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May 18, 2026

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President Donald Trump speaks in front of the American flag to the press as he departs the White House on May 12, 2026, in Washington, DC.

Trump’s Gaza plan stalls as Hamas resists disarmament

The militant group appears to be stalling as the mediators push it to accept a US-backed disarmament proposal.

Israel's Netanyahu suing New York Times over column on Palestinian rape

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's accusations of systematic sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian prisoners, calling the claims a "blood libel."

Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

European foreign ministers have agreed to sanction extremist West Bank settlers, but are still discussing the list of names.

Latest News

Feature

Gazans show cautious hope ahead of first local elections in 20 years

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.

Rasha Abou Jalal

By Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Analysis

On eve of Palestinian local elections, competition in short supply

Women read instructions to voters ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 21, 2026.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Interview

Olmert: Only Israel-Lebanon deal can curb Hezbollah, occupation 'unviable'

Olmert

Ehud Olmert

Ehud Olmert

Former Israeli prime minister

Meloni suspends Italy's military cooperation agreement with Israel

Meloni

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

This picture taken on Oct. 31, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows smoke plumes billowing during Israeli bombardment amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Day 25 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Oct. 31

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Gaza war could double oil prices, threaten global food security

Washington-based multilateral lender World Bank compared the situation to the 1973 Arab oil embargo in its latest Commodities Market Outlook.

An antenna of a communications tower that relays phone and internet signals is pictured in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28 , 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas

US working to keep Gaza's phone, internet services operational

Israel cut communications in Gaza late Friday for over 24 hours as the Israeli military increased strikes and ground operations.

Palestinians storm a UN-run aid supply center, that distributes food to displaced families following Israel's call for more than one million residents in northern Gaza to move south for their safety, in Deir al-Balah on October 28, 2023,

Gaza death toll soars above 8,200 as UN estimates 1.4 million displaced

Aid deliveries are continuing into Gaza, but humanitarian organizations are reporting mass displacement and fuel shortages as Israel continues aerial and ground operations against Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the unrelenting retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people

Day 23 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Oct. 29

Jordan's Queen Rania and Spain's Queen Letizia (R) arrive for an official luncheon at the Royal Palace in Madrid, on June 19, 2023. (Photo by Paul White / POOL / AFP) (Photo by PAUL WHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Day 19 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Wednesday, Oct. 25

Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Annual Leadership Summmit on October 28, 2023 at the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Day 22 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Oct. 28

Houthi soldiers stand guard on a missile carrier during an official military parade to mark the ninth anniversary of the Houthis' takeover of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, Sept. 21, 2023.

Iran-backed Houthis emerge as threat to Israel, US amid Gaza war

The Houthis' ability to strike shipping in the Red Sea in the event of an expansion of the Israel-Hamas war makes them a factor in global geopolitics.

Yahya Sinwar (3rd R), the new Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, and senior political leader Ismail Haniyeh (4th R) sit among other Hamas officials during a memorial for Mazen Faqha, a leader of the Islamist movement who was shot dead in Gaza by unknown gunmen, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, March 27, 2017.

Analysis

Meet Hamas' key leaders, many on Israel's target list in Gaza

Hamas has a complicated and fragmented leadership structure. The militant components of the group have become more powerful in comparison to the political ones in recent years, in part due to Iranian influence.

Ali Hashem

Adam Lucente

By Ali Hashem , Adam Lucente

Palestinian Greek Orthodox Christians pray during Sunday Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, on May 30, 2021.

Gaza’s Christians stand their ground despite heavy bombardment

Gaza’s minority Christian population has refused to leave Gaza City, despite the recent airstrike that targeted a historic church.

Gaza rubble

Analysis

Gaza needs integration, not isolation, after Israel-Hamas war

Also, our exclusive reporting from Lebanon, Iraq and the West Bank.

Week in Review

Andrew Parasiliti

By Week in Review , Andrew Parasiliti

Israeli Merkava tanks take part in a military drill near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on Oct. 26, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli invasion of Gaza threatens to collapse Washington's Middle East strategy

The Biden administration thought painstaking diplomacy could contain Iran and, by extension, its proxies in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. But by papering over the Palestinian question, Washington handed its adversary a strategic opportunity.