Gaza

JERUSALEM — Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a vote in Israel’s parliament the previous day about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against the Trump administration policies.

Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a symbolic preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country.

The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.

On the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport before departing Israel, Vance said that if the Knesset’s vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”

“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”

Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks between factions in the right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel, grow more apparent.

While many members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including the Likud, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since U.S. President Trump said last month that he opposes such a move. The United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. and Israeli ally in the push to peace in Gaza, has said any annexation by Israel would be a “red line.”

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state. Israeli annexation of the West Bank would all but bury hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians — the outcome supported by most of the world.

Gaza’s reconstruction and Palestinians’ return

Vance also unveiled new details about U.S. plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some “Hamas-free” areas of the territory but warning that rebuilding territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.

“The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there),” he said.

The war caused widespread destruction across the coastal Palestinian enclave. The United Nations in July estimated that the war generated some 61 million tons of debris in Gaza. The World Bank, the U.N. and the European Union estimated earlier this year that it would cost about $53 billion to rebuild.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed at least 68,280 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Intense U.S. push toward peace

Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military coordination center in southern Israel where some 200 U.S. troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.

The U.S. is seeking support from other allies, especially Gulf Arab nations, to create an international stabilization force to be deployed to Gaza and train a Palestinian force.

“We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza that are not Hamas and that are going to do a good job, but those still have to be trained and equipped,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of his trip to Israel.

Rubio, who is to meet with Netanyahu later on Thursday, also criticized Israeli far-right lawmakers’ effort to push for the annexation of the West Bank.

Israeli media referred to the nonstop parade of American officials visiting to ensure Israel holds up its side of the fragile ceasefire as “Bibi-sitting.” The term, utilizing Netanyahu’s nickname of Bibi, refers to an old campaign ad when Netanyahu positioned himself as the “Bibi-sitter” whom voters could trust with their kids.

In Gaza, a dire need for medical care

In the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday the group has evacuated 41 critical patients and 145 companions out of the Gaza Strip.

In a statement posted to X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on nations to show solidarity and help some 15,000 patients who are still waiting for approval to receive medical care outside Gaza.

His calls were echoed by an official with the U.N. Population Fund who on Wednesday described the “sheer devastation” that he witnessed on his most recent travel to Gaza, saying that there is no such thing as a “normal birth in Gaza now.”

Andrew Saberton, an executive director at UNFPA, told reporters how difficult the agency’s work has become due to the lack of functioning or even standing health care facilities.

“The sheer extent of the devastation looked like the set of a dystopian film. Unfortunately, it is not fiction,” he said.

Court hearing on journalists’ access to Gaza

Separately on Thursday, Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing into whether to open the Gaza Strip to the international media and gave the state 30 days to present a new position in light of the new situation under the ceasefire.

Israel has blocked reporters from entering Gaza since the war erupted with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents dozens of international news organizations including The Associated Press, had asked the court to order the government to open the border.

In a statement after Thursday’s decision, the FPA expressed its “disappointment” and called the Israeli government’s position to deny journalists access “unacceptable.”

The court rejected a request from the FPA early in the war, due to objections by the government on security grounds. The group filed a second request for access in September 2024. The government has repeatedly delayed the case.

Palestinian journalists have covered the two-year war for international media. But like all Palestinians, they have been subject to tough restrictions on movement and shortages of food, repeatedly displaced and operated under great danger. Some 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“It is time for Israel to lift the closure and let us do our work alongside our Palestinian colleagues,” said Tania Kraemer, chairperson of the FPA.

Brito and Lee write for the Associated Press. Lee reported from Washington. AP writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, talks about the mixed messaging coming from the White House over the Gaza ceasefire.

EXPLAINER

Satellite imagery shows Israel holds about 40 active military positions beyond the yellow line.

Satellite imagery analysis by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad shows that the Israeli army holds about 40 active military positions in the part of the Gaza Strip outside the yellow line, the invisible boundary established under the first phase of the ceasefire to which its troops had to move, according to the deal.

The images also show that Israel is upgrading several of these facilities, which help it maintain its occupation of 58 percent of Gaza even after the pullback by troops to the yellow line.

While the majority of sites are concentrated in southern Gaza, every governorate hosts at least one military position. Some sites are built on bases established during the war, while others are newly constructed. The total number of sites in each governorate is:

• North Gaza: 9
• Gaza City: 6
• Deir el-Balah: 1
• Khan Younis: 11
• Rafah: 13

One of the most prominent military points in Gaza City is located on top of al-Muntar Hill in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City. A comparison of images between September 21 and October 14 shows the base being paved and asphalted.

Where is the invisible yellow line?

Since the ceasefire took effect about two weeks ago, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Strip, with some attacks occurring near the yellow line.

On October 18, Israeli forces killed 11 members of the Abu Shaaban family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence. Seven children and three women were among those killed when the Israeli military fired on the vehicle as the family attempted to return home to inspect it.

The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a “suspicious vehicle” that had crossed the so-called yellow line. With no physical markers for the line, however, many Palestinians cannot determine the location of this invisible boundary. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has since said the army will install visual signs to indicate the line’s location.

In the first ceasefire phase, Israel retains control of more than half of the Gaza Strip, with areas beyond the yellow line still under its military presence. This has blocked residents of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon, the neighbourhoods of Shujayea, Tuffah, Zeitoun, most of Khan Younis, and all of Rafah City from returning home.

What are the next phases of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan?

According to the 20-point plan announced by United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 29 – developed without any Palestinian input – Israel is to withdraw its forces in three phases, as shown on an accompanying crude map, with each phase marked in a different colour:

• Initial withdrawal (yellow line): In the first phase, Israeli forces pulled back to the line designated in yellow on the map. Hamas has released all living Israeli captives that were in Gaza, and most of the dead bodies of captives who passed away in the enclave.
• Second withdrawal (red line): During the second phase, an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will be mobilised to oversee security and support Palestinian policing, while Israeli forces are to retreat further to the line marked in red, reducing their direct presence in Gaza.
• Third withdrawal (security buffer zone): In the final phase, Israeli forces are to pull back to a designated “security buffer zone”, leaving a limited portion of Gaza under Israeli military control, while an international administrative body supervises governance and a transitional period.

Even after the third withdrawal phase, Palestinians will be confined to an area which is smaller than before the war, continuing a pattern of Israel’s control over Gaza and its people.

Many questions remain about how the plan will be implemented, the exact boundaries of Palestinian territory, the timing and scope of Israeli withdrawals, the role of the ISF, and the long-term implications for Palestinians across Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The plan is also silent on whether Israel gets to continue its aerial and sea blockade of Gaza, which has been in place for the past 18 years.

World Health Organization says 41 critical patients evacuated yesterday as Rafah border remains shut, despite ceasefire.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — Israel’s Knesset on Wednesday, in a preliminary vote, approved sovereignty in the West Bank for Israel, described as a political ploy by the right-wing opposition during U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the nation.

President Donald Trump said last month that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

The bill, which is called “Application of Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, 2025,” passed 25-24 by the parliament, and was transferred to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It must still pass three additional votes in the plenum session.

The legislation says that “the laws, judicial system, administration, and sovereignty of the State of Israel shall apply to all areas of settlement in Judea and Samaria.”

A more limited annexation bill passed 32-9, also in a preliminary reading. The bill applies sovereignty to the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim near Jerusalem.

Militant Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and not the West Bank, said in a statement that the recent bill “reflects the ugly face of the colonial occupation.”

As a “flagrant violation of all relevant international laws and resolution,” Hamas said Israel “insists on continuing its attempts to ‘legitimize’ settlements and impose Zionist ‘sovereignty’ over the occupied Palestinian territories.”

In 2007, the Palestinian territories were split into two separate administrations.

Israel maintains military control of the 2,263 square miles of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority, led by the Fatah party, has jurisdiction over civil and security authority in specific zones, based on the 1995 Oslo Accords.

The West Bank has been divided into three zones.

Area C, which makes up about 60% the West Bank, is under full Israeli military and civilian control. Area C includes agricultural land, water springs, quarries and land for future infrastructure for Israelis.

In August, Israel approved final plans for a settlement project in E1 of Area C between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. This arrangement would sever the West Bank for a contiguous Palestinian State, which Israel opposes as a two-state solution.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank out of the total population of 4 million.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and applies its civil law there, though the international community does not recognize this annexation. About 500,000 Israelis live there.

“By applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, we are correcting a historical wrong that is long overdue,” Avi Maoz, head of the far-right Noam party, said. “Since the government has hesitated, it is our duty as members of Knesset to act.”

All but one Likud minister boycotted the vote, with Yuli Edelstein breaking ranks to cast a decisive vote. Likud then removed Edelstein from his seat on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a spokesperson for the lawmaker confirmed to The Times of Israel.

Maoz denied a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay the vote.

Netanyahu’s Likud party said the vote was an attempt to embarrass the government while U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited the country.

“We strengthen settlements every day with actions, budgets, construction, industry, and not with words,” the Times of Israel reported by Likud. “True sovereignty will be achieved not with a show-off law for the protocol, but by working properly on the ground and creating the political conditions appropriate for the recognition of our sovereignty, as was done in the Golan Heights and in Jerusalem.”

The United Arab Emirates said in September that annexation of the West Bank would severely undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords.

The West Bank was captured during the Six-Day War in 1967, except for East Jerusalem, as a “temporary belligerent occupation.”

The historic city of Bethlehem is in the West Bank and is under Israeli occupation. It has historic ties to the Jewish religion, as well as to Christianity and Islam.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory opinion that Israel’s presence in the West Bank was unlawful under international law because it is no longer temporary.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The International Court of Justice said Wednesday that Israel must allow humanitarian aid to Gaza by the United Nations.

The opinion by the United Nations’ highest court is non-binding but has moral and diplomatic weight.

It also said that Israel has not proven its allegations that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees had a significant number of employees that were members of Hamas. The United Nations denied those claims. There are 13,000 employees of the UNRWA in Gaza.

“The occupying power may never invoke reasons of security to justify the general suspension of all humanitarian activities in occupied territory,” Judge Iwasawa Yuji said while delivering the opinion. “After examining the evidence, the court finds that the local population in Gaza Strip has been inadequately supplied.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the opinion was “entirely predictable from the outset regarding UNRWA.”

“This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘international law,'” it added. Israel said it will not cooperate with UNRWA.

Israel has alleged that UNRWA has more than 1,000 Hamas-affiliated employees and that they teach hatred of Israel in its schools.

In December, the U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ to decide what legal obligations Israel had regarding U.N. relief agencies. This happened after Israel’s parliament passed a law banning any UNRWA activity in Israeli territory.

Sam Rose, UNRWA’s acting Gaza director, told the BBC that the opinion “underscores the obligations of Israel under international law.”

“The ruling of today says that Israel’s laws against UNRWA have gone against those obligations, as have its actions on the ground,” he said.

While the world recognized that there was famine and starvation in Gaza last summer, Israel continued to deny it, often blocking any aid to reach hungry Gazans.

“The IDF emphasizes that there is no starvation in Gaza,” an IDF post said in July. “This is a false campaign promoted by Hamas.”

Israel and Hamas have exchanged the remains of more captives, but the Palestinian group says Israel is failing to uphold the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement by refusing to reopen the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The bodies of two more Israeli captives, one soldier and one civilian, were returned to Israel late on Tuesday, and identified early on Wednesday as those of Aryeh Zalmanovich, 85, and army Master Sergeant Tamir Adar, 38.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier received the bodies in Gaza, in a handover organised by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

The Israeli military said that Zalmanovich died in captivity in Gaza on November 17, 2023, and that Adar was killed in fighting in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken back to the Palestinian territory.

Hamas has now handed over the bodies of 15 Israeli captives as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel.

An estimated 13 more sets of remains are expected to be returned to Israel, although Hamas has said the widespread devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s continuing control of certain parts of Gaza have slowed the recovery of the bodies.

The Palestinian group also released 20 living captives in one day at the start of the ceasefire.

Earlier on Tuesday, the bodies of 15 Palestinians killed in Israeli detention were returned to Gaza, where they were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex for identification, according to a medical source.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel released some 2,000 living Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, and has committed to releasing the remains of 360 more deceased Palestinians.

A forensics team that received the bodies of some 45 Palestinians returned by Israel last week said that some arrived still shackled and bearing signs of physical abuse and possible execution.

Ubai Al-Aboudi, the executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, said that Palestinians imprisoned by Israel should also be considered to be “hostages”.

“This entire system dehumanises Palestinians,” Al-Aboudi told Al Jazeera from Ramallah, adding, “when we talk about Palestinian prisoners, we are actually talking about hostages”.

Al-Aboudi noted that about 20 percent of the Palestinian population has been arrested or detained by Israel over the decades, and that the situation in Israeli prisons has deteriorated dramatically since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.

“Most of them are held without any due process, without being charged, and just based on military orders by a foreign military occupation,” he said.

Rafah crossing still closed

A delegation of Hamas officials, attending talks with Turkish officials in Qatar on Tuesday, said that the Palestinian group remains committed to the ceasefire deal despite Israel’s “repeated violations”.

Israel is delaying the implementation of the ceasefire by failing to open the Rafah crossing “for the travel of sick and injured people, and its prevention of the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza”, the Hamas officials said in a statement.

Mujahid Muhammad Darwish, head of the Hamas delegation, also highlighted “the inalienable rights of our people to self-determination and their right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.

Turkiye was among the signatories of US President Donald Trump’s document on the Gaza ceasefire deal earlier this month in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.

The Rafah crossing has remained closed since May 7, 2024, when it was seized by Israeli forces as they invaded the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip’s south, where close to one million people were sheltering at the time.

The United Nations has described the crossing, which connects the Palestinian territory to Egypt, as one of two “arteries” for humanitarian access.

The UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing on May 24, 2024, following an emergency submission from South Africa, but the crossing has remained closed, with only limited access via the adjacent Karem Abu Salem crossing.

Residents of Rafah were only able to return to the destroyed city after a temporary ceasefire began on January 19, 2025, which also saw the Rafah crossing temporarily reopen to allow medical evacuations in February, before Israel issued new forced evacuation orders for Rafah at the end of March.

The crossing has remained closed for humanitarian aid access since May 2024.

Oct. 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump accepted the Architect of Peace Award from the Richard Nixon Foundation during a closed ceremony at the White House on Tuesday morning.

Trump earned the award due to his central role in negotiating the current cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel to end the unchecked war in Gaza that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, CBS News reported.

Award presenters included former President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien and acting U.S. archivist Jim Byron, CBS News reported.

Trump had argued he deserved to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for securing a cease-fire in Gaza and ending other wars.

Among wars that Trump has said he ended are those between Cambodia and Thailand, the Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Serbia and Kosovo, the president told the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24.

The Nobel Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who opposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in that nation’s 2024 presidential election, which exit polling suggests Machado won despite Maduro’s victory claim.

The Architect of Peace award is not given annually but instead when foundation representatives decide one has been earned by those who “embody [Nixon’s] lifelong goal of shaping a more peaceful world,” according to the Architect of Peace Award website.

The award last year honored former President George W. Bush, Farah Pahlavi and Reza Pahlavi.

Bush received the award for establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which globally has saved millions of lives.

The Pahlavis received the award for championing a secular Iranian government, religious freedom and human rights, according to the Nixon Foundation.

Farah Pahlavi is Iran’s former queen, while Reza is her son.

Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and US resident, appeared before a federal appeals court in Philadelphia as Trump administration lawyers push to deport him. His case, tied to campus activism at Columbia University, has become a test of free speech and political dissent rights.

US Vice President JD Vance says, one week into the Gaza ceasefire, he has “great optimism” the peace deal will hold. He declined to set a deadline for Hamas to disarm. Vance was speaking at a newly established centre in Israel for civilian and military cooperation.

Israel says it’s returned to the Gaza ceasefire – after launching a wave of air strikes on Sunday, killing more than 40 Palestinians.

It blamed Hamas for the breach, saying its fighters were responsible for an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers.

Hamas denies breaking the ceasefire.

The violence was a reminder for Palestinians that Israel is willing to suspend peace, and unleash its firepower, whenever it sees fit.

The United States insists the truce will hold – and has sent Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner to Israel.

But the renewed assault has cast doubt on whether the ceasefire will advance to the second phase – which is meant to see Hamas disarm and Israel withdraw from Gaza.

Presenter: Bernard Smith

Guests:
Alon Pinkas – Former Israeli ambassador and former consul general in New York

Hussein Haridy – Former Egyptian assistant foreign minister

Frank Lowenstein – Former US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

Oct. 20 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas remained in place after Israel carried out a series of deadly strikes in the south of the Palestinian enclave and the sides traded blame for clashes.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening Trump said the agreement would hold and that “rebels” that he did not identify were responsible for alleged violations, not, Hamas.

“Either way, it’s going to be handled properly. It’s going to be handled toughly, but properly,” Trump added.

The Israeli military said it struck dozens of targets through Sunday evening in retaliation for Hamas’ alleged “anti-tank missile and gunfire” that killed two soldiers in Rafah. Sources from hospitals in Gaza told the BBC that at least 44 people had been killed. Aid deliveries were suspended.

Hamas denied all knowledge of the attack in Rafah and reiterated its commitment to the cease-fire. It accused Israel of violations, warning that the attacks were jeopardizing the truce.

Israel Defense Forces announced late Sunday that the operation was over and that it was resuming “enforcement of the cease-fire” and would permit aid to begin to flow again Monday, but warned that any violation of it would be met with a “firm response.”

This was the worst setback since the deal came into force Oct. 10 came as Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due to arrive in Israel on Monday to shore up the cease-fire and move the process forward. They were due to be joined by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday.

The three were expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials.

Before departing the United States, Kushner told CBS News that while the truce was fragile, he believed Hamas was acting in good faith to stick to the agreement and was “seriously looking for the bodies” of the 16 Israeli hostages it had promised to return but had yet to do so.

Vance also sought to explain the violence, saying some turbulence was normal in the early stages of any cease-fire. His schedule also includes meetings with hostage families and a visit to a humanitarian facility in Gaza.

“Hamas is going to fire on Israel. Israel’s going to have to respond, of course. There are going to be moments where you have people within Gaza that you’re [not] quite sure what they’re actually doing. But we think it has the best chance for sustainable peace,” he said.

Hamas, which has been struggling to recover the bodies of 28 hostages it agreed to hand back to Israel as part of the cease-fire deal, said Monday it had found the remains of a 13th hostage. Further details were as yet unavailable.

UN Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has inspected damage in Gaza City as the agency plans to ramp up its humanitarian relief efforts. He visited a destroyed water treatment plant and emphasised the enormity of the response needed.

Gaza Government Media Office says Israel has breached the truce agreement 80 times, including 21 violations on Sunday.

Russia’s foreign policy framework places emphasis on adopting a plurality of approaches, including serious dialogues through conventional diplomacy, to all kinds of disputes and has taken concrete steps to coordinate the resolution of those in the Arab world. After lengthy preparations toward hosting the “Russia-Arab world” summit, primarily aimed at discussing regional security and energy relations and showcasing Moscow’s enduring influence in the Middle East, the Kremlin abruptly put off the scheduled gathering, citing contradictory positions and extremely low interest among Arab leaders, including those in North Africa.

The Russia-Arab Summit was supposed to open and be decisive for advancing the agreements on the Gaza Strip, agreements that have been energetically promoted by Egypt and Qatar, considered friends of Russia. It was also meant to address aspects of the Palestinian issue, to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible, and to offer possible pathways for the grave humanitarian issues faced by the people.

Notably, the overwhelming majority in the Arab world showed little interest in Russia being the organizer. Later, considering the apathy towards participation, “President Vladimir Putin reached an understanding with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al Sudani and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to postpone the summit,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Arab media reporters on October 13, during his media briefing.

“The final documents are practically ready, so we will still have the opportunity to get together, back for the summit,” Lavrov reassured. The relations with Arab countries are steadily progressing. The League of Arab States has demonstrated its value and is consolidating its role as a key pillar of the emerging multipolar world, authoritatively and actively participating in global affairs—in economics, finance, and increasingly contributing to the resolution of regional and, more broadly, political issues.

There is a noticeable sustained growth in trade turnover with the League’s member states, which has now exceeded $34 billion. Whilst this figure is modest compared to the trade volumes the United States and the People’s Republic of China maintain with the Arab world, it is several times greater than the trade turnover recorded two decades ago. That lapses, however—the growth dynamics are still positive. Arab partners are also showing keen interest in agricultural cooperation, including supplies of Russian food products and fertilizer.

Furthermore, in the sphere of cultural cooperation, Russia has traditionally maintained strong educational ties with many Arab states, a practice dating back to the Soviet era. Tourism is growing bilaterally. The fundamental trend remains the development of constructive relations grounded in mutual respect, the accommodation of each other’s interests, and the consolidation of a stable balance between them.

According to various reports monitored by Modern Diplomacy, the Kremlin was forced to shelve the gathering after only a handful of leaders, including Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, confirmed their attendance. For nearly a decade, the Middle East served as the stage for Putin’s long-sought return to global prominence. But analysts say the Arab majority expressed little interest in participating in deliberations, geopolitics, and conflict settlement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, an aide to the president of Russia, Yury Ushakov, in mid-October explicitly explained that “naturally, the Russian side outlined its principled position in favor of a comprehensive Middle East settlement on a generally recognized international legal basis that would ensure lasting peace for all the peoples in that region.”

In particular, Ushakov noted that Vladimir Putin provided a detailed assessment of the current situation, stressing Russia’s interest in achieving a peaceful resolution through political and diplomatic methods in the region and other similar conflicts around the world. In this context, Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his successful efforts to normalize the situation in the Gaza Strip. The US president’s peace work has been duly appreciated in the Middle East, in the United States itself, and in most countries around the world.

In several frank exchanges of views, experts noted the essential political developments in the Middle East and stressed the growing significance of the necessity for establishing peace. “But Russia’s diplomatic role in the Middle East has declined as a result of the Ukraine war,” said Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based expert on Russian foreign policy. “When it comes to all the big developments, the major players in the region don’t look towards Moscow anymore.”

But, the fact remains for geopolitical reasons, the primary objectives and challenges, that the situation has been very difficult and the future trends are uncertain in the region—the Middle East and North Africa. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, also acknowledged Moscow’s readiness to work together with other interested countries to help resolve the issues facing the Middle East and North Africa.

“This certainly envisages continued cooperation as part of Russia’s interaction with the Arab League,” according to Lavrov. With Israel and Palestine, Russia hoped the agreements on Gaza reached through the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Turkey will be strictly and fully adhered to in every context and in the logically established international legal framework. 

On September 29, the White House released US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive plan to resolve the situation in the Gaza Strip. The 20-point document includes, among other measures, the establishment of temporary external administration in the Palestinian enclave and the deployment of international stabilization forces there. On October 9, Trump announced that Israeli and Hamas representatives had agreed on the first step of the peace plan after negotiations. According to Trump, the agreement included the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to an agreed-upon line in Gaza.

Despite years of cultivating ties with the Arab countries, Putin called off, on 10th October, the Russia-Arab world summit, a clear sign of Russia’s dwindling influence in the Middle East. Notwithstanding that, Russia has been jostling to sustain its traditional relations across Central Asia and the Caucasus, and also with the former Soviet republics—including Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Substantive steps have been taken on Gaza, for instance, during the summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on October 13, and hopefully, the agreements on Gaza, reached with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Türkiye, will be strictly and fully implemented. Key priorities include ensuring the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need, creating the necessary conditions for the return of displaced persons, and addressing the comprehensive destruction of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure. 

The UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions can additionally bring a long-awaited and lasting peace to all the peoples of the Middle East—an outcome in which we are deeply invested, achieving long-term stabilization in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone and the wider Middle East.

‘They are torn to pieces, I don’t know if I’m saying goodbye to my son or my daughter.’ Palestinians are grieving 11 members of a family killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City, the deadliest single violation of the shaky ceasefire, just days after it came into effect.

Mouin Rabbani from the Center For Conflict & Humanitarian Studies talks about the violence in Gaza since the ceasefire began and how he believes it’s being fuelled by Israel.

Hamas has rejected a statement from the United States State Department in which it cited “credible reports” indicating the Palestinian group would imminently violate the ceasefire deal with Israel.

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said the US allegations were false and “fully align with the misleading Israeli propaganda and provide cover for the continuation of the occupation’s crimes and organised aggression against our people”.

The US State Department had claimed that Hamas is planning an attack against civilians in Gaza “in grave violation of the ceasefire” and called on mediators to demand that the group uphold its obligations under the US-backed peace deal.

In a statement late on Saturday, the State Department said it had obtained “credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza”.

“Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” it said, without giving specific details on the planned attack.

The United States has informed the guarantor nations of the Gaza peace agreement of credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza.  

This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation…

— Department of State (@StateDept) October 18, 2025

Hamas called on the US to “stop repeating the [Israeli] occupation’s misleading narrative and to focus on curbing its repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement”.

“The facts on the ground reveal the exact opposite, as the occupation authorities are the ones who formed, armed, and funded criminal gangs that carried out killings, kidnappings, theft of aid trucks, and assaults against Palestinian civilians. They have openly admitted their crimes through media and video clips, confirming the occupation’s involvement in spreading chaos and disrupting security,” it said.

Hamas said its police forces in Gaza, “with broad popular and community support, are fulfilling their national duty in pursuing these gangs and holding them accountable according to clear legal mechanisms, to protect citizens and preserve public and private property”.

‘Attempt to stoke civil conflict’

Palestine scholar and Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani described the US State Department warning as mind-boggling.

“I think this is really an attempt to stoke civil conflict within the Gaza Strip … to achieve what so far Israel has failed to achieve,” Rabbani said.

The Dutch-Palestinian analyst pointed out that Israel has already attempted to “wreak havoc” in Gaza by joining forces with “armed gangs and collaborator militias” who act as Israeli proxies in the war-torn enclave.

“To suggest that this is in any way the United States coming to the defence of those whose genocide it has unconditionally supported for two entire years just boggles the mind and defies the imagination,” Rabbani said.

Hamas and Israel have been trading blame over violations of the US-mediated ceasefire since it came into force last week, threatening the success of the week-old deal.

Gershon Baskin, an American-Israeli analyst, told Al Jazeera that throughout the history of agreements between Palestinians and Israelis, all of them have been “breached” one way or another.

“If the Americans are serious that they want this to work, they have to be engaged every single day and several times a day” to make sure the steps agreed on are carried out on the ground, he said.

The Gaza Government Media Office said on Saturday that it had counted almost 50 Israeli violations of the peace deal, resulting in 38 Palestinian deaths and 143 injuries since the ceasefire took hold.

It called Israel’s actions “flagrant and clear violations of the ceasefire decision and the rules of international humanitarian law”.

According to the office, Israeli forces in Gaza fired directly at and bombed civilians, attacks that reflected Israel’s “continued aggressive approach despite the declaration of a ceasefire”.

Israel has also been accused of failing to comply with the ceasefire deal by continuing to block efforts to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The opening of Rafah has been called for in order to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip and to allow Palestinians to travel abroad.

Amid growing frustration with Israel’s refusal to open the Rafah crossing, Rawhi Fattouh, the president of the Palestinian National Council – the Palestine Liberation Organization’s legislative body – urged the international community on Saturday to deploy international forces in Gaza to protect Palestinians and ensure the ceasefire deal is implemented.