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December 31, 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

The Gaza Strip's Hamas Prime minister Ismail Haniya (L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan salute together 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 by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty

Will US pressure on Turkey over Hamas, Russia access to finance matter much?

Washington’s high-level warnings over Hamas financial activity in the country come at a time when Turkey’s economy management is trying to overcome its currency crunch by gaining the confidence of foreign investors.

Smoke rises from an explosion in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023.

Day 57 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Dec. 2

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Defense Department's budget request on Capitol Hill on June 17, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Interview

US senator calls for holding Israel accountable if it doesn’t limit civilian casualties

In an interview with Al-Monitor, US Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland, says Biden should go over Netanyahu’s head, speak directly to Israeli people about post-conflict vision.

Chris Van Hollen

Chris Van Hollen

US Senator from Maryland

Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. Washington urged Israel to show restraint in its response to Hamas's surprise attack -- the worst in the country's 75-year history -- which Israeli forces said killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. In Gaza, officials have reported more than 1,200 people killed in Israel's uninterrupted campaign of air and artillery strikes,

As Gaza war resumes, can Israel's plan to limit civilian harm succeed?

Under pressure from Washington, Israeli military officials say they are implementing options to limit further harm to civilians as they expand the military campaign to southern Gaza.

TOPSHOT - A man walks past a section of Israel's separation barrier painted with a portrait of Palestinian Ahed Tamimi, on November 6, 2023 in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said on November 6 it had arrested the prominent 22-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi during a raid in the occupied West Bank. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

Who are the main Palestinian prisoners released by Israel during Gaza truce?

A total of 71 women and 169 children were released from Israeli jails under a Hamas-Israel swap agreement that collapsed on Friday.

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Day 56 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Friday, Dec. 1

Blinken Israel

Israel needs 'clear plan' to protect Gaza civilians, Blinken says

The top US diplomat said Israel must take steps to protect civilians in southern Gaza once the fighting resumes, including creating safe zones.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 02: Mehdi Hasan attends Variety & Rolling Stone Truth Seekers Summit at Second on August 02, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Why did MSNBC cancel show hosted by Mehdi Hasan, fierce critic of Israel’s war?

The US cable TV channel MSNBC announced on Thursday that it is canceling Mehdi Hasan’s Sunday night show, prompting a backlash from progressives and pro-Palestinian activists.

Senate Democrats

Breaking | Last Updated: November 30, 2023, 10:34 am

Democrats split on conditioning Israel aid ahead of war’s next phase

Some Senate Democrats have floated conditions on Israel's future military assistance after President Joe Biden said attaching strings was a "worthwhile thought."

Amberin and Fabrice webinar

The Israel-Hamas war: A view from Iraq and Syria

Join a live Q&A webinar with Amberin Zaman and Fabrice Balanche on Friday, Dec. 1 at 11 am ET (Pro members only).

A child mourns over the body of one of five people killed in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during an overnight Israeli incursion, at the morgue of a hospital on November 26, 2023. Five people were killed by Israeli army fire in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said, during an incursion by a large number of armoured vehicles into the city, which was recently the scene of the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in almost 20 years. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Get

Two Palestinian children killed in Israeli raid in Jenin as West Bank tensions soar

The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has not calmed the situation in the West Bank with at least 240 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Calling him 'butcher of Gaza,' Turkey's Erdogan unloads on Netanyahu

Erdogan also said hopes for a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas have been dampened.