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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

United States

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

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, announced that Israel would resume the ceasefire with Hamas after Israel conducted a series of large-scale airstrikes on Gaza, reportedly killing at least 100 people, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 29.

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Israel Resumes Ceasefire After Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree stating that Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee deputy chair Hussein al-Sheikh would serve as his temporary successor should he be incapacitated or unable to lead, The Times of Israel reported on Oct. 26.

Palestinian Territories: Abbas Names Temporary Successor

U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw "all of its support" from Israel should it carry out annexations in the West Bank, saying he had given his word to Arab countries that he would oppose such action, Time Magazine reported on Oct. 23. 

U.S., Israel: Trump Threatens U.S. Support Over Annexation

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

Assessments

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

Yemen

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 

Europe

Denmark

Moldova

Representatives are pictured ahead of a working session during the informal EU foreign ministers' meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Aug. 30, 2025.

The Weekly Rundown: EU Leaders Meet in Denmark, Moldova Elects a New Parliament

United Kingdom

Dignitaries attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestinian statehood, during the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York City. 

Western countries' growing recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic and will likely galvanize Israel's push for West Bank annexation, risking further Israeli diplomatic isolation abroad and sporadic violence at home.

The West's Growing Support for Palestinian Statehood Will Have Limited Concrete Impacts

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: 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

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Israel Resumes Ceasefire After Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinian Territories: Abbas Names Temporary Successor

U.S., Israel: Trump Threatens U.S. Support Over Annexation

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