Refugees

Palestinians gather for a communal iftar.

Israel expands Gaza buffer zone to 20% as humanitarian situation deteriorates

Israel’s expanded buffer zone will cut off Gaza from Egypt and further partition the Strip, as the humanitarian crisis in the territory deepens.

Members of a family riding a motorcycle drive past a charred car in the town of Jableh in Syria's coastal province of Latakia on March 12, 2025. At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a recent wave of violence that gripped Syria's Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said on March 12. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Feature

Fearing for safety, Syria's Alawites who fled to Lebanon have no plans to return

More than 30 members of one family spoke to Al-Monitor after fleeing into northern Lebanon from Syria amid a spasm of sectarian violence in the country. Many remain skeptical that it's safe to return.

Katya Hovnanian-Alexanian

By Katya Hovnanian-Alexanian

A journalist tries to avoid mud splatter as Israeli forces drive on a destroyed road in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near Tulkarem, after reportedly issuing demolition notifications for several houses amid a weeks-long offensive in the occupied West Bank on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Could Israel's West Bank operation lead to annexation long sought by right?

The Israeli military is currently operating in West Bank Area A, which under the Oslo Accords should be administered fully by the Palestinian Authority.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

From Saudi Arabia to Australia and China, world leaders denounce Trump’s plan to 'take over' Gaza

President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about a possible US takeover of Gaza after relocating the Palestinians caused a wave of uproar across the region and the world.

Latest News

'Death itself could not get us out of here!' Gazans reject Trump’s proposal

People in Jabalia erect tents amid the rubble of destroyed buildings as displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza during a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, Jan. 23, 2025.

Thousands in Egypt protest Trump’s push to transfer Palestinians

Demonstrators gather outside the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Jan. 31, 2025 to protest against a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan.

Analysis

EU seeks channels with HTS as it grapples with post-Assad Syria

Members of the Syrian community in Berlin hold flags of Syria and Germany as they celebrate the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, Dec. 8, 2024.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Syria's interim PM warns foreign currency shortage could hinder refugee return

Syrian pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in the town of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on June 15, 2020.

This picture taken from the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing over Gaza City following Israeli strikes on Jan. 1, 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant Hamas group.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 16, 2024, 10:31 am

Live Updates: Attacks in Red Sea, Israel as Gaza death toll passes 24,000

Gaza City was hit with more airstrikes on Monday as Gaza authorities say the death toll has passed 24,000.

Zaid Abdulnasser

As Germany expands anti-Hamas raids, a Palestinian activist fights against deportation

Caught in a web of geopolitics, migration policy and Germany’s growing attempts to contend with pro-Palestinian speech, Zaid Abdulnasser is fighting a battle to avoid deportation from his new home.

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 17: Jordanian King Abdullah II and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) speak to the media following talks at the Chancellery on October 17, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. The two leaders are meeting shortly before Scholz's departure for Israel and Egypt. Israel is seemingly on the verge of invading Gaza following the harrowing attacks by Hamas fighters in Israel that left over 1,300 people dead. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel-Jordan ties, peace treaty tested by Gaza war, deepening divide

Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel, but for the moment it is not considering severing diplomatic ties, say Israeli experts.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images

UN says over 43% of Gaza residents now displaced as Rafah talks stall

Convoys of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip are stuck on the Egyptian border.

SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

Rafah crossing still closed for Americans fleeing Gaza, despite US-Egypt deal

The White House national security adviser said that an attempt by American citizens to pass through the Rafah crossing into Egypt failed due to Hamas' actions.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A Palestinian woman looks up as she prays in the yard of a school, in the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern of Gaza Strip on October 14, 2023, as fighting between Israel and the Hamas movement continues for the eighth consecutive day in the Gaza Strip enclave. Palestinians sought refuge on October 14, 2023, after Israel warned them to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip before an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

Gaza residents tell stories of pain and fear as they flee Israeli bombardment

As many residents flee south, some Gazans are remaining in their homes, fearing a repeat of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left but never returned.

Smoke billows during an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 11, 2023

Egypt, wary of influx of Gaza refugees into Sinai, rallies behind Palestinians

Egyptian officials are racing against time to stop the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, while Cairo is concerned that the escalation may extend to its borders with Gaza.

MBZ Mikati

UAE reopens embassy in Lebanon as MBZ hosts Mikati in Abu Dhabi

The move comes as Lebanon continues to face deteriorating political, economic and security conditions.

Refugees sit in a bus near a Red Cross registration centre in Goris, on Sept. 27, 2023.

Turkey’s Fidan holds call with Armenia’s FM amid exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh

The phone call marks the first high-level contact between Ankara and Yerevan following the Azerbaijani offensive in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last week.

King of Jordan

Highlights: Al-Monitor/Semafor Middle East Global Summit

The Al-Monitor & Semafor inaugural Middle East Global Summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings on Wednesday brought together the region’s leaders, newsmakers and business heads.

refugee camp

UN mulls green Islamic bonds to fund climate change refugee projects

The United Nations is reportedly interested in issuing Islamic bonds to help those displaced by climate change.

Girls stand next to a tent at the Al-Yunani makeshift camp for internally displaced people in Syria.

Analysis

Normalizing Assad won’t solve Syrian refugee crisis

Even restoring the country to the pre-war status quo is unlikely to entice many refugees to return.

Nadia Almasalkhi

Shelly Culbertson

By Nadia Almasalkhi , Shelly Culbertson