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January 1, 2026

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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 Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people

Day 24 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Oct. 30

A Navy member of the Quick Acting Response Team scans the horizon as he protects the USS Whidbey Island and the USS Bataan.

Day 26 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Nov. 1

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during a meeting in Amman on October 13, 2023. Blinken spent October 12 in Tel Aviv where he promised unwavering solidarity to US ally Israel after the surprise October 7 offensive by Hamas, who killed over 1,200 people and took about 150 more hostage. Israel has killed more than 1,400 people in strikes in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack and has cut off food, water and electricity. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL

Does Fatah stand to reap gains after Israel-Hamas war in Gaza?

The war in Gaza could give Fatah a new life but it remains unclear who the successor of Mahmoud Abbas would be.

Palestinians search for survivors in the rubble of a building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023, amid relentless Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (P

'Total blindness': Gaza paramedics recount horror during Israel's blackout

Gazans recount the 34 hours of internet and communications blackout during intense Israeli bombardment cutting off the enclave from the rest of the world.

Kharaz

West Bank death toll exceeds 120 as US warns Israel over settler violence

Over 120 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed amid raids by the Israeli army and settler attacks since Oct. 7.

Forces loyal to Yemen's Houthi rebels hold up Palestinian flags as they march in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians, Sanaa, Yemen, Oct. 15, 2023.

Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Israel as Gaza war rages

The Iran-backed forces said the missile and drone attack was a response to “Israeli aggression.”

This picture taken on Oct. 31, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows smoke plumes billowing during Israeli bombardment amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Day 25 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Oct. 31

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Gaza war could double oil prices, threaten global food security

Washington-based multilateral lender World Bank compared the situation to the 1973 Arab oil embargo in its latest Commodities Market Outlook.

An antenna of a communications tower that relays phone and internet signals is pictured in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28 , 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas

US working to keep Gaza's phone, internet services operational

Israel cut communications in Gaza late Friday for over 24 hours as the Israeli military increased strikes and ground operations.

Palestinians storm a UN-run aid supply center, that distributes food to displaced families following Israel's call for more than one million residents in northern Gaza to move south for their safety, in Deir al-Balah on October 28, 2023,

Gaza death toll soars above 8,200 as UN estimates 1.4 million displaced

Aid deliveries are continuing into Gaza, but humanitarian organizations are reporting mass displacement and fuel shortages as Israel continues aerial and ground operations against Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people

Day 23 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Oct. 29

Jordan's Queen Rania and Spain's Queen Letizia (R) arrive for an official luncheon at the Royal Palace in Madrid, on June 19, 2023. (Photo by Paul White / POOL / AFP) (Photo by PAUL WHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Day 19 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Oct. 25