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Palestine

April 21, 2026

Ramallah 11:29 am

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Olmert

Interview

Olmert: Only Israeli-Lebanon deal can curb Hezbollah, occupation 'unviable'

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Al-Monitor that Israel will only be able to defang Hezbollah if it reaches an agreement with the Lebanese government.

Meloni

Meloni suspends Italy's military cooperation agreement with Israel

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced her country's military cooperation agreement with Israel will no longer be automatically renewed.

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

A group of foreign ministers struck out at a new Israeli law requiring the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in military courts.

Israeli settler violence graffiti

Settler violence spike exposes Israeli government rift with military

Knesset member Ram Ben-Barak of centrist Yesh Atid told Al-Monitor that the government must permit the use of administrative detention for extremist settlers to curb the violence.

Latest News

Wartime closures at Jerusalem holy sites raise fears of lasting shift among Palestinians

Muslim worshippers break their fast outside the old city walls of Jerusalem on March 17, 2026, as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound remains closed.

Analysis

Hamas sits out Iran war as Gaza, Gulf interests take priority

Displaced Palestinians gather for a fast-breaking Iftar meal amid the rubble of destroyed buildings at the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, Feb. 23, 2026.

Abeer Ayyoub

By Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Spain recalls Israel ambassador, calls Iran war 'flagrant illegality': What to know

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a United Nations Summit on Palestinians at UN headquarters during the United Nations General Assembly, New York, Sept. 22, 2025.

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

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

Qatar 'reevaluating' Hamas-Israel mediation role amid mounting criticism

Qatar, alongside the US and Egypt, has mediated talks between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages taken in the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack.

Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas' Haniyeh to visit Turkey as Erdogan hits back at Gaza criticism

The Turkish president dials up his defensive tone in response to domestic criticism over the Gaza war.

VICTORIA VALDIVIA/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Starbucks pledges $3M to World Central Kitchen for Gaza meals

The coffee giant has announced a large donation to the aid group World Central Kitchen, which lost seven of its staff members earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike.

Black smoke billows amid clashes as Israeli forces raid the al-Faraa camp for Palestinian refugees near Tubas city in the occupied West Bank on Jan. 13, 2024.

West Bank at boiling point as Palestinians take up arms against settlers

Armed attacks against settlers in the West Bank escalated as the Israeli army and settlers stepped up daily attacks against Palestinians.

Abu Ubaida (C), spokesman of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

US unveils sanctions on Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida

The US Treasury Department also targeted Hamas members linked to the group’s cyber and drone operations in Lebanon and Gaza.

The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting on the risk of famine and attacks on humanitarian workers in Gaza, UN headquarters, New York, April 5, 2024.

US readies another veto as Palestinians seek elusive UN membership

The United States is poised for another UN Security Council showdown as the Palestinians seek full UN membership for the second time.

Palestinian worshippers gather on April 10, 2024 in the courtyard of Gaza City's historic Omari Mosque, which has been heavily damaged in Israeli bombardment during the ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas, on the first day of Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinians in Gaza mark solemn Eid at destroyed mosques, in displacement

Eid al-Fitr has been a somber holiday this year in the Gaza Strip, where the dead have left gaping holes in families.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Doha-based political bureau chief of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, speaks to the press after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Tehran on March 26, 2024.

Breaking | Last Updated: April 11, 2024, 7:43 am

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli strike

Ismail Haniyeh confirmed his sons were killed in a strike in Gaza, and Israel later said its air force targeted the three men.

A volunteer distributes sweets to Muslims after special morning prayers to start the Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on April 10, 2024.

Syria to Sudan, Middle East celebrates bittersweet Eid in shadow of war

Pro-Palestinian protests sweep across the region as Muslims mark the first day of religious holiday Eid al-Fitr.

Gazans at Eid morning prayers at the flattened Al-Farooq mosque in Rafah

Gazans mark 'saddest' Eid with little to celebrate or eat

Agence France-Presse

Protesters interrupt Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as he testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 09, 2024 in Washington, DC. Austin was testifying about the Biden Administration's FY2025 budget request for the Pentagon, which includes supplemental funding for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and other allies. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

US defense chief: 'We don't have any evidence' Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Lloyd Austin's statement came just weeks after the State Department said it had found no evidence of the Israeli military violating the law of war in Gaza, despite extensive allegations to the contrary by UN officials and international aid groups.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa (L) meets Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 9, 2024.

Saudi Arabia hosts Palestinian PM as Gaza cease-fire talks advance

Mohammed Mustafa’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes after he stopped in Jordan and Egypt in the past days as mediators are pushing for a Gaza cease-fire.