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Israel

August 5, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:08 am

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Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Netanyahu’s Gaza double game: Back Trump, reassure Israel’s right

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to both give the impression that Israel retains total freedom of action in Gaza while allowing the Board of Peace to move ahead with President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

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

Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images

What to know about Lebanon-Israel 7th round of talks held in Rome

The US, Israel and Lebanon have sent expanded delegations to the talks, set to continue for three days and expected to focus on security arrangements, border issues and reconstruction.

US President Donald Trump (C) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on Oct. 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Analysis

Lacking leverage over Trump, Israel stays quiet on US-Iran talks

Realizing it has little to no influence over President Donald Trump’s decision-making, the Israeli government has remained silent on the possibility of the United States and Iran resuming negotiations.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

An Egyptian man looks at the Qatari Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier "Duhail" as its passes through the Suez Canal near the Egyptian port city of Ismailia on April 1, 2008. The vessel has a capacity of 210,100 cu.m making it one of the largest LNG carriers constructed to date. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How strike on Damietta port exposes Egypt's energy infrastructure risks

The unclaimed attack on the port of Damietta could draw Egypt further into the US-Iran conflict as experts point to growing threats to critical infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Analysis

No Iran commitment, no Trump endorsement: Netanyahu leaves US empty-handed

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2026. President Trump is traveling to Camp David in Maryland to hold a cabinet meeting and later to Bedminster, New Jersey to spend the weekend at his golf club. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Analysis

Katz riles Iran, US as Netanyahu-Trump meeting raises questions

Win McNamee/Getty Images

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

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

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

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Rina Bassist

Associate Editor (Israel)

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

A Palestinian argues with an Israeli soldier during confrontations in Qafr Malik village near the West Bank city of Ramallah June 14, 2015. An Israeli army jeep struck and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, with the military and locals giving conflicting accounts of the circumstances. A military spokeswoman said the jeep, which was in Qafr Malik village as part of an operation to arrest suspected militants, accidentally hit the Palestinian after he threw a petrol bomb at it. Local res

Israel, PA officials disagree over source of West Bank violence

Despite the recent spate of attacks, Palestinian security officials argue that neither Fatah nor Hamas are interested in escalating the situation with Israel and emphasize that Israeli policies create continuous frustration among West Bank residents.

Israeli soldiers walk with a dog next to an Israeli checkpoint near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, after a stabbing attack June 29, 2015. A statement from the Israeli police said on Monday a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli border policewoman at the crossing between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1I8C3

Will Israel invade West Bank?

Israeli-Palestinian relations are back to square one as Israel recently threatened to invade and occupy the West Bank.

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian gunman Hamad Romaneen during his funeral near the West Bank city of Jericho June 26, 2015. Israeli soldiers shot and killed Romaneen in the occupied West Bank on Friday after he opened fire on them at a checkpoint, the Israeli military said. REUTERS/Ammar Awad TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1HXKK

Hamas denies connection to West Bank attacks

Despite a lack of evidence of political affiliation of the attackers, the acts of violence against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank are raising concerns about possible involvement by Hamas.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Foreign Affairs and Defence committee meeting at the parliament in Jerusalem June 29, 2015. Israel's security cabinet has approved extending the fortified fence along its Egyptian border to the frontier with neighbouring Jordan, Netanyahu said on Monday. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1I84I

Netanyahu puts American Jews in tight spot

US Jews feel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defiant policy on the Iran agreement and talks with the Palestinians forces them to choose between the US agenda and interests and their support of Israel.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MICHAEL BLUM
Israeli ballroom dancers of Russian origin perform during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the start of immigration into Israel from the former Soviet Union at the presidential compound in Jerusalem on April 27, 2010. Since the start of the big wave of immigration from Russia in 1990, the Jewish state has integrated more than one million imimigrants who have profoundly changed Israeli society. AFP PHOTO/GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/G

Israelis give ballroom dancing a spin

The southern city of Ashdod, home to many immigrants from Russia, is becoming a ballroom dancing center as more Israelis join dancing schools for fun and even participate in international events.

An Israeli soldier rides a tank on the Israeli side of the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near Majdal Shams, June 16, 2015. Israel's president expressed his concern to the United States last week about the fate of the Druze minority in Syria, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in an area near the Israeli border. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1GRYM

Israel should back Assad

Based on past experience and years of calm borders with Syria, Israel must abandon whatever ties it develops with Syrian rebels and work with its Western allies to stabilize President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Israeli soldiers take up a position during clashes with Palestinians following a protest against Jewish settlements, in Jalazoun refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Ramallah June 12, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
- RTX1G9IR

Recent attacks not a sign of third intifada

The Israeli security apparatus believes that despite a recent rise in terror attacks in the West Bank, most Palestinians prefer to keep the calm.

Israeli border police officers walks in front of the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City November 5, 2014. Israeli security forces hurling stun grenades clashed with Palestinian stone-throwers at al-Aqsa mosque - a confrontation that has played out frequently over the past several weeks. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) - RTR4CY31

New report outlines Al-Aqsa Mosque recommendations

The International Crisis Group report on Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem tackles this controversial issue for Muslim Palestinians and Israeli Jews, and proposes recommendations to de-escalate the tension between all concerned parties, including Jordan.

Israel the final frontier for science fiction

Israeli science fiction fans are persuaded that the traditional low interest of Israelis in science fiction arts is about to be replaced by stronger involvement in the genre, especially in the sphere of science fiction cinema.

Palestinian fighters from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, are seen inside an underground tunnel in Gaza August 18, 2014. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel's claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group's border infiltration tunnels in the Gaza war. Picture taken August 18, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR42YJR

Fight against IS draws Hamas, Egypt closer

Relations between Hamas and Egypt, strained since the 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, appear to be improving with Saudi mediation.

Palestinian policemen loyal to Hamas march during a military graduation ceremony in Gaza City June 16, 2015. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

- RTX1GOO1

Israel, Hamas negotiate, but truce still far off

Israel and Hamas are directly and indirectly discussing the possibility of a long-term truce, and their main point of convergence is the quest to weaken the Ramallah leadership.

A recently located Iron Dome battary can be seen near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon outside the Gaza Strip June 7, 2015. Israeli aircraft struck the Northern Gaza Strip on Sunday and Israel closed the border crossing with the Hamas-controlled territory after a rocket attack on Saturday claimed by the Omar Brigades, a Palestinian group that supports Islamic State. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTX1FHS4

Why are Israelis uninterested in diplomatic debate?

Rocket fire from Gaza on southern towns has restarted already. Benjamin Netanyahu’s promises for creative diplomatic initiatives were not followed by action, and yet, the Israeli public seems unconcerned by the next conflict in Gaza.