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August 20, 2026

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Analysis

Netanyahu yields to Trump on Gaza, betting Hamas won’t disarm

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to advance the US administration's Gaza plan in a meeting with envoy Jared Kushner despite his skepticism about Hamas' commitment.

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

Jared Kushner

After meeting Netanyahu, Kushner agrees Hamas disarmament precedes Israel's withdrawal

Israel and the Gaza Board of Peace have agreed that the Israeli military will begin withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after Hamas disarms.

Latest News

UAE billionaire Habtoor takes aim at Ben Gvir’s Gaza rhetoric

A picture take on Sept. 13, 2017, shows Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, attending the World Premiere of La Perle in Dubai.

United Arab Emirates

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

Senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar (L), Saeed Seyam (C) and Khalil al-Hayya wait at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip before crossing into Egypt October 7, 2008. Hamas leaders will hold talks in Cairo on Wednesday on proposals to end the schism with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group by reshaping the way the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is governed.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA) - RTX9AWH

Hamas official says 'Abbas doesn’t represent anyone'

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar says "there is no agreement on the 1967 borders."

Palestinian members of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, stand guard as they wait for the arrival of Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 7, 2012. Meshaal, Hamas's exiled leader, will step onto Palestinian land for the first time in 45 years on Friday for a "victory rally" in the Gaza Strip, displaying his newfound confidence after last month's conflict with Israel. Meshaal, the Islamist group's leader, who has not visited the Palestinian Territ

Hamas tests anti-aircraft missiles

Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are said to possess anti-aircraft missiles, but their capabilities remain limited.

Foreign and Palestinian activists hold Palestinian flags as they march through a supermarket in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit October 24, 2012. Some 50 activists marched through the supermarket and tried to block a road in the settlement on Wednesday during a protest against Jewish settlements and in a call to boycott settlement products. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST FOOD TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR39IM8

Israeli government turns blind eye to boycott snowball

Companies around the world join the boycott of settlement products, while the Israeli right promotes a controversial law designed to punish Israelis who support the boycott.

RAWABI, WEST BANK - FEBRUARY 08: Bashar Masri, the Palestinian-American developer of Rawabi, visits the site on February 8, 2012 in Rawabi, West Bank. The planned Palestinian city, with the first stage expected to be finished in two years, will have six neighborhoods and a population of 40,000. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Palestinian entrepreneur returns to build new city in West Bank

Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri explains his vision for the West Bank town of Rawabi.

Martin Schulz waves after he was elected the Social Democratic Party (SPD)'s top candidate for the European Parliament elections, by a congress of SPD European Parliament delegates in Berlin January 26, 2014. Also pictured are party leader Sigmar Gabriel (2nd L), North Rhine-Westphalia State Premier Hannelore Kraft (R), German Integration Minister Aydan Oezoguz (2nd R) and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (3rd L). REUTERS/Thomas Peter (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTX17V3E

Can Europe take over if US fails Israeli-Palestinian negotiations?

Israeli extreme-right politicians slandered European Parliament President Martin Schulz for his speech at the Knesset, ignoring European contributions in general and those of Germany in particular to Israel's well-being.

Members of the Palestinian security forces walk amid the ruins of the Muqata in the West Bank city of Jenin November 12, 2007. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan calls for rebuilding eight muqatas -- Arabic for headquarters -- and other administrative buildings flattened by Israel across the occupied West Bank after the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000. Once seen by Palestinians as symbols of sovereignty, the ruins that remain have become permanent reminders of Israel's destructive power

Study shows dire consequences if Palestinian Authority collapses

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has released a detailed study on the consequences of the fall of the Palestinian Authority.

Pedestrians look at billboards with the pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (L), in Ankara March 25, 2013. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout. The billboard reads, "Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister (Erdogan), We ar

Time not right for Turkish-Israeli reconciliation

Neither Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are ready to do what is necessary to begin to normalize relations.

Salafists rally against Valentine's Day in Gaza

Salafists in the Gaza Strip have tried to halt Valentine's Day celebrations, condemning them as a forbidden Christian holiday.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman attends a meeting with the business community in Uganda's capital Kampala, September 10, 2009. Lieberman, accompanied by business and military delegation, is on an official African visit to Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria. REUTERS/James Akena (UGANDA POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR27O1U

Liberman's secret plan to storm the Likud Party

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman considers registering thousands of his supporters in the Likud Party, which will enable him to take control of it on his way to the premier's seat.

Suhad al-Katib, a Palestinian woman patient who suffers cancer sits inside her house after she was not allowed to enter Israel, in Gaza City February 12, 2014. Israel has denied entry permits to some 50 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip because the words "State of Palestine" appears on the letterhead of their application, officials said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) - RTX18O7O

Gaza's cancer patients suffer due to siege, division

The political division between Gaza and Ramallah, in addition to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, is leaving cancer patients in the Gaza Strip without adequate medical care.

President of the Palestinian Football Federation, Major General Jibril Rajoub speaks during a press conference in Ramallah on February 12, 2014. Rajoub, said that the Palestinian Federation began a campaign to boycott Israeli athletes at the international level, in protest against the obstacles set by Israel against Palestinian sportsmen. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Rajoub: an agreement with Israel is within reach

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Fatah senior official Jibril Rajoub is optimistic on peace talks: "If the Israelis are willing, creative solutions can be found for everything.”

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men take part in the Tashlich ritual near the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the southern city of Ashdod September 12, 2013, ahead of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which starts at sundown Friday. Tashlich is a ritual of casting away sins of the past year into the water. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION) - RTX13J3K

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox key to peace

In an interview with Al-Monitor, ultra-Orthodox strategic expert Itzik Sudri claims that the ultra-Orthodox should be integrated as more active partners to the diplomatic process, considering their politically moderate worldview.