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Palestine

January 29, 2026

Ramallah 2:24 am

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As phase 2 looms, Netanyahu insists no Turkish or Qatari troops in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Tuesday address that his country would not completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the ceasefire, which the Trump administration is pushing to advance.

Truck carrying aid enters Gaza through the border crossing on Oct. 12, 2025, in Rafah, Egypt.

Israel recovers final Gaza hostage, Rafah crossing set to reopen: What to know

The Rafah crossing is expected to allow Palestinians to exit and reenter the Gaza Strip, primarily for those seeking medical treatment.

An Oscar statue at the red carpet at the 96th Annual Academy Awards, Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, California, March 9, 2024.

Culture

'Gesture of resistance': Gaza war and Iran repression in Oscars spotlight

This year’s Oscars nominations include Middle Eastern films whose themes of war, government violence and protest have shone a spotlight on politics at home.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Analysis

Under fire at home over Board of Peace, Netanyahu hints Trump could OK Gaza war restart

According to diplomatic sources, Netanyahu believes that at some point Israel will receive a green light from the Trump administration to resume fighting in Gaza, though his coalition partners do not seem reassured.

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

Latest News

Egypt's economy can weather more Red Sea attacks, says finance minister

Ships sail along Egypt's Suez Canal near Ismailia on April 16, 2025.

Analysis

Trump's Board of Peace faces first test: Disarming Hamas

Palestinian Hamas militants secure the area as Egyptian workers, accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern of Gaza Strip on Dec. 1, 2025.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Putin offers $1B in frozen assets for Gaza Board of Peace — will US unfreeze them?

Ramil Sitdikov / AFP via Getty Images

Herzog: Saudi normalization talks could resume as Gaza ceasefire enters next phase

Israel's President Isaac Herzog gestures as he speaks during the World Economic Forum annual meeting, Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Daoud Kuttab

Palestine Columnist

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Fatima AbdulKarim

In Ramallah, reporting on the West Bank

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on May 21, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Blinken hints at sanctions over ICC push for Israel arrest warrants

Congressional Republicans are calling for US sanctions after the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 8: U.S. President Joe Biden accompanied by Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed (L) reacts to reporters shouted questions as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on May 8, 2024 in Washington, DC, for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Biden is traveling to Wisconsin and Illinois today for campaign events. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Is Biden trying to undermine Netanyahu’s war cabinet from within?

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has exposed a fault line over day-after planning for the Gaza Strip.

Pier-building begins construction of the floating JLOTS pier in the Mediterranean. The pier will support USAID and humanitarian partners to receive and deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. US Transportation Command and US European Command support the movement of humanitarian aid.

US installs Gaza floating pier despite aid groups' security fears

A senior USAID official said the United States is “not at all satisfied” with the progress of discussions with the IDF over steps to prevent Israeli soldiers from killing aid workers in Gaza.

An Egyptian tanker truck bearing the insignia of the United Nations enters the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on March 23, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Why PA rejected Israel's offer for 'unofficial' control of Rafah crossing

A Ramallah-based source explained to Al-Monitor that the PA is not interested in cooperating with Israel on piecemeal projects that don't include a broader agreement on postwar governance of Palestinian territories.

A Bahrain security forces armored vehicle is stationed near a billboard depicting the faces of Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz (L), last year's Arab League summit host, and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (R), this year's host, ahead of the 33rd league summit in Manama, May 15, 2024.

Arab League calls for 'immediate' Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, deployment of international force

The statement further expresses the Arab nations' “firm position for a just and comprehensive peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue” and their support for an international peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A United Nations vehicle drives by as Palestinian girls share a food ration in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Gaza Strip, March 31, 2024.

HRW says Israel launched 8 airstrikes on aid workers in Gaza

The report comes amid outrage following the killing of a foreign UN worker in Israeli fire on an aid convoy in Rafah.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 14, 2023. (Photo by Jade GAO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JADE GAO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

With second meeting in June, China finds opportunity in Hamas-Fatah talks

China is increasingly seeing Hamas as a legitimate political force in the political process on Palestine’s future and statehood, refusing to condemn or describe the group as a terrorist organization.

An Israeli army battle tank takes a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Hamas movement.

Israel unlikely to achieve 'total victory' over Hamas, US official says

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the United States and Israel are “struggling over what the theory of victory is” in the Palestinian enclave.

A man films with his phone a damaged trailer truck that was carrying humanitarian aid supplies.

Israeli settlers attack aid convoy of 98 trucks heading to Gaza from Jordan

Israeli settlers have repeatedly attacked and vandalized aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is quickly deteriorating.

The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022, in Arlington, Virginia.

Pentagon intelligence officer resigned over US support for war in Gaza

US Army Maj. Harrison Mann is the first Defense Department official to have publicly linked his resignation to US support for Israel's war in Gaza war.

An undated image of Layan Nasir.

Family of Christian Palestinian woman held in Israeli detention speaks out

The mother of Layan Nasir, a young Palestinian woman recently detained by Israel in the West Bank, trusts her daughter will come out stronger from Israeli prison.

Displaced Palestinians transport their belongings on the back of a truck as they flee al-Mawasi to a safer area in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 9, 2024.

Panic in Rafah as Israel expands operation, Palestinians ordered to al-Mawasi

The Israeli army’s invasion into parts of Rafah and the failure of cease-fire talks in Cairo killed displaced Palestinians’ hope for an end to the war, now into its eighth month.