Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

Speaking exclusively to Al-Monitor, UNRWA’s Tamara Alrifai said the upcoming Turkey office would help the agency to expand its operations not only in Gaza but also in Syria.

JERUSALEM - OCTOBER 13: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands and speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on the day of Trump's address on October 13, 2025 in Jerusalem. President Trump is visiting the country hours after Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023, part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein - Pool/Getty Images)

Analysis

As he stalls Gaza plan, will Netanyahu pick his far-right coalition over Trump?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t publicly go against the Gaza plan of President Donald Trump, but he keeps stalling on discussing the parameters for the implementation of the plan’s second phase.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s spy chief holds talks in Egypt over trapped Hamas militants

Turkey’s spy chief met with Qatari, Egyptian officials as the Gaza ceasefire process stalls over Hamas fighters trapped in tunnels.

UN Security Council votes for US resolution on the Gaza peace plan

UN Security Council endorses US plan for Gaza security force

The US-drafted resolution also endorses the Trump-led Board of Peace and references possible statehood for the Palestinians.

Latest News

Analysis

Turkey's Gaza ambitions grow as Israel's pushback hardens: Can US mediate?

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JUNE 01: People carry a large Palestinian flag during a protest to express support for Palestinians in Gaza outside the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque on June 01, 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey. Protests continue as talks between Hamas, Israel and the U.S continue to seek a ceasefire deal and negotiate for a permanent end to the war. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

Ezgi Akin

By Rina Bassist , Ezgi Akin

After 13 hours, 150 Gazans allowed to enter South Africa: What to know

A South African Airways (SAA) flight is seen on the tarmac before departing from the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Sept. 23, 2021.

Analysis

With Saudi Arabia on sidelines, Trump looks to widen Abraham Accords circle

Evan Vucci / Getty Images

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Israeli settlers torch, vandalize West Bank mosque as attacks skyrocket

Young Palestinians look at the damage in the Hajja Hamida Mosque after it was reportedly set on fire and vandalised by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on November 13, 2025. Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus on June 4, 2025.

Feature

Inside Congress' battle to repeal Syria's Caesar sanctions

Five months after President Trump pledged to lift sanctions on Syria, the harshest penalties remain on the books.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Wife of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti appeals to Trump for his release

Barghouti has been imprisoned in Israel since 2002, after being convicted of planning attacks that killed five people, and he has been held in solitary confinement since October 2023.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks following their meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on Oct. 23, 2025.

Rubio meets Netanyahu in push to preserve Gaza ceasefire

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the latest US official dispatched to Israel to maintain the ceasefire’s momentum.

US President Donald Trump looks on during a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House, on Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington

Trump to Israel: West Bank annexation could end US support

"It won't happen," President Donald Trump said of annexation.

Steve Witkoff, the US Special Envoy for the Middle East, and Jared Kushner meet with UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, Oct. 22, 2025.

Kushner, Witkoff meet with UAE’s Sheikh Tahnoon as US pushes to reinforce Gaza ceasefire

The visit by the American envoys to the UAE comes right after their visit to Israel in an attempt to stabilize President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.

United Arab Emirates

NATHAN HOWARD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Vance cautions Gaza truce 'tough task' as Knesset pushes West Bank bill

Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism about disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza, noting Arab countries are ready to help.

Smoke billows following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on Oct. 19, 2025.

US military to start Gaza ceasefire monitoring as international force plans stall

Diplomatic snags and concerns that their troops could be caught in the crossfire between Hamas and Israel are raising questions about a US proposal to stabilize postwar Gaza with an international force, despite "great optimism" cited by US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday.

TOPSHOT - Palestinians stand near a burning car reportedly set alight by Israeli settlers attempting to disrupt them harvesting olives near the occupied West Bank village of Turmos Ayya near Ramallah on October 19, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel's West Bank police chief condemns settler's 'cruel' beating of Palestinian woman

The attack, filmed in Turmus Ayya, comes amid a surge in settler assaults on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.

US Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance greet US Ambassador

Analysis

As Trump envoys seek ceasefire progress, Netanyahu pins hopes on Hamas scuttling deal

"The ceasefire is still holding, but not thanks to Israel," a senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity as US envoys work to keep the deal alive.

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

US Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance disembark Air Force Two on arrival to Ben Gurion airport on Oct. 21, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Vance arrives in Israel to bolster fragile Gaza ceasefire

His visit comes a week after President Donald Trump flew to Israel to celebrate the hard-won deal.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT - OCTOBER 13: World leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pose for a family photo, at a world leaders' summit on October 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. President Trump is in Egypt to meet with European and Middle Eastern leaders in what’s being billed as an international peace summit, following the start of a US-brokered ceasefire deal to end the war

Analysis

Netanyahu powerless as Trump advances Gaza plan with Arab, PA forces

The second phase of the agreement with Hamas will force Israel to accept an international force composed of Arab soldiers and the involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the administration of the Gaza Strip.

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

Palestinians rally around aid trucks which entered from the Karem Abu Salem crossing, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 12, 2025.

US CENTCOM hastens to rally international force to stabilize Gaza

Washington and its allies are drafting a UN Security Council resolution for an international stabilization force for Gaza, but the belated push has allowed Hamas to emerge from the rubble to kill off would-be rivals — and risks Israel restarting the war.