Palestine - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Palestine cover image

Palestine

October 31, 2026

Ramallah 7:58 pm

17°C

Tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by the Hamas-Israeli war are pitched between the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp, northern Gaza Strip, Oct. 20, 2026.

Analysis

What Israel's election could mean for Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank

The ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could provide Palestinians some relief, but is unlikely to improve their prospects for statehood.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

American freelance photojournalist Heidi Levine lies on a gurney in the emergency room of the government hospital in the Israeli-occupied city of Ramallah, as she is treated after being attacked by Israeli settlers while photographing Palestinian farmers harvesting their olives, in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah on Oct. 16, 2026.

Washington Post journalist hospitalized after Israeli settler attack in West Bank

The assault was one of several attacks on Friday as Palestinians gathered to harvest olives across the West Bank.

Israel's Chief of the Mossad David Barnea (R) and Security Agency director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sues Netanyahu for nearly $1M over Oct. 7 claims

Bar is suing for 3 million shekels ($970,000) over a Sept. 28 post on X in which Netanyahu blamed the former Shin Bet chief for Oct. 7 intelligence failures and accused him of withholding warnings.

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during a protest against the recently announced British sanctions, aimed at economic activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on Sept. 14, 2026, in Jerusalem.

Explainer

Israel-UK relations hit new low over settlements, Gaza: What to know

Despite Britain’s ban on goods from Israeli settlements and Israel’s closure of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, both countries are seeking to keep communication channels open.

Latest News

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

Analysis

Three years after Oct. 7, Hamas’ grip on Gaza tests Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the state memorial ceremony for the third anniversary of Oct. 7 attack, at Mount Herzl military cemetery, Jerusalem, Oct. 5, 2026.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Israel bars UK Greens leader over Zionism-racism resolution: What to know

Green Party leader Zack Polanski delivers his speech during day one of the Green Party annual conference at Brighton Centre on Oct. 2, 2026, in Brighton, England.

West Bank settlers attack Israeli activists as Netanyahu claims 'hoax'

Erik Marmor/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

A ball of fire is seen following an Israel airstrike at Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip early on June 27, 2020. - Two rockets were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory on June 26, the army said. It was the first reported rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since early May. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas test-fires rockets escalating tensions with Israel

Hamas test-fired missiles toward the sea in the Gaza Strip in a warning to Israel that the calm along the border might not last.

RAFAH, GAZA STRIP NOVEMBER 15: A Palestinian security man checks a passport of a traveller as she comes back from Egypt November 15, 2005 at the border crossing of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian and Egyptian security officials opened the Rafah border as an exception for travel in coordination with the Israeli Army. Palestinians and Israel have reached an agreement today under strong U.S. pressure to open borders of Gaza starting November 25, 2005 as an attempt to turn the economically cripple

Egypt-Gaza border crossing opens for first time in months

The Rafah border crossing has been mostly shut to travelers since March.

A picture taken from the E1 corridor, a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, shows Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the background on June 30, 2020. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

As annexation stalls, Netanyahu revives plan to expand West Bank settlements

Israel is reviving the E1 plan to build thousands of settlements in East Jerusalem, which would cut off the city from the rest of the West Bank and undermine any prospect for the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.

TOPSHOT - Masked Palestinians prepare to attach balloons to a gas canister before releasing it with an incendiary device near Gaza's Bureij refugee camp, along the Israel-Gaza border fence, on February 10, 2020. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Incendiary balloons may spell end of quiet on Israel-Hamas border

The rocket fired from Gaza at the beginning of the week and the incendiary balloons yesterday, might signal that the six months of quiet on the Israel-Hamas border are now over.

Israeli security forces stand guard in one of the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City following a knife attack early on May 31, 2019. - Two Israelis were wounded, one critically, in stabbing attacks in annexed east Jerusalem early in the monrning, one near Damascus Gate and the other near Jaffa Gate, according to Israeli police. Police said the attacker had been "neutralised" without specifying whether he had been killed or wounded. The Old City, where the attack took place, has been the scene of numerous stabbi

Can Jerusalem mayor improve situation of Arab residents?

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon advances two development projects in East Jerusalem — in Issawiya and in Wadi Joz.

TOPSHOT - Israeli Arabs take part in a demonstration against violence, organised crime and recent killings among their communities, outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on October 10, 2019. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian hands tied as crime rises in East Jerusalem

Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are concerned by rising crime among the Arab population and complain that Israeli security forces are turning a blind eye while blocking Palestinian security forces from establishing control.

Settlement sprawl forces Hebron's Palestinian families to live in caves

Dozens of Palestinians are living in caves in Hebron as the Israeli authorities repeatedly demolish their homes built without impossible-to-obtain permits.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 21: Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, listens during a UN Security Council meeting concerning nuclear non-proliferation, during the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, September 21, 2017 in New York City. The most pressing issues facing the assembly this year include North KoreaÕs nuclear ambitions, violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, and the debate over climate change. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Egypt heads to Amman, Ramallah to revive peace efforts

The Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Jordan and the Palestinian city of Ramallah to declare Egypt’s rejection of the Israeli intentions to annex parts of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

Progressives push Democrats to acknowledge West Bank occupation in party platform

Democrats made a series of compromises between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel camps in the 2020 party platform, but progressives want to amend it with a reference to the occupation of the West Bank.

Baptismal relic latest focus of opposing narratives

The Israeli authorities have stolen an archaeological stone relic from the home of a Palestinian official in the West Bank, claiming it was Israel’s in the first place.

Hungarian foreign minister visits Israel, discusses Iranian file

Visiting Israel despite the coronavirus spike, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto discussed with his counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi not only bilateral cooperation, but also the Iranian file.

Palestinian Muslims perform the morning Eid al-Fitr prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third most holy site, in the Old City of Jerusalem on June 5, 2019. - Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Jerusalem Muslims brace for Israel to shutter Al-Aqsa Mosque prayer house

Jerusalemites are preparing for another battle at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Israel moves to close a prayer house worshippers forced open in 2019.