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Palestine

April 23, 2026

Ramallah 12:56 pm

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Women read instructions to voters ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 21, 2026.

Analysis

On eve of Palestinian local elections, competition in short supply

With many races unopposed and rivals excluded, the vote underscores a calibrated effort to contain dissent and prioritize stability.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Olmert

Interview

Olmert: Only Israel-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.

Latest News

Settler violence spike exposes Israeli government rift with military

Israeli settler violence graffiti

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.

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

Jabalia

Global outcry grows after Israeli strikes on Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp

Continued attacks with disproportionate toll on civilians draw international condemnation of Israel's war effort.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people

Day 24 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Oct. 30

A Navy member of the Quick Acting Response Team scans the horizon as he protects the USS Whidbey Island and the USS Bataan.

Day 26 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Nov. 1

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during a meeting in Amman on October 13, 2023. Blinken spent October 12 in Tel Aviv where he promised unwavering solidarity to US ally Israel after the surprise October 7 offensive by Hamas, who killed over 1,200 people and took about 150 more hostage. Israel has killed more than 1,400 people in strikes in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack and has cut off food, water and electricity. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL

Does Fatah stand to reap gains after Israel-Hamas war in Gaza?

The war in Gaza could give Fatah a new life but it remains unclear who the successor of Mahmoud Abbas would be.

Palestinians search for survivors in the rubble of a building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023, amid relentless Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (P

'Total blindness': Gaza paramedics recount horror during Israel's blackout

Gazans recount the 34 hours of internet and communications blackout during intense Israeli bombardment cutting off the enclave from the rest of the world.

Kharaz

West Bank death toll exceeds 120 as US warns Israel over settler violence

Over 120 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed amid raids by the Israeli army and settler attacks since Oct. 7.

Forces loyal to Yemen's Houthi rebels hold up Palestinian flags as they march in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians, Sanaa, Yemen, Oct. 15, 2023.

Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Israel as Gaza war rages

The Iran-backed forces said the missile and drone attack was a response to “Israeli aggression.”

This picture taken on Oct. 31, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows smoke plumes billowing during Israeli bombardment amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Day 25 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Oct. 31

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Gaza war could double oil prices, threaten global food security

Washington-based multilateral lender World Bank compared the situation to the 1973 Arab oil embargo in its latest Commodities Market Outlook.

An antenna of a communications tower that relays phone and internet signals is pictured in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28 , 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas

US working to keep Gaza's phone, internet services operational

Israel cut communications in Gaza late Friday for over 24 hours as the Israeli military increased strikes and ground operations.

Palestinians storm a UN-run aid supply center, that distributes food to displaced families following Israel's call for more than one million residents in northern Gaza to move south for their safety, in Deir al-Balah on October 28, 2023,

Gaza death toll soars above 8,200 as UN estimates 1.4 million displaced

Aid deliveries are continuing into Gaza, but humanitarian organizations are reporting mass displacement and fuel shortages as Israel continues aerial and ground operations against Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people

Day 23 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Oct. 29