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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

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) speak as they review a military honour guard during the welcoming ceremony, in Ankara, on May 16, 2022. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

In Algeria, Turkey's Erdogan voices support for imminent Israel-Hamas deal

The Turkish president said that Ankara is in contact with Qatari authorities over a potential deal between Israel and Hamas.

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in north Gaza on November 22, 2023

Day 46 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Nov. 21

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 06: Flowers and candles are placed among pictures of journalists at a vigil in lower Manhattan on November 6, 2023 in New York City. The vigil is held to remember and celebrate the lives of journalists killed in recent fighting in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon. Since Hamas launched its attack against Israel on October 7 and Israel began a prolonged attack on the militant Palestinian group, at least 37 journalists and media workers are counted among an estimated 11,000 killed. (Photo by Sp

At least 48 journalists killed in Gaza war, 43 Palestinians, deadliest since 1992

Dozens of journalists and media workers have been killed in the region since the Hamas-Israel war erupted more than a month ago.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein talks to the press during a EU-Iraq Cooperation Council, at the European Council Building in Brussels on March 19, 2023.

Iraqi FM says unless US stops Israel, conflict in Gaza will 'burn all of us'

Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein worries that the conflict in Gaza will drag on and expand beyond Israel’s borders.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey seeks to evacuate nearly 1,000 people from Gaza

As Ankara continues to evacuate its nationals from the Gaza Strip, the Turkish health minister said Turkey is seeking to establish a field hospital there.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud before a family photo for the attendees of a meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority nations at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, Beijing, China, Nov. 20, 2023.

China hosts Arab FMs, pushes ‘justice and fairness’ in Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Arab-Muslim delegation stopped in China on the first leg of a tour aimed at shoring up support for an immediate end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

Webinar with Amb. David Satterfield

Israel-Hamas War: Live Q&A webinar with Amb. David Satterfield

RSVP now to join the discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 12:15 pm ET.

A woman minds a child as they play near the fountain.

Day 45 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Nov. 20

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - NOVEMBER 18: Thousands of people and the families of kidnapped Israelis hold up their mobile phones with the torch light to sing the national anthem during a rally demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secures the release of the hostages, outside The Museum of Modern Art known as the 'The Hostages and Missing Square' on November 18, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Families and supporters of the hostages taken by Hamas in its Oct 7 attack commenced a multi-day march from Tel A

Day 44 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Nov. 19

Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (2nd L) and U. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd R) chat with Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani (R) and United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L), in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022. - Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states held a landmark meeting to discuss issues from the Iran nuclear negotiations to the global shockwaves of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Jacquelyn Mar

Gaza war tests Arab Gulf influence as GCC tries to avert regional escalation

Although the UAE and Bahrain have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, and Saudi Arabia was considering such a move, Arab states in the region have their own reasons to be cautious.

TOPSHOT - A Palestinian girl and her brother sit amidst the debris of a house following an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Day 43 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Nov. 18

Erdogan Scholz

Tensions erupt at Turkey's Erdogan presser in Germany over Gaza war

The joint press conference between the leaders of the two nations further exposed their differences over the Israel-Hamas war.