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Palestine

January 12, 2026

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Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen gives a press conference in Larnaca on December 20, 2023 talking about a humanitarian aid corridor from the Mediterranean island to war-torn Gaza. (Photo by Elisa AMOURET / AFP) (Photo by ELISA AMOURET/AFP via Getty Images)

Interview

Gaza calm could revive East Med Forum, Israel-Jordan projects: Cohen

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Israeli Energy Minister Cohen estimated that the mega gas deal between Israel and Egypt would reinforce the peace treaty and pave the way for stronger security cooperation in combating Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups and Hamas.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

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

Latest News

Analysis

Trump has upper hand over Netanyahu, but is it enough for Gaza?

US President Donald Trump speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

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

Israel expands campaign to seize West Bank archaeological sites

Israel gave notice of seizure of two new archaeological sites in the West Bank, in an endless series of targeting such sites in Palestinian areas.

A Jewish couple stand together overlooking the Western wall and the Dome of the Rock mosque next to wedding floral decorations in Jerusalem's Old City on August 25, 2020. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Second wave of virus ravages Israel's Arab population

According to health experts, weddings and conspiracy theories are behind the high number of new infections in Arab-Israeli society.

Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh greets supporters during a visit to the Ain el-Helweh camp, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon on September 6, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Haniyeh’s visit to Lebanon further deepens Palestinian rift

Fatah has criticized the recent visit of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, where he received a strong welcome.

Arab Foreign Ministers take part in their 153rd annual session at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on March 4, 2020. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab League refuses to back Palestinians in rebuke of Israel-UAE deal

The pan-Arab body dropped a resolution that would have condemned the recent normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

TOPSHOT - Members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group take part in a military parade during a condolences ceremony for the movement's former leader Ramadan Shalah in Gaza city, on June 8, 2020, two days after his death in neighbouring Lebanon. - The 62-year-old was buried in Syria on June 7, a day following his death after a long illness. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza factions say Hamas cut them out of deal with Israel

Hamas’ abrupt announcement of a Qatari-brokered deal with Israel to contain the escalation in Gaza was met with doubts as some parties complained of being left out of the talks.

Qatari official details mediation between Israel, Hamas

The chairman of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi, says mediation "helped to deescalate the conflict and spare innocent Palestinian civilians."

Israeli children play with the flag of the United Arab Emirates during an anti-government rally in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, on August 29, 2020. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli-Arabs split over agreement with the Emirates

Some Israeli-Arabs reject the deal with the UAE, while others cheer the opening to the Arab world.

United Arab Emirates

President Mahmoud Abbas (C) wears a protective mask as he attends a meeting of the Palestinian leadership to discuss the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalise relations, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on August 18, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMAD TOROKMAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian leaders grasp for unity in Ramallah-Beirut meeting

While the Sept. 3 meeting between major Palestinian faction leaders in Ramallah and Beirut was an unusual accomplishment in itself, many observers are cautious about crucial obstacles to change.

Yasser Arafat’s widow lashes out at PA over criticism of UAE-Israel deal

The widow of late Palestinian President Yasser Aafat lashed out at the Palestinian Authority, accusing it of threatening her because of her position on the UAE-Israel normalization deal.

United Arab Emirates

An impoverished area in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Yunis is pictured on May 13, 2019. - Qatar began distributing millions of dollars in aid in the Gaza Strip today in a fresh bid to restore calm after a flareup with Israel, a Qatari official said. Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, along with an allied militant group, fired hundreds of rockets at Israel on May 4 and 5, saying they were frustrated by the slow implementation of a previous ceasefire deal. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Ph

Qatar brokers Israel-Hamas cease-fire

Hamas says it has reached understandings with Qatar and Israel to contain the escalation in Gaza, but details of the agreement are murky.

A Palestinian family whose house located in area C of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was demolished by the military last month, is pictured at the ruins of their home, near the village of Yatta, south of Hebron, on August 10, 2020. - "Area C" is a stretch of land accounting for 60 percent of the West Bank over which Israel has control under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s. It is extremely difficult for Palestinians to receive building permits from Is

Palestinians say not even caves safe from Israeli bulldozers

Residents of the West Bank village of Farasin are living in fear of displacement after receiving demolition notices for their houses, tents and even caves.

The Gaza Strip's Hamas Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh (L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands in front of 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 credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty

Turkey courts Hamas despite US pressure

Despite US and Israeli criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting with the Hamas leadership, the relationship between Turkey and Hamas remains strong.