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.

The low-emission container ship Antonia Maersk by Danish shipping company A.P. Moller - Maersk is seen behind containers during its christening at the harbor of Aarhus, Denmark, on August 9, 2024. The ship sails on green methanol. (Photo by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT (Photo by MIKKEL BERG PEDERSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

What Maersk's $250M logistics park means for Saudi Arabia

Danish logistics company remains invested in the Red Sea despite continued threats to shipping from Yemen's Houthi militants.

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Attendees hold up signs with the names of people who died in the Gaza war on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 20, 2024.

At DNC, Harris contends with Democratic divide on Gaza

DNC delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement warn that if Harris doesn’t get tough on Israel, she risks alienating voters in battleground states like Michigan come November.

Lebanese firefighters put out a fire in a car after an Israeli strike in the southern city of Sidon on August 21, 2024. An Israeli strike in Lebanon's southern city of Sidon on August 21, killed a Fatah official, said a leader from the Palestinian group and a security source, marking the first such attack reported on Fatah in over 10 months of cross-border clashes. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel assassinates Fatah official in Lebanon, a first since Gaza war began

In a first since the Gaza war, a senior Fatah official was killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanese soil, as Israel-Hezbollah cross-border hostilities continue to escalate.

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Israel-Hezbollah tension expands to Golan Heights amid rocket attack

The Israeli military is threatening to retaliate after more than 50 Katyusha rockets were fired by Hezbollah at the Golan Heights town of Katzrin, following overnight strikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah ammunition depots.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Blinken, Fidan discuss Gaza ahead of cease-fire talks in Egypt

The conversation followed the top US diplomat’s latest visit to the region without a breakthrough.

Bassem Youssef attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Cinema Cafe on January 31, 2020, in Park City, Utah.

Culture

Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef no longer on X: What we know

The exiled comic has been a vocal critic of Israel, highlighting the plight of the Palestinians during the Gaza war but has recently been accused of antisemitism.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Blinken meets with Egypt's Sisi as Philadelphi Corridor remains sticking point in Gaza talks

Cairo will host a new round of talks this week to secure an agreement on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours the region to mobilize support.

Yahya al-Sinwar (C), Gaza Strip chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, waves to supporters during a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the group's foundation, in Gaza City on December 14, 2022. Hamas will end talks on securing a prisoner exchange with Israel unless there is progress soon, the militant group's leader in the Gaza Strip said on December 14. Since Israel's 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip, the Islamist group has held the bodies of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, altho

Analysis

As Netanyahu hedges, Hamas' Sinwar undecided between deal or regional war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived closer to the moment of truth where he must decide for or against a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas and a cease-fire in Gaza.

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

Fire sweeps over the Marjayoun plain in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel after being hit by Israeli shelling on August 16, 2024, amid the ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel intensifies Lebanon strikes, kills Hezbollah commander, hits warehouse

Israel struck Hezbollah weapons in the Bekaa Valley, causing large explosions amid fears of an all-out war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the press at David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv on Aug. 19, 2024.

US calls for Hamas to accept cease-fire proposal now backed by Israel

The top US diplomat visited Israel days after the United States put forward a so-called bridging proposal in the cease-fire negotiations.

Pro-Palestine protesters march ahead of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 18, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

Pro-Palestinian voices protest and participate in DNC in Chicago

Protesters from across the country are in Chicago for the DNC, demanding an end to aid for Israel as Vice President Harris and the Democratic Party grapple with how to handle the Gaza war.

This picture taken from the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip, shows a damaged building on July 4, 2024, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza cease-fire talks to resume in Egypt with Rafah, Philadelphi corridor in focus

Following two days of talks in Doha, the US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are expected to resume negotiations on a Gaza cease-fire in Cairo this week in the presence of Israeli officials.