turkey tries to settle scores with Palestinian leader backed by the UAE

Interpol recently rejected Turkey’s request to arrest dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, who is currently in the United Arab Emirates, but analysts believe this will not stop Ankara from pursuing Dahlan through other means.

United Arab Emirates

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - AUGUST 20: An unidentified girl walks past a portion of a mural on Falls Road August 20, 2002 in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. The pro-Palestinian painting has appeared in several Nationalist areas across Belfast in recent weeks. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Getty Images)

Palestinian man arrested for allegedly helping Irish nationalist group

The man's lawyer said the accused doctor from the West Bank is involved in peaceful activism and was entrapped by British intelligence.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters following a meeting with members of the UN Security Council about Iran's alleged non-compliance with a nuclear deal and calling for the restoration of sanctions against Iran at United Nations headquarters in New York, August 20, 2020. (Photo by MIKE SEGAR / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MIKE SEGAR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

As Pompeo pushes for Israel deal, Bahrain reaffirms support for two-state solution

Pompeo is trying to persuade Bahrain and other countries in the region to join the United Arab Emirates in recognizing Israel.

United Arab Emirates

Intel: Washington condemns Erdogan’s meeting with Hamas leadership

The US State Department has condemned the Turkish president’s recent meeting with senior members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas as one that “only serves to isolate Turkey” on the world stage.

A Palestinian man sits on an empty stall at the closed-down Fras market in Gaza City, amid a two-day lockdown due to the detection of first cases of COVID-19 in the general population, on August 25, 2020. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza locks down as virus infects four

The four new cases of the virus confirmed on Monday were the first detected outside Gaza's quarantine centers.

Gazan child raps about broken dreams under siege

Abdel Rahman Salih al-Shanti, an 11-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip, has made international headlines, with English rap songs evoking Gaza’s wars and sufferings under the Israeli blockade.

A photo taken on June 24, 2019 shows raw sewage flowing near the main Gaza Strip power plant, serving the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, south of Gaza City. - Finance officials were flying into Bahrain today for a US-led peace conference that holds out billions of dollars for the Palestinians, whose leaders pronounced the idea dead on arrival. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel-Hamas escalation halts sewage treatment, generates ecological crisis

Gaza incendiary balloons made Israel stop fuel import into the Gaza Strip, causing in turn for Gaza sewage plants to cease operating.

People inspect the damages at a house that was hit by a rocket launched from Gaza to the southern Israeli city of Sderot, early morning on August 16, 2020. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel carries out multiple airstrikes after 12 rockets from Gaza

Escalation on Israel-Gaza border: Israel Defense Forces jets struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip three times, after 12 rockets and projectiles were launched during the night from Gaza.