Israel

Palestinian Territories

Israel-Hamas Conflict

Military & Security

Politics

Hamas' chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said that Israel's alleged violations risked upending the Hamas-Israel ceasefire and that Hamas' arms are a "right guaranteed by international law" in a video statement released a day after Israel assassinated a senior Hamas commander, Raed Saad, in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported Dec. 14. 

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Negotiator Rejects Disarmament After Assassination of Senior Commander 

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group was ready to discuss "freezing or storing or laying down" weapons in order to advance the fragile ceasefire with Israel, and he also suggested a multi-year truce and said Hamas must maintain its "right to resist, AP reported on Dec. 7.

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Official Floats Freezing or Storing Weapons

United States

Israeli officials said they had received the remains of a Thai worker killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, leaving just one more body in the Gaza Strip of the 251 taken that day and signalling the end of the first phase of the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire, The Times of Israel reported on Dec. 4.

Israel, Gaza: Second-to-Last Hostage Handed Over, Trump Insists Second Ceasefire Phase Is Incoming

Iran

Lebanon

Israel will fully deploy the Iron Beam laser air defense systems on Dec. 30, the Jerusalem Post reported Dec. 1.

Israel: Iron Beam Laser Air Defense System To Be Deployed By Year's End

The United States is reportedly planning to build semi-permanent residential compounds in the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip, called "Alternative Safe Communities," that could each house around 20,000-25,000 Palestinians and include schools and hospitals, the New York Times reported Nov. 25.

Palestinian Territories: U.S. Planning To Build Temporary Housing in Israeli-Held Portion of Gaza 

The U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S.-backed resolution supporting the establishment of a "Board of Peace" helmed by U.S. President Donald Trump to transitionally govern the Gaza Strip through 2027, backing an international stabilization force to improve border security and demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and including a provision for a potential path toward a Palestinian state, Reuters reported on Nov. 17.

U.S., Israel, Palestinian Territories: UNSC Adopts Resolution Backing Trump's Gaza Plan

Economics

The United States is reportedly planning to build a $500 million military base capable of housing several thousand troops near Gaza to monitor the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, The Times of Israel reported on Nov. 11.

U.S., Israel: U.S. Reportedly Planning Base in Israel To Monitor Ceasefire

Mediators are working to convince Hamas fighters trapped in Rafah's Israeli-controlled tunnels to lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage, as the trapped fighters threatened to undo the fragile Gaza truce, Reuters reported on Nov. 6.

Israel, Gaza: Trapped Hamas Fighters Could Destabilize Truce

Assessments

Yemen

Israeli air defence systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage of Iranian rockets on June 16, 2025.

If effective, the laser air defense system will significantly reduce the cost of intercepting short-range aerial threats and bolster Israel's multilayered protection against aerial attacks.


The Role of Iron Beam in Israel's Evolving Defense Architecture

Palestinian Hamas militants stand guard as Egyptian and Red Cross workers search for the bodies of the last two remaining hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 1, 2025.

The shift toward a low-intensity conflict in the Gaza Strip will likely enable Israel to keep pressuring Hamas to disarm without triggering significant backlash or a resumption of Houthi maritime attacks.

Israel Moves Toward a De Facto Partition of Gaza

Columns

On Geopolitics

Hamas militants arrive to secure the area as Egyptian and Red Cross workers search for the bodies of the last two remaining hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Dec. 1, 2025. 

In this phase of the conflict, Israel and Hamas aim to break one another's political will not through widespread violence but through attrition and exhaustion.

Hamas and Israel Evolve the Gaza Conflict

Snapshots

Workers clean the rubble from the site of a Nov. 23 Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the southern Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut. Israel will likely opportunistically escalate airstrikes against Hezbollah and Hamas to further weaken the militant groups and push them toward disarmament without ending shaky ceasefires.

Miscalculation or an opportunity for Israel to significantly set back Hezbollah would, however, increase the likelihood of a return to major fighting. 

Despite More Intense Israeli Strikes, Hezbollah and Hamas Ceasefires Will Likely Hold

Excavation crews work amid rubble in Hamad City, west of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Oct. 26, 2025. 

The extended timeline for reconstruction ensures dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza will likely persist for years, fueling future radicalization and significant population displacement.

Gaza Reconstruction Likely To Take Years and Fuel Palestinian Emigration

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a state memorial ceremony for the fallen soldiers of the two-year Gaza war at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025.

The Israeli prime minister is unlikely to call early elections and will likely increase military pressure on Hamas in an effort to reduce the likelihood that he is unseated in elections due by October 2026.


Gaza Ceasefire Hangs in Balance as Netanyahu Contemplates Political Survival

Australia

Ukraine

Russia

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Delegations from the United States and Russia, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, respectively, will meet this week to resume conversations about their countries' bilateral relationship and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: U.S. and Russian Delegations Meet, a Still-Fragile Hamas-Israel Ceasefire 

Egypt

United Arab Emirates

An Israeli military truck carries a tank in southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 14, 2025.

The ceasefire will allow Israel to redirect resources away from Gaza toward other regional threats, particularly Iran, while temporarily easing diplomatic tensions with Egypt and the UAE.

The Regional Implications of the Oct. 8 Gaza Ceasefire

Cameroon

Japan

France

Palestinians on Oct. 10 on Al-Rashid road headed toward Gaza City. U.S. President Donald Trump said he might visit the Middle East just as 20 hostages are meant to be released by Hamas after surviving two years in captivity as the White House pushes for the solidification of a frail ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The Weekly Rundown: Trump Tries To Solidify the Gaza Ceasefire, a Presidential Vote in Cameroon

Qatar

Turkey

People react at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on Oct. 9, 2025, following news of a new Gaza ceasefire deal.

Violence in Gaza will almost certainly decrease as both Israel and Hamas are pressured to comply with the first phase of the ceasefire, keeping the truce intact in the coming days and possibly weeks.

After Two Years of War, a Permanent Gaza Ceasefire?

An antique map showing the area around modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories. 

Current conflict dynamics suggest an uneasy ''one-and-a-half-state'' solution may emerge, where Palestinians are granted limited autonomy in reservation-style territories under Israeli control, potentially mitigating violence but leaving Israel more internationally isolated.

A Palestinian 'Half-State' Could Reduce Violence, but Deepen Israel's Isolation

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a press conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29, 2025. 

The once-unshakable consensus on Israel within U.S. politics is fracturing under the weight of generational change, a growing values gap and a misalignment of geopolitical imperatives.

'A Little Sparta': Why the U.S.-Israeli Relationship Is Destined To Change 

The Palestinian Territories comprise two sections of the former mandate of Palestine: the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The two small areas are separated from one another by Israel, which controls most of their frontiers. Jordan borders the West Bank on the east, while Egypt lies to the west of the Gaza Strip. The West Bank is a hilly, warm country that enjoys sufficient rainfall to support agriculture, but because the Gaza Strip receives little precipitation due to its location next to the dry Sinai Desert, its economy has traditionally relied on fishing and trade. The territories' only natural border is the Jordan River on the eastern edge of the West Bank.    The Palestinian Territories lack a clear demographic core, although the lands have a symbolic heart: the city of Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as their capital.    The Palestinian Territories evolved over time. After Israel gained its independence in 1948, Jordan annexed the West Bank while Egypt took control of Gaza. After the Six Day War in 1967, however, Israel occupied both territories. The occupation strengthened Palestinian identity, and members of the community eventually came to regard Gaza and the West Bank as components of a united proto-state.      But due to their size and domination by Israel, the Palestinian Territories have not succeeded in achieving state status. The territories, meanwhile, are not only divided geographically but also politically, as the Islamist party Hamas rules Gaza, while the more nationalist and secularist Fatah controls the West Bank. In addition to overcoming the lack of unity, the Palestinian Territories must convince Israel's allies to allow the entity to gain autonomy and eventually achieve independence. Ultimately, internal political divisions and the need to pursue diplomacy to become a sovereign state represent the core geographic challenges for the Palestinian Territories.  

SITUATION REPORTS

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Negotiator Rejects Disarmament After Assassination of Senior Commander

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Official Floats Freezing or Storing Weapons

Israel, Gaza: Second-to-Last Hostage Handed Over, Trump Insists Second Ceasefire Phase Is Incoming

Israel: Iron Beam Laser Air Defense System To Be Deployed By Year's End

Palestinian Territories: U.S. Planning To Build Temporary Housing in Israeli-Held Portion of Gaza

U.S., Israel, Palestinian Territories: UNSC Adopts Resolution Backing Trump's Gaza Plan

U.S., Israel: U.S. Reportedly Planning Base in Israel To Monitor Ceasefire

Israel, Gaza: Trapped Hamas Fighters Could Destabilize Truce

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