All Middle East
First LookEyeing Israel-Hamas spillover, Egypt builds border, walls in GazansAs the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, Egypt is constructing a wall along its border with Gaza to dissuade fleeing Palestinians from seeking refuge. The conflict’s spread so close to home has strained Egypt’s relationship with Israel.
FocusGaza: Why distrust of UN has deepened at a moment of greatest needThe need for international institutions, the U.N. foremost among them, amid conflict is clear: to deliver relief, apply international law, and save lives. Yet among both Israelis and Palestinians, distrust of the U.N. is profound.
As Israel zeroes in on Rafah, its aims – and concerns – are clearWhen Israel rescued two Hamas-held hostages from Rafah, the operation raised sharp concerns among Israel’s friends and partners that the long-signaled move into the overcrowded city had begun. Those concerns are adding to Israel’s own.
Tents in winter: Dislocated by war, Gazans struggle to find shelterIn Gaza, there is an increasingly frantic search for dwindling options for shelter even as Israel sets its sights on an overwhelmed and overcongested Rafah.
First LookArab states warn Israel against launching invasion of RafahPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he asked Israel’s military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in Rafah ahead of an invasion, setting off panic. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into the city on the border with Egypt.
The ExplainerUS confronts ‘Axis’: Who are Iran’s allies? Can they be deterred?Alongside the war in Gaza, Iran’s regional allies and U.S. forces have engaged in scores of attacks and retaliations. Both the U.S. and Iran say they want to avert a wider war, but the clashes’ intensity has increased.
In West Bank, a glimpse at how war has hardened Palestinian viewsIf the Gaza Strip is the main battlefield in the Israel-Hamas war, the West Bank is still very much part of the conflict. And Israeli arrests and raids there are only reinforcing a wartime radicalization of the Palestinian population.
Israel’s Netanyahu fights against Hamas, and for his futureFor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the war in Gaza is about more than destroying Hamas. It is a struggle for political survival.
In Gaza, humanitarian network is in crisis even as needs soarThe humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza, displaced by war and, in midwinter, facing dwindling access to food, shelter, and medicine, are staggering. A major crisis for Gaza’s aid distribution network could hardly be more poorly timed.
Why Oct. 7 has bound Israeli Druze and Jews even more tightlyFor the Druze, an Arab religious minority, serving the state in which they live is both a civic duty and a tenet of their faith. Yet after the horrors of Oct. 7 and their losses since, Israeli Druze see the Israel-Hamas war as becoming increasingly personal.
Hostages or Hamas? Cracks spread in Israeli unity over war aims.Israel’s twin war goals in Gaza of rescuing hostages and defeating Hamas have been hard to reconcile. As the U.S. and others try to mediate a new cease-fire/hostage deal with Hamas, do Israelis know what victory looks like?
First Look‘We decide’: Netanyahu pushes back on UN ruling as war in Gaza beats onPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will “act according to what is required for our security” after the International Court of Justice’s order to limit death and destruction in Gaza.
West Bank settler extremists widen campaign against PalestiniansMonitor reporters witnessed a shooting attack by West Bank settlers on Palestinian shepherds as an Israeli army jeep stood by. Officials and diplomats say the attacks further a campaign to push Palestinians off their lands.
Writers, artists, scientists: Gaza mourns its cultural lossesWar’s destructiveness extends beyond a tally of lives and structures lost; it extends to the richness of cultural life as well. Palestinians in Gaza say the loss of artists and academics who touched and inspired them will be felt for generations.
Why populist president retains support amid Tunisia’s enduring povertyPolitical analysts love to talk about voters’ pocketbooks. In theory, leaders would get credit for policy successes and blame for failures. But populists’ use of xenophobia and conspiracy theories can turn that idea on its head.
Around the globe, the politics of the war in Gaza is localThe war in Gaza is reverberating in different ways around the world, from India and Indonesia to the U.S. and Germany.
First LookMissile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risksIran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a missile strike in Damascus which it blamed on Israel. Other missile attacks Saturday occurred in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
In escalating war zone, Druze village has a message: Hope and peaceIn Beit Jann, an Israeli Druze village with views of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, the outlook is one of determined optimism. Even as the region is gripped by rising violence, villagers speak of peaceful coexistence.
First LookPakistan and Iran blame mineral-rich warlords for missile strikesTensions flared this week after Iran and Pakistan exchanged missiles, killing a total of nine people. Both nations have taken steps to turn down the dial. Pakistan expressed a readiness to work with Iran “based on spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.”
Widening Middle East war: Have Iran’s calculations changed?As the Israel-Hamas war spreads around the wider region, looping in U.S. forces, Yemen’s Houthis, and now Pakistan, a connecting thread runs through Tehran. But are the actions of its “Axis of Resistance” helping or harming Iran?
