War in the Middle East

What resources and time will Donald Trump’s “America First” administration devote to keeping the Israel-Hamas deal on track? The challenges may appear overwhelming, but the idea of a grand deal is enticing.

Over more than 15 months of war and loss, Israeli and Palestinian emotions have been rubbed raw, or suppressed. Now they are being released by an imminent ceasefire, even as questions over its durability persist.

Word of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal was greeted with relief and some celebrations. But Israelis and Palestinians have been disappointed before; joy over the fragile deal was muted.

Popular support for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has been in steady decline. Now, to burnish its credentials, the authority is taking on a militant stronghold in Jenin. The high-risk move is further dividing Palestinian society.

How central is an independent police force to democracy? In Israel, the politicization of the national police is seen as part of the hard-line government’s revived judicial overhaul.

For Palestinian families forced from their homes by 15 months of war, the temporary shelters they have constructed are no match for Gaza’s winter. Infants are especially vulnerable.

For more than a year, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched long-distance missile and drone attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping. After Israel largely subdued its Iran-allied enemies closer at hand, it is struggling to deter the Houthis on its own.

Northern Israel offered residents a relaxed refuge away from the country’s crowded center. Now a ceasefire with Hezbollah, bolstered by the fall of Syria’s government, offers northerners displaced by war hope that they can return home.

Donald Trump has put together a Mideast team charged with building on his first term’s successes. But in a region shaken by the war in Gaza, can the deal-making president achieve a historic peace agreement with a pro-Israel team?

The pro-settlement movement in Israel is exulting at what it perceives as a possible green light from the incoming Trump Middle East team to pursue annexation of the West Bank.

ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for allegedly depriving Gazans of essential items. Local merchants and gangs worsen the shortages.

Farming by its nature puts people in touch with their land and their traditions. In besieged Gaza, after more than a year of war, the olive harvest and production of its oil are a source of resilience.

Hezbollah’s intensified rocket barrages against northern Israeli communities have created conflicting impulses among residents: supporting war, yet eager to end it.

In peace, Lebanon’s stability depends on a frail political balance. Now for many Lebanese enduring war with Israel, Hezbollah’s unique status as a heavily armed state-within-a-state is increasingly a problem.

Hezbollah has long assured its Shiite Lebanese base that when the time came, it would robustly defend Lebanon and punish Israel. Now, amid another destructive war, many supporters are losing faith. Can it win them back?