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Palestine

February 23, 2026

Ramallah 2:09 am

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

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

The guidelines expand Israeli authority to deny NGO registration in the Palestinian territories and visas for foreign aid workers as Gaza continues to reel from two years of war.

ANKARA, TURKEY - JANUARY 21: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to MPs at his party's group meeting in the Turkish parliament on January 21, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is among world leaders that have been invited by United States President Donald Trump, to join the Gaza Board of Peace, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also included as an appointed member. (Photo by Serdar Ozsoy/Getty Images)

Analysis

Why Turkey’s exclusion from Gaza force may be a strategic blessing

Despite being excluded from Gaza’s international stabilization force, Ankara will likely leverage its ties with Hamas to maintain influence within the Trump administration’s Board of Peace.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

How did FIFA become part of Trump’s Gaza reconstruction effort?

FIFA signed a deal on Thursday that marks the global soccer association's most significant postwar intervention in the Middle East yet.

US President Donald Trump (C), flanked by US Vice President JD Vance (L) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R), joins leaders for a group photo during the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, on Feb. 19, 2026.

Billions pledged, but Hamas' grip clouds Trump’s Gaza plan

The Board of Peace is touting new aid and military commitments, but will they make a difference if Hamas still holds the guns in Gaza?

Latest News

Trump touts pledges of troops, billions for Gaza at Board of Peace summit

US President Donald Trump attends the inaugural meeting of the "Board of Peace" at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on Feb. 19, 2026.

Interview

Huckabee confirms US-Israel alignment on Iran, says Hamas will disarm 'sooner or later'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, March 25, 2025.

Fidan heads to US as Turkey eyes Gaza troop role: What to know

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a press statement with his French counterpart in Ankara, on Jan. 27, 2026.

As Israel advances West Bank land registration, Palestinians see de facto annexation

Excavators move along a street as Israeli forces are deployed during the demolition of the home of Palestinian Tariq al-Masalmeh in the village of Beit Awa, southwest of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on Feb. 11, 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

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from the plane upon his arrival at King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Feb. 5, 2024.

Blinken to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt as US-Israel rift grows over Gaza

The top US diplomat will return to the Middle East as US alarm grows over Israel’s planned military offensive in Rafah.

Wang Kejian, during a visit to the head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh

China’s Middle East diplomat meets Hamas' Haniyeh in Qatar

China confirmed a meeting between a Foreign Ministry official and Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha as Beijing seeks a wider role in the region.

Children play in the rubble of Al-Faruq Mosque, which was destroyed during Israeli bombardment, in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on March 17, 2024.

Israeli delegation to visit White House as Biden-Netanyahu Rafah rift continues

The White House has invited an Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss ways forward in the campaign against Hamas, likely seeking to buy time after failing to secure a cease-fire in Gaza war before Ramadan.

An undated image of Faiq Mabhouh.

Israel kills Hamas’ Faiq al-Mabhouh as US confirms Marwan Issa’s death

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that Hamas' number three, Marwan Issa, was killed last week while Israel took out another high-ranking Hamas security official.

West Bank

Why West Bank tensions could boil over during Ramadan

The increasing Israeli raids and armed attacks against Israeli forces have raised fears that the situation in the West Bank will explode.

An undated image of Samaher Esmail provided by her family.

Family sees double standard in Israel’s detention of US citizen

The Biden administration speaks often of its pledge to bring home every unjustly detained American. But what happens when the accusation of unjust detention involves a close ally?

AFP via Getty Images

Israeli delegation heads to Qatar to review Hamas' cease-fire proposal

Israel and Hamas have so far failed to agree on the terms of a cease-fire in Gaza that would include a prisoner swap.

This photograph shows the Israeli settlement of Efrata built on the land of the Palestinian town of Al-Khader in the Bethlehem governorate in the occupied West Bank on March 6, 2024.

Breaking | Last Updated: March 14, 2024, 2:59 pm

US sanctions West Bank outposts linked to settler attacks on Palestinians

The sanctions are a response to an uptick in settler violence in the West Bank that the United Nations blames for the deaths of at least nine Palestinians since Oct. 7.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a news conference at the State Department Harry S. Truman headquarters on March 13, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Israel should ease 'unnecessary restrictions' on key Gaza goods, Blinken says

The top US diplomat acknowledged Israeli concerns about "dual-use" items ending up the hands of Hamas, but said "greater clarity" is needed for humanitarian groups whose work is hindered by "unnecessary restrictions."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, (D-MD) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) participate in a press conference on Capitol Hill presenting the No War Against Iran Act on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Senators to Biden: Curtail arms to Israel unless Gaza aid expanded

A group of Democratic senators said Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip could violate foreign assistance law.

Amid ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas, Palestinian children in Gaza play with traditional "fanous" lanterns as Muslims prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, Rafah, March 2, 2024.

Gaza's displaced prepare for Ramadan from tented camps with limited food

Palestinian Muslims are still preparing for the holy month of fasting, despite many of their homes being reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment and there being widespread food shortages.

Palestinians go on with their lives at a makeshift camp set up on the beach for people who fled to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, on Feb. 1, 2024.

Pentagon taps private firm to facilitate Gaza humanitarian port

Defense officials said the temporary causeway will be able to receive some 2 million meals per day, but the effort could take long as 60 days to get up and running, likely too late for many Gazans as starvation sets in in the Palestinian enclave.