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December 29, 2025

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At Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu seeks Iran strike approval while Trump presses Gaza plan

US President Donald Trump is expected to push Israel to enter the second phase of his Gaza peace plan, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will focus on securing Trump’s approval for a potential strike on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

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

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

Palestinians reveal Israeli alternatives to two-state solution

Palestinians seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place with Israel’s shifting away from a two-state solution and the diminishing chances of such an option after the announcement of the US Middle East peace plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement overlooking the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, located in an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the region's capture in the 1967 Middle East war, February 20, 2020. Debbie Hill/Pool via REUTERS - RC2E4F9ALPB6

Netanyahu’s dilemma over his annexation plan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must now decide whether he wants to go ahead with his annexation plan, or hope that the White House will get him out of it.

Jordan Valley Palestinians watch as Israel imposes authority ahead of looming annexation

Israel has intensified its measures in West Bank areas facing the threat of annexation at a time when Palestinians feel the imminence of the annexation project more than ever.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia July 14, 2018. Pool/Yuri Kadobnov via REUTERS - RC11D68C34E0

Will Moscow save the West Bank from annexation?

The Palestinian leadership is looking to Russia for help resisting Israel's annexation plans.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he and U.S. President Donald Trump discuss a Middle East peace plan proposal in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 28, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid - RC26PE94BY08

Israel denies policy change on deducting payouts to Palestinian assailants from PA taxes

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied any change in the policy of deducting funds paid by the Palestinian Authority from the tax revenues collected on its behalf by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to the area of Israeli settlement of Har Homa, located in an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the region's capture in the 1967 Middle East war, February 20, 2020. Debbie Hill/Pool via REUTERS - RC2E4F97DQ5S

Settlers accuse Netanyahu of misleading right on annexation

Settler leaders and Yamina are campaigning against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s annexation plan, suspecting the initiative will lead to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli soldiers walk as Palestinian demonstrators gather on a hilltop during a protest against Israeli settlements in the town of Beita in the Israeli occupied West Bank, March 2, 2020. Picture taken March 2, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RC2LDF9965R4

IDF instructed to start preparing for possible annexation

It is not yet clear if and when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present his annexation plan, but the army has already been instructed to prepare for escalation scenarios.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., votes to approve the second article of impeachment against President Donald Trump during a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2019. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS - RC2GUD9CQYPS

Intel: House Middle East panel chairman questions Trump’s commitment to two-state solution

The chairman of the House’s Middle East panel questioned the Donald Trump administration’s stated commitment to a two-state solution during a Zoom interview with the Israel Policy Forum today.

Palestinians draw parallels between disabled man's killing, US police violence against black people

When an Israeli soldier shot to death a disabled unarmed Palestinian, it triggered an angry reaction around the world and especially in the United States, which has been dealing with its own police brutality against unarmed black men.

Israeli police wearing masks walk near a bronze sculpture by Italian artist Alessandro Mutto at one of the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Jerusalem's Old City April 2, 2020. Picture taken April 2, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC2WYF955Z7O

Israel apologies after police kill unarmed Palestinian in Jerusalem's Old City

Hundreds of mourners called for revenge during processions in East Jerusalem on Sunday.

A Palestinian boy leans against the entrance to his house in Qalandiya Refugee Camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, ahead of Nakba Day May 13, 2013. Palestinians will mark "Nakba" (Catastrophe) on May 15 to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of some 700, 000 Palestinians from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. The graffiti reads "Yousef Oude", a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - GM1E95E03ZE01

Poverty could double in the West Bank as coronavirus takes toll, World Bank warns

The bank estimates the percentage of poor households in the West Bank will increase from 14% to 30% in 2020.

Worshippers pray on the compound housing al-Aqsa mosque, which is known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, as it reopened to worshippers after a two-and-a-half month closure due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Jerusalem's Old City May 31, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC2HZG9OOZMA

Temple Mount reopens amid growing tensions in Jerusalem

After the killing of Palestinian Iyad al-Hallak by an Israeli police officer, authorities fear conflict is brewing on the Temple Mount.