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

Palestine cover image

Palestine

February 23, 2026

Ramallah 3:50 am

7°C

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

In this image grab from an AFPTV video, people watch as a US aircraft carrying food parcels flies above a beach in the Gaza Strip before dropping the humanitarian aid attached to parachutes, on March 2, 2024. Israel's top ally the United States said it began air-dropping aid into war-ravaged Gaza on March 2, as the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry reported more than a dozen child malnutrition deaths. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Cyprus-Gaza maritime aid corridor to open before Ramadan on Sunday

The EU push to open the corridor in Cyprus coincides with the US announcement that it will build a temporary port off Gaza’s coast to deliver aid.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 07: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 07, 2024 in Washington, DC. This is Biden’s last State of the Union address before the general election this coming November. Biden was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA). (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

‘Not a bargaining chip’: Biden confronts Israel on Gaza aid

In his last State of the Union address before the November elections, US President Joe Biden reiterated his administration's commitment to a two-state solution as "the only" settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with his Competition Council in the State Dining Room of the White House on March 5, 2024, in Washington.

With no cease-fire, Biden's State of the Union to tread carefully on Gaza

The annual State of the Union address will give President Joe Biden the chance to defend his handling of Gaza before the nation.

Palestinians transport bags of flour as humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza City on March 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

Biden to order military to set up Gaza port via Cyprus for humanitarian aid

The effort will take "a number of weeks to plan and execute," a senior administration official said, as health authorities in Gaza have begun reporting cases of death by starvation.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stands next to a portrait of the Palestinian Authority's President Mahmud Abbas during a cabinet meeting in which he announced his government's resignation and called for "new political measures" in Ramallah on Feb. 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Internal Palestinian discussions heat up in wake of Moscow meeting

Internal Palestinian discussions are heating up as pressure mounts on Israel and Hamas to produce some sort of truce before the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Palestinian journalist uses the mobile phone to broadcast live in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 27, 2023.

At least 103 journalists killed in Gaza war, 22 while on the job: RSF

The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left more than 100 Palestinian media workers dead since the war began five months ago.

In this handout photo provided by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on January 12, 2015 in Ankara, Turkey (Photo by Thaer Ghanaim/PPO via Getty Images)

Abbas in Turkey: Gaza aid, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation on agenda with Erdogan

Analysts believe the pair also discussed post-cease-fire scenarios in Gaza.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Edmund Pettus Bridge during an event to commemorate the 59th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama

US vice president calls for 'immediate ceasefire' in Gaza

Agence France-Presse

A young boy carries the flag of Fatah as he walks past a mural painting of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, during a solidarity march with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, 2023.

What we know about Palestinian talks in Russia seeking unity

The meeting, in which rival Palestinian factions endorsed unity under the PLO umbrella, follows the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and comes as Russia is seeking a diplomatic role in the war.

US President Joe Biden (R) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni react to journalists shouting questions after each leader delivered prepared remarks during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on March 1, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Breaking | Last Updated: March 2, 2024, 2:51 pm

Biden announces US airdrops of humanitarian aid to Gaza

The announcement comes as Biden faces withering criticism over the Israeli military's brutal campaign in Gaza, which has left a quarter of the population on the brink of famine, according to the United Nations.

Palestinian citizens inspect the effects of destruction caused by air strikes on their homes on Nov. 25, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza.

Gaza in numbers: 30,000 dead, 80% displaced, half million on brink of famine

As the war in Gaza enters its sixth month, Palestinians face violence at aid distribution points, with possibility of famine ‘almost inevitable,’ UN

Displaced Palestinians queue for food donations in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Nov. 30, 2023.

US rushes for Gaza cease-fire as clock ticks toward Ramadan

Negotiators are working to secure a temporary cease-fire that would delay Israel’s planned offensive in Rafah and free some of the remaining hostages.