Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Analysis

What’s at stake for Turkey as Israel heads to the polls?

Israel’s Oct. 27 election could offer a chance to ease tensions with Ankara, but competing ambitions in Syria and beyond threaten to push the two US allies toward a dangerous confrontation.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Feature

50,000 Israeli expats fly home to vote in potential boon to Netanyahu rivals

Israel prohibits voting from abroad with limited exceptions, and Israelis who spoke to Al-Monitor said they are especially motivated to fly home this year.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Pedestrians cross a street in front of a banner featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Analysis

How Israel opposition infighting is boosting Netanyahu days before election

Discord within the opposition, including its reluctance to name a single candidate for prime minister ahead of the Oct. 27 election, is working in Netanyahu’s favor.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

It is the first publicly disclosed contact between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which lack formal relations and have fought several wars. Sharaa’s government began US-mediated talks with Israel in 2025.

Latest News

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sues Netanyahu for nearly $1M over Oct. 7 claims

Israel's Chief of the Mossad David Barnea (R) and Security Agency director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Israel-UK relations hit new low over settlements, Gaza: What to know

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during a protest against the recently announced British sanctions, aimed at economic activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on Sept. 14, 2026, in Jerusalem.

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

Israeli firemen extinguish a fire in a field near the Israel-Gaza border that was reportedly caused by an incendiary balloon launched from the Gaza Strip, on August 24, 2020. - Israel has bombed the Hamas-ruled coastal Palestinian strip almost daily since August 6, while balloons carrying fire bombs and, less frequently, rocket fire have hit Israel from Gaza. In retaliation for the balloon attacks and the widespread blazes on farms and scrubland they have caused, Israel has tightened its 13-year blockade of

Israel, Gaza stuck in each other’s throat

As the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate, Israel and the Hamas leadership know that there is no military solution and that efforts must be focused to reduce poverty.

A photo taken on June 24, 2019 shows raw sewage flowing near the main Gaza Strip power plant, serving the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, south of Gaza City. - Finance officials were flying into Bahrain today for a US-led peace conference that holds out billions of dollars for the Palestinians, whose leaders pronounced the idea dead on arrival. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel-Hamas escalation halts sewage treatment, generates ecological crisis

Gaza incendiary balloons made Israel stop fuel import into the Gaza Strip, causing in turn for Gaza sewage plants to cease operating.

People inspect the damages at a house that was hit by a rocket launched from Gaza to the southern Israeli city of Sderot, early morning on August 16, 2020. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel carries out multiple airstrikes after 12 rockets from Gaza

Escalation on Israel-Gaza border: Israel Defense Forces jets struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip three times, after 12 rockets and projectiles were launched during the night from Gaza.

Democratic Party platform criticizes possible Israeli annexation of West Bank, Saudi role in Yemen

Parts of the platform approved at the Democratic National Convention this week have been both praised and criticized by Israel- and Iran-focused groups in Washington.

Can Egypt help ease tensions between Israel, Hamas?

An Egyptian intelligence delegation embarked on new moves between Israel and Hamas in order to reduce tension on both sides of the borders in the Gaza Strip after the situation escalated over the past few days.

Israeli and German jets fly over Munich Olympics massacre site, Dachau concentration camp

The joint exercises this week mark the first ever between Israel and Germany on German soil.

Palestinian protesters lift a banner during a demonstration against the Emirati-Israeli agreement in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on August 15, 2020. (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI / AFP) (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian factions unite in protest against UAE-Israel deal

The Palestinian response to the normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel is loud but its message is muddled amid divisions at home and in the region.

United Arab Emirates

Mohammed al-Emadi, chairman of Qatar's National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, speaks during a press conference in Gaza City on January 25, 2019. - Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas said on January 25 they would not accept a fresh tranche of Qatari funds, accusing Israel of imposing new conditions on the money entering the blockaded Palestinian territory. The rejection of the expected $15 million (13.2 million euros) raised fears of fresh tensions along the Gaza-Israel border, ahead of weekly Friday p

Will Qatar renew Gaza aid?

There are concerns the Qatari aid to the Gazans will stop as tension escalates on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Trump administration goes big with UAE-Israel peace deal

Other Gulf states may follow.

A picture taken on December 16, 2017 shows a woman standing by an infant with a milk bottle in their mouth as they wait to ride a bus in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip, prior to departure for the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. / AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel denies travel to Palestinian newborns

To pressure Palestinians and force them to back down from their decision to stop security coordination, Israel is refusing to recognize more than 24,000 Palestinian newborns while preventing their movement through crossings as well as their travel abroad.

Palestinians express anger at UAE following US-brokered accord with Israel

Palestinians say UAE decision to normalize relations with Israel is a crime.

United Arab Emirates

Israel, UAE announce US-brokered deal to normalize relations

Under the deal, Israel has agreed to suspend plans to annex the West Bank.