Israel / Palestine

The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza, with several members raising concerns amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group, after three days of Israeli air raids on the territory.

Israel and the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad have declared a truce, raising hopes of an end to three days of Israeli bombardment in Gaza that has killed at least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children. … In the following series of maps, Al Jazeera takes you on a journey across Gaza’s five governorates, highlighting key locations, including hospitals, schools, universities, UN compounds, refugee camps, crossings and other vital infrastructure.

Israel is heading to its fifth election in less than four years after the collapse of the government. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who leads a center-left party, is set to take over as interim prime minister.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office announced the country’s coalition government would be disbanded, triggering a new election. … The new election could give longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to return to power.

Ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, and discrimination against Palestinians, is essential to stopping the decades-long conflict between the two sides, a new UN independent human rights body said on Tuesday.  The finding comes in the first report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, established last May by the UN Human Rights Council. 

Israelis and Palestinians must push beyond the paradigm of managing the conflict and move towards resolving it, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Thursday, as he expressed particular concern that dynamics in the occupied West Bank could spiral out of control “at any time”.

The veteran Palestinian-American journalist, 51, was fatally shot while reporting on an Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Jenin. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the ongoing flare-up of tensions around Jerusalem's holy sites in separate calls Saturday with the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian president.

Palestinian militants fired volleys of rockets from Gaza into Israel, which responded with air strikes in the early hours of Thursday in the biggest escalation since an 11-day war last year. 

Five Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours amid operations by Israel to crack down on militants after a spate of deadly attacks on Israelis.