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.

For many Gazans, it's another Christmas barred from Bethlehem

While most of Gaza's Christians submitted requests to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, only a small number were granted access by Israel.

Palestinians shout during clashes with Israeli troops, during a tent city protest along the Israel border with Gaza, demanding the right to return to their homeland, the southern Gaza Strip March 30, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RC1AF1973D70

Gazans lay out new strategy for return marches

Palestinians resumed the marches of return on the Israel-Gaza border after they were halted for weeks.

Israeli Education minister Naftali Bennett attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem September 12, 2018. Thomas Coex/Pool via Reuters - RC144DDC2920

Israel's defense minister tries blocking arrangement with Hamas

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has taken a series of decisions that are meant not only to please his right-wing camp but also to block arrangement talks with Hamas.

A general view of Jerusalem's old city shows the Dome of the Rock in the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, October 25, 2015. Palestinian officials reacted warily on Sunday to what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed as Jordan's "excellent suggestion" to calm Israeli-Palestinian violence by putting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site under constant video monitoring. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - GF20000032167

Is Jerusalem a real obstacle or a convenient excuse?

The Palestinian elections expected sometime in 2020 are still in doubt because of lack of clarity about the participation of Jerusalemites, but is this a real reason or an excuse?

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - OCTOBER 31: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY MANDATORY CREDIT - "PALESTINIAN PRESIDENCY / HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) meets Omani Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yusuf bin Alawi (R) in Ramallah, West Bank on October 31, 2018. (Photo by PALESTINIAN PRESIDENCY / HANDOUT/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Palestine seeks economic relations with Oman

A Palestinian ministerial delegation is preparing to visit Oman early next year as part of efforts to sever economic ties with Israel, but some analysts wonder what benefits are to be gained by either party.

Rumors, denials fly about long-term Israel-Gaza truce

Just the suggestion that a long-term truce could be in the works between Israel and the Gaza Strip factions has Palestinians fired up.

Israel to further tighten the noose on Hamas

As a part of the financial restrictions on Hamas, Israel issued a decision to economically pursue Palestinian and foreign figures whom Israel accuses of funding terrorism, and added the president of the Arab Organization for Human Rights on the list of those pursued.

What’s behind Abbas’ demand for voting stations in Jerusalem?

The insistence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Israel enabling East Jerusalem residents to vote in the upcoming Palestinian elections might hide his fear of a Hamas victory.

Palestinians plan legal steps to stop new Hebron settlement

A controversial proposal for a new settlement in the heart of Hebron calls for bulldozing a long-barricaded Palestinian vegetable market to build new shops and housing for Israelis.

Pressure mounts against importing Israeli gas to Jordan

While Jordan is expected to start receiving natural gas from Israel in a matter of weeks, demands that the government cancel the deal are growing.

Will political crises lead to a Hamas-Israel prisoner swap?

A desire by Hamas to improve it's standing among Palestinians and the current political predicament of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might make a prisoner swap more inevitable in the near term.

Will Israel-Hamas arrangement divorce Gaza from West Bank?

According to recent statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a long-term agreement, including over control of Gaza.