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

Palestine cover image

Palestine

September 9, 2026

Ramallah 7:24 am

21°C

West Bank settlements

12 countries including France, UK, Canada end trade with West Bank settlements

The decision comes against the backdrop of an escalation in settler violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli soldiers take positions during a military operation in the town of Qalqiya, in the occupied West Bank, Dec. 4, 2025.

Katz warns PA against 'Oct. 7-style' attack as West Bank violence rises

After a West Bank stabbing of an Israeli settler, Defense Minister Israel Katz warns the Palestinian Authority against launching an “Oct. 7-style” assault.

A woman walks past a model of a Lora missile, Israel's long range artillery missile at the Israel defence stall at the international DefExpo 2008 defence fair, in New Delhi on February 16, 2008. India kicked off South Asia's largest defence fair, with hundreds of global weapons firms offering their latest hardware to the country's technology-hungry military. About 450 weapons companies from 30 countries are present at the four-day "DefExpo" in New Delhi, with several big-ticket announcements expected. AFP P

Analysis

LORA missile test reveals limits of Germany’s Gaza criticism of Israel

The German navy tested Israel’s LORA ballistic missile as Berlin considers acquiring the system, deepening defense ties with Israel despite criticism of the Gaza war.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Israeli soldiers arrive in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has faced escalating Israeli settler violence over the past month, on Aug. 29, 2026.

Analysis

As Israeli settler attacks mount, Trump avoids public pressure on Netanyahu

President Donald Trump has stayed silent amid a spate of settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Latest News

Analysis

Why Palestinians see success of Trump talks as contingent on Israeli elections

Evan Vucci / Getty Images

Mohammed Najib

By Mohammed Najib

Israel, Hamas bide their time as Gaza peace plan stalls

A boy walks carrying a table on his back past salvage workers scrapping the rubble of a building that was destroyed during Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza City on Aug. 16, 2026. — Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP via Getty Images

Ex-defense minister: Israel in ‘worst possible’ Gaza situation as Hamas gains strength

Palestinian militant group Hamas police officers stand guard as people attend the opening of the Fatah party's eighth general conference at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City on May 14, 2026.

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

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, attends a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on Jan. 15, 2024.

Analysis

What to make of China's softening rhetoric on Israel, Gaza war

China appears to be softening its criticisms of Israel's conduct in the Israel-Hamas war and the conflict in Lebanon. Why the change of tune?

Dale Aluf

In Amsterdam, reporting on China in the Middle East

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images

Relief and loss: Palestinians in Gaza split over killing of Yahya Sinwar

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has provoked conflicting reactions among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

NIR ELIAS/AFP via Getty Images

With Sinwar dead, US pushes Israel’s Netanyahu to take off-ramp

Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks, has renewed hope for a cease-fire deal that would free the remaining hostages.

JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images

Gulf governments silent as Iran, proxies mourn Hamas' Yahya Sinwar

Regional governments have not commented on Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s killing by Israeli forces in Gaza, but Iran and its proxy groups mourned his death, vowing that the resistance against Israel will continue.

US President Joe Biden speaks at the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee Autumn Dinner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 15, 2024.

‘Too little, too late’: Biden’s latest threat to Israel faces skepticism

The Biden administration has set a monthlong deadline for Israel to either increase aid to the Gaza Strip or face a possible weapons cutoff. Those on the ground say there is no time to waste.

Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement speaks during a gathering in Gaza City, April 30, 2022.

Who was Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' elusive leader killed by Israel in Gaza?

Sinwar, Hamas' leader in Gaza and head of the group's political bureau, is one of several high-ranking Hamas officials to be killed by Israel in the ongoing war.

MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images

Israel confirms killing Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza operation

Sinwar, 61, was killed Wednesday in fighting with Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza. After the killing of Ismail Haniyeh this past July in Iran, Sinwar assumed the leadership of both the political and military wings of Hamas.

Israeli security and emergency personnel cordon off the site of an explosion in Tel Aviv, on Aug. 18, 2024.

Israel says August Tel Aviv suicide attack planned by Hamas office in Turkey

The Shin Bet and Israel Police revealed that they arrested nine people suspected of involvement in the August Tel Aviv suicide bomber attack, allegedly carried out under instructions from Hamas' office in Turkey.

Palestinians walk past destruction and a UN vehicle in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sept. 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

US gives Israel 30 days to increase Gaza aid or risk weapons flow

The Biden administration is calling on Israel to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza over the next month, warning that failure to do so "may have implications" for future US military assistance.

SAEED JARAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

UN says 400,000 trapped in north Gaza as Israel ups strikes, limits aid

UN agencies and rights groups are sounding the alarm in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel besieges the Jabalia area.

YOAV LEMMER/AFP via Getty Images

WFP to send aid ship to feed displaced in Lebanon

The UN food agency is raising the alarm over food insecurity and a harsh winter in the Levant as the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon continue.

MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images

UN inquiry accuses Israel of crimes against humanity in destroying Gaza’s hospitals

Israel’s government did not cooperate with the investigation, which accused Israel of the international crime of “extermination” for widespread and systematic attacks on Gaza’s health care infrastructure and medical personnel.