Global Conflict Tracker
← Back to Conflict

Latest News

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Head of UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Warns Recent Israeli Laws Restricting Its Actions Could “Sabotage” Gaza Cease-fire

  • The ceasefire’s implementation hinges on aid entering the territory (NYT)
  • UNRWA’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, met with EU officials in Brussels, seeking support for reversing the laws; legal action against them has been filed at the International Court of Justice and Israel’s High Court (FT)

Israel Announces ‘Extensive’ New Military Operation in West Bank

  • Israel’s military has increased its operations in the West Bank as the cease-fire in Gaza continues to hold, with Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu announcing an “extensive and significant” new campaign there aimed at “eradicating terrorism” (NYT)
  • Ten people were killed and at least forty wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said; Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the West Bank had become a part of Israel’s “war goals,” reflecting concerns about Hamas efforts to fortify fighters there after the group’s strength was diminished in Gaza (CNN)
  • The military push in the city of Jenin came after Israeli settler groups attacked Palestinians in the West Bank Monday, the same day U.S. President Donald Trump removed sanctions imposed in 2024 on dozens of individuals and settler groups accused of violence (The Guardian)
  • Since the Gaza cease-fire took effect, violence in the West Bank has risen, the UN Human Rights Office in Ramallah said (United Nations)
  • The Palestinian Authority has waged its own crackdown against militants in the territory for weeks (FT)

Hundreds of Aid Trucks Surge Into Gaza in Cease-Fire

  • More than nine hundred aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on the second day of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire, the UN humanitarian office said (Reuters)
  • They followed 630 aid trucks that entered Sunday, the highest on a single day since the war began (NYT)
  • Some 92 percent of homes in Gaza were destroyed or damaged and 90 percent of the population was displaced, with 1.8 million people in urgent need of shelter and essentials, the UN said (CNN)
  • Israel released ninety Palestinian prisoners and Hamas freed three Israeli hostages over the weekend (CNN)
  • Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they would limit their attacks on international shipping to only target Israeli-registered vessels, the Financial Times reported (FT)

Cease-Fire Deal Moves to Israel’s Cabinet for Approval

  • Many Israelis, Palestinians, and global observers celebrated yesterday’s announcement that Israel and Hamas had reached a complex cease-fire and hostage release agreement, even as political hurdles remained to its full implementation; the deal followed intensive diplomacy by the United States—both the outgoing and incoming administrations—Egypt, and Qatar (Reuters)
  • Israel’s cabinet delayed a vote today that is required for the deal to move forward; if approved, the first stage of the cease-fire could be set in motion as soon as Sunday (CNN)
  • Leaders from around the world voiced hope that the cease-fire could move forward and that humanitarian aid could surge into Gaza (ABC)
  • A White House spokesperson said the Joe Biden administration is confident the deal will commence on Sunday despite the delay in the Israeli government (NYT)
  • While the details of the agreement are still subject to final approval, drafts that have been widely reported in the media feature a first six-week phase in which Hamas would release thirty-three hostages, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinians, Israeli forces would begin to withdraw from population centers in Gaza, and humanitarian aid would surge into the enclave (CNN)

Blinken Describes Most Detailed Postwar Gaza Vision Yet

  • As Israel and Hamas reportedly drew closer to a cease-fire deal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a speech yesterday described an immediate phase in which the Palestinian Authority (PA) worked together with international partners and eventually took on governance responsibilities for a “fully reformed PA administration;” Biden’s team will hand the proposal to the Trump administration (CNN)

Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire and Hostage Deal Reaches ‘Final Stages,’ Qatar Says

  • Israel and Hamas are at their closest point in months to reaching a truce and hostage release agreement, Qatar’s foreign ministry said today; officials from both sides have acknowledged progress toward a deal as talks continue in Doha with mediation by Qatar along with the United States and Egypt (WaPo)
  • Previous potential deals have collapsed multiple times in the course of more than fifteen months of fighting (AP)
  • Envoys for both U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have pressed for the current agreement in recent days (NPR)
  • The draft deal resembles a three-phase agreement detailed by Biden in May, the Associated Press reported based on a copy of the draft verified by unnamed Egyptian and Hamas officials; it would reportedly begin with a six-week period that includes the gradual release of thirty-three Hamas-held hostages and potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children detained by Israel (AP)
  • In this first phase, Israel would begin to withdraw from Gaza’s population centers, and displaced Palestinians could return to their homes (Axios)
  • The details of the subsequent phases still need to be negotiated during the first one (BBC)
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting today with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—who voiced opposition to the cease-fire—in a test of Netanyahu’s ability to hold his governing coalition together if the deal moves forward (CNN)
  • An unnamed Israeli official told CNN that Israel had “made all the compromises that are needed” for a deal, while two unnamed officials involved in the talks told the Associated Press that Hamas had accepted the draft (CNN)

Reports: White House Notifies Congress of Planned $8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel

  • The informal notification covers a package that includes air-to-air missiles, artillery shells, and 500-pound warheads, unnamed sources told multiple news outlets (Axios)
  • It would mark the final sale of weapons to Israel approved by the Biden administration, and supplement at least $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel since Hamas’s 2023 attack (AP)

Israeli Strike Inside Israeli-Designated Humanitarian Zone in Gaza Killed Hamas’s Head of Police

  • Medics reported that eleven people, including women and children, died in the strike (Times of Israel)
  • Earlier this week, Israel’s defense minister threatened stepped-up attacks against Hamas if it does not soon release Israeli hostages and keeps firing at Israeli communities (AFP)
  • Hamas has increased rocket fire at Israel over the past week (Al Jazeera)

Palestinian Authority Security Forces Clash With Militants From Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in West Bank

  • The Palestinian Authority (PA) suspended Al Jazeera’s operations in the West Bank over its coverage of the clashes (WSJ)
  • PA news agency Wafa said Al Jazeera’s reporting included “misinformation, incitement, sedition, and interference in Palestinian internal affairs” (Times of Israel)

CIA Chief Reportedly Travels to Doha for Talks on Gaza

  • CIA chief William Burns is meeting today with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza, an unnamed source familiar with the matter told Axios; indirect negotiations have been underway since Israel gave Hamas an updated proposal for a deal three weeks ago (Axios)

Gaza Health Ministry: More Than Forty-Five Thousand Palestinians Have Died Since Beginning of Israel-Hamas War

  • The Gazan Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilian and military deaths but say more than half of those killed were women and children; the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have stepped up efforts to broker a cease-fire in recent days (AP)

Netanyahu Testifies in Corruption Trial

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the corruption allegations against him “absurd” today; he faces charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes and is the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant (AP)
  • His testimony is scheduled to continue over several weeks (Bloomberg)

Amnesty International: “Sufficient Evidence to Believe” Israel’s War Conduct Amounts to Genocide

  • The report cited what it called mass killings and actions meant to bring about the destruction of Palestinians “in whole or part;” Israel said the report was “entirely baseless” and that it failed to account for operational realities in Gaza as well as Hamas’s violations of international humanitarian law (CNN)
  • The Israel branch of Amnesty International rejected the conclusion (Haaretz)

NYT: Israel Has Built or Expanded Twelve Military Bases in Central Gaza Strip Since Early September

  • The reporting by the New York Times was based on satellite images and interviews with Israeli military members; Israeli leaders have said they aim to maintain security control in Gaza after the war but have not specified what that might entail (NYT)

Hamas Leaders Meet With Egyptian Officials About Cease-fire Efforts in Gaza Strip

  • Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees halted aid deliveries to Gaza through a border crossing due to looting, it said (Reuters)

Israeli Prosecutors Charge Netanyahu Aide and Unnamed Military Reservist Over Leaks of Classified Military Intelligence on Hamas

  • The accused aide in the prime minister’s office, media advisor Eliezer Feldstein, allegedly leaked information to the German newspaper Bild to influence how the Israeli public viewed negotiations for a cease-fire, Israeli prosecutors said; a lawyer for Feldstein did not immediately comment (NYT)

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Hamas’s Deif

  • The International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously issued the warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on charges of crimes against humanity; it cited Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip (NYT)
  • The court’s prosecutor originally sought warrants for three Hamas officials but said it could confirm that two have since been killed in conflict; the Israeli military previously said it had killed Deif, too, in its operations (NYT)
  • The court wrote in its decision there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival,” while Deif is responsible for “murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence” (ICC)
  • Netanyahu and other Israeli officials had criticized the requests for warrants as antisemitic, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the decision to issue them turned “the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’s crimes against humanity” (Reuters)
  • Israel—and the United States, where Netanyahu often travels—are not members of the ICC, which limits the practical effects of the warrant, given that only countries party to the court’s treaty are obligated to arrest him if he sets foot in their country (BBC)
  • The United States rejected the ICC’s charges against Netanyahu when they were first introduced earlier this year, with some U.S. policymakers calling for sanctions on the court (WSJ)

UN Security Council Holds Vote on Resolution Calling for Unconditional Cease-fire

  • The United States said it vetoed the resolution because it was not contingent on an immediate hostage release (NYT)

Netanyahu Announces $5 Million Reward for Each Hostage Freed From Gaza

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited an Israeli military position in the Gaza Strip yesterday and vowed that Hamas would not rule the enclave after the war; in addition to the monetary reward, he also offered a safe passage out of Gaza for those who turned over a hostage (Times of Israel)

UNRWA: Over One Hundred Trucks Carrying Aid Into Gaza Strip “Violently Looted”

  • The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that Israel was disregarding its obligations to ensure aid safely reached Palestinians in Gaza, though Israel has denied creating obstacles to aid deliveries; only eleven trucks made it to their destination over the weekend (NYT)
  • Separately, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington will make clear to Ankara that “there can be no more business as usual with Hamas” (Al-Monitor)
  • He did not confirm media reports that Hamas moved its political office from Qatar to Turkey but said he was not in a position to dispute them (Reuters)

Israeli Judge Unseals Part of Probe of Leaked Israeli Military Intelligence on Gaza War

  • In the ruling, the judge said the leak was meant to reduce pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a hostage release deal; an Israeli military officer transferred the information to an aide in Netanyahu’s office, who leaked it to German media, the judge wrote (NYT)
  • The prime minister’s office denies leaking (Guardian)

Washington Will Not Change Policy Toward Israel After Deadline for Gaza Aid Passed

  • Eight aid organizations declared that Israel did not meet the United States’ demands to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip within a U.S.-imposed thirty-day deadline (AP)
  • A State Department spokesperson, however, said Washington does not assess that Israel is in violation of U.S. law and will not change its policy toward Israel for the time being; he added that “we’ve seen some progress being made” (CNN)

Saudi Crown Prince Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians

  • Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman levied the accusation at a Riyadh summit of Muslim and Arab leaders; he also warned Israel against launching attacks on Iranian soil in an apparent sign of thawing ties between Riyadh and Tehran (BBC)
  • Israel has repeatedly rejected claims that its military is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip (AP)
  • On Saturday, Qatar said it would stop mediating between Israel and Hamas after the sides had been unable to reach an agreement on a cease-fire (CNN)

Israel’s Netanyahu Replaces Defense Minister

  • Netanyahu’s removal of Yoav Gallant yesterday comes after months of public disagreement between the two over the course of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon; Israel Katz will move from heading the foreign ministry to the defense ministry (WSJ)
  • Gallant was a proponent within the Israeli government of a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, a moderating voice in Israel’s war strategy, and a main interlocutor with the United States (NYT)

WHO to Evacuate Over One Hundred Patients From Gaza

  • A rare transfer out of the Gaza Strip will tomorrow move patients including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said; twelve thousand people in total are awaiting transfer (Reuters)
  • Yesterday, Israeli shelling damaged an already struggling major hospital in Northern Gaza, its director said; Israel’s military said it was looking into reports coming from the hospital (NYT)