Israel / Palestine

Obstacles to any lasting deal between Israel and Palestine continue to mount, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told Security Council members on Wednesday, and only “concrete action” towards a two-State solution will change that dynamic.

Regretting the United States’ announcement on Monday that it “no longer views settlements as inconsistent with international law”, Nickolay Mladenov told the 15-member Council that “the UN position remains unchanged”.

Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Thursday, hours after a cease-fire was declared to end two days of intense fighting between Israel and the Islamic Jihad group, the heaviest escalation in months that killed at least 34 Palestinians, including three women and eight children, and paralyzed parts of Israel.

Following Israel's targeted killing of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader inside Gaza on Tuesday, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has expressed his growing concern over increasing rocket fire across the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The international community has a responsibility and legal obligation to compel Israel to end its 52 year-long “occu-annexation” of Palestinian territory and remove barriers preventing Palestinian self-determination, a UN independent human rights expert told the General Assembly on Wednesday. Michael Lynk made the call in his latest report on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territory: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Benjamin Netanyahu has called on his main political rival, Benny Gantz, to form a unity government with him. The Israeli prime minister made the offer after a second general election failed to produce a clear winner.

The Palestinian Authority has not hidden its desire to see the back of long-term Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arab leaders and United Nations react against Israeli prime minister's controversial promise in lead-up to election.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to annex part of the occupied West Bank if he wins reelection next week, a move that could significantly alter the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tangible steps “can, and must, be taken” to urgently reverse the “negative trajectory” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and revive the peace process, a senior United Nations envoy told the Security Council on Tuesday.