Israeli-Palestinian conflict

An elections employee tapes a poster with instructions to voters ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 21, 2026.

Feature

Gazans show cautious hope ahead of first local elections in 20 years

The city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza is set to hold municipal elections for the first time in nearly two decades.

Rasha Abou Jalal

By Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds the hand of his wife Sara as they attend a ceremony commemorating Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 21, 2026. (Photo by Ilia YEFIMOVICH / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Israel's Netanyahu says he was treated for prostate cancer: What we know

The prime minister said he postponed the report’s publication to prevent it from being released at the height of the war with Iran.

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.

Children and families gather to receive free meals shortly before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan at a displacement camp in central Gaza City, on Feb. 27, 2026.

Iran war deepens Gaza crisis as prices soar, aid falters

Gazans fear that Israel could exploit the wider regional war to reenter Gaza, especially as buffer zones along the border continue to expand and civilians are targeted to keep them away.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Latest News

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Settler violence spike exposes Israeli government rift with military

Israeli settler violence graffiti

Analysis

India's Modi arrives in Israel as fears grow of US-Iran conflict

PM Netanyahu - X

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wears a scarf with both Turkish and Palestinian flags as he addresses a rally organized by the AKP party in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, in Istanbul on Oct. 28, 2023.

Analysis

Erdogan accuses Israel of wanting to wage war on Turkey despite robust trade ties

These claims, which analysts have deemed absurd, are mainly aimed at appeasing his Islamist base and distracting the broader public from their economic woes.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks before planting a pomegranate tree at the Vice President's residence at the US Naval Observatory on Oct. 7, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Where do Kamala Harris, Donald Trump stand on Gaza war, Iran policy?

During events marking the one-year anniversary of the deadly Hamas attack that sparked war in Gaza, both candidates roughly outlined strategies for de-escalation.

Smoke rises from buildings hit in an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the neighbourhood of Al-Jamous in Beirut's southern suburbs on October 3, 2024. Israel kept up its bombardment of Beirut after Iran launched its second, and largest, attack on Israel in months, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn Tehran would pay. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Live Updates

Israel defense chief postpones US visit as differences over Iran response grow

Israel's premier has reportedly barred the defense minister from traveling to the United States until he speaks with the US president and his security cabinet approves a response to an Iranian missile attack.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stand during an honor cordon at the Pentagon on June 25, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.

Biden treads fine line on Iran as Israel's Gallant heads to Washington

The Pentagon likened the current crisis in the Middle East to that in Europe prior to the First World War, as the Biden administration seeks to restrain an Israeli counterattack against Iran.

US President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Oct. 4, 2024, in Washington.

Analysis

Gaza looms large over Biden’s foreign policy legacy as diplomacy falters

As the war continues into its second year, the Biden administration appears no closer to de-escalating in Gaza and laying a framework for a lasting Middle East peace.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Iranian Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani.

Iran says IRGC Quds Force chief Qaani alive, offers few details

The commander was reportedly in Beirut at the time of an Israeli strike targeting a senior Hezbollah official.

This picture shows closed shops in an alley of Jerusalem's Old City, on Sept. 11, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Analysis

A year after Oct. 7, Israel’s economy battered by endless multifront wars

A year after the deadly attack on southern Israel by the Hamas militant group and the ensuing war in Gaza, the direct cost to the Israeli economy has been more than 100 billion shekels ($26.3 billion), according to the Israeli Finance Ministry.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Displaced people ride on a donkey-drawn cart through a muddy puddle in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sept. 30, 2024.

Feature

Palestinians long for life before Oct. 7 as Gaza war upends lives, future

One year into the Israeli war on Gaza, as winter approaches, Gazans feel hopeless and trapped in an endless cycle of conflict amid tragic living conditions.

Rasha Abou Jalal

By Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israelis sit in a coffee shop in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, on April 14, 2024, one day after Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory.

Analysis

Post Oct. 7 Israel: Divided, veering right and embracing Jewish identity

A divided, polarized and more right-wing-than-ever Israeli Jewish society marks the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert attends a demonstration against the Israeli government's controversial justice reform bill, in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2023. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Exclusive

A way forward, ex-Israeli PM Olmert says Gaza cease-fire only road for solution

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the plan he recently presented with former Palestinian official Nasser al-Kidwa for ending the Gaza war does not have buy-in from the current Israeli or Palestinian leadership.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Nasser al-Kidwa, former minister for foreign affairs of the Palestinian Authority, ex-member of the Fatah movement's central committee, and nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, gives an interview in Gaza City on Sept. 24, 2022.

Exclusive

A way forward, ex-Palestinian FM Nasser Kidwa calls for Arab security presence in Gaza

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said that Palestinians must be serious and practical in order to reach an agreement to end the war in Gaza and establish a Palestinian state.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

The flags of Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain are projected on the ramparts of Jerusalem's Old City on September 15, 2020 in a show of support for Israeli normalisation deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed landmark accords normalizing the Jewish state's relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as part of a peace push brokered by US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty

Analysis

Israel-UAE trade to hit $3.3B in 2024 as wars in Lebanon, Gaza continue

Despite a growing Arab public backlash against economic ties with Israel, and politically strained ties between the UAE and Israel since the Gaza war, bilateral trade has continued across the technology, tourism and agriculture sectors.

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics