Beyond the Headlines

Donald Trump will return to the White House in January as the 47th American president, and the Middle East is waiting to see whether and how he can end the wars in the region.

Many Palestinians in Gaza say they are not optimistic about the new US administration and worry the situation might take a turn for the worse after Mr Trump is inaugurated. Their concerns are rooted in decisions he made during his first term as president when he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cut more than $200 million in funding to the UN refugee agency UNRWA.

He also revealed his Peace to Prosperity plan to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2020. But it was strongly rejected by Palestinians, not only because it was drawn up without their input, but also because it revoked important rights that Palestinians have been asking for and allowed for illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be incorporated into Israel.

But the political landscape in the Middle East today is drastically different from four years ago and Mr Trump has a lot of new factors to consider. At the same time, he is viewed as a transactional leader and a dealmaker who may be more capable of ending the war.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Dalal Iriqat, associate professor of diplomacy at the Arab American University Palestine, and to Ghaith Al-Omari, senior fellow at the Washington Institute, about what a Trump presidency could mean for Palestinians in the short and long term. They discuss how his policies might change in his second term and whether there can be any prospect for peace and security in Palestine, Israel and the region.

Israel continues to bombard Gaza and Lebanon. It is launching strikes in Syria. But between Tel Aviv and Tehran, there’s an eerie silence. The latest round of attacks between the two came from Israel late last month, hitting military sites linked to Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Four soldiers and a civilian were killed, Iran said. Analysts believe Tehran's ballistic missile capabilities, drone production and air defences were seriously damaged.

This came in response to Iran launching its attack on Israel on October 1. With its response, the fear that Israel would hit back at Iran’s nuclear or oil centres has been put to rest, at least for now.

Israel’s strikes nevertheless prompted criticism from Arab states, including the GCC. The UAE strongly condemned them and expressed deep concern over the repercussions for security and stability in the region. Saudi Arabia called them a “violation of sovereignty” and international law, urging all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has recently been on tour across the Middle East. He said that he received guarantees from regional neighbours that neither their soil nor air spaces would be used to allow any attacks on Iran.

But Tehran has vowed to respond again. A continuous cycle of strikes poses a serious risk to the region and the world at large, potentially dragging the US and Arab states into a conflict that none of them wants.

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s military affairs reporter Robert Tollast about the effect of Israel’s strikes on Iran. She also talks with Dr Hasan Alhasan from the International Institute for Strategic Studies to investigate Iran’s relationship with its Arab neighbours amid regional escalations.

The Knesset has voted to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, prompting much concern, even from Israel’s closest allies. Two bills were passed on Tuesday with overwhelming majorities: the first to halt the relief agency’s activities in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, and the second to ban the Israeli state from interacting with the organisation.

The move would make it almost impossible for UNRWA to operate in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It would hinder the agency’s financial operations and break aid supply chains into the enclave, where the north has already been starved, bombed and besieged for about a month. More than 43,100 have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

This isn’t the first time that UNRWA, and the UN more broadly, have come under attack from Israel, politically or physically. The war in Gaza has been the deadliest for UN workers, killing more than 220 staff members from the agency. UNRWA funding was cut by western states after Israel accused some of its members of being involved in the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and led to the start of the war. Although most have since reinstated their funding, the US – the largest donor – has yet to overturn its suspension.

The ban deals a blow to the 75-year-old organisation, which serves six million Palestinian refugees across the region. World leaders have warned that the consequences could be serious. Legal experts say the Knesset’s decision may be breaching international law.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the effect of the UNRWA ban on Palestinians in Gaza, and examines the legal consequences it could have on Israel and its standing at the UN. We hear from Chris Gunness, former director of communications and advocacy at UNRWA, and international human rights lawyer Saul Takahashi.

For weeks, the Israeli military has isolated the north of Gaza, conducting air strikes and ground attacks, including on residential areas and hospitals.

In back-to-back attacks on Beit Lahia and the nearby Jabalia refugee camp last Friday and Saturday, more than 100 people were killed in a single day. Limited aid is entering the area and more eviction orders have been issued to families in the north. But where will they go? And if they stay, what will be their fate? UN officials and other rights groups have warned that Israel is forcing Gaza residents to choose between leaving or starving.

The latest onslaught follows the killing last week of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader and one of the men identified as most-wanted by Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it marked the beginning of the end of the war. But Palestinians in Gaza say those words carry little weight as they endure some of the most intense days of violence yet.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst at Crisis Group, and Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and founder of Inside the Middle East Institute. She asks them about Israel’s strategy in the north of the strip and what its end-goal is, now that it has eliminated Hamas’ top leadership. We also hear from Ziad Mousa, a UN worker in Gaza city, who describes the dire situation there.

Over the past year of war in Gaza, several diplomatic and humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have repeatedly accused Israel of breaching rules of military conduct. These breaches have provoked regular condemnation by governments and high-ranking officials worldwide. But amid all the words, what has been missing is concrete action against Israel.

If any authority has the power to influence Israel's actions, it is the US – its strongest ally and main source of military aid.

The death toll in Gaza has passed 42,400, with thousands more bodies thought to be buried under rubble and tens of thousands dying from indirect causes. In Lebanon, where densely populated neighbourhoods are being hit by air strikes, at least 2,300 have been killed and 1.2 million displaced.

Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice determined that it was plausible that Israel may be committing genocide. Investigators and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have warned the US that it may be complicit in war crimes because of Israel’s unlawful use of American weapons.

In a rare development this week, a leaked document revealed US officials warning the Israeli government that future weapons shipments could be affected if the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not addressed within 30 days. But with little having changed in the past year, and as Israel appears to defy any limits imposed on it, the question remains: will the US truly enforce any red lines?

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Hala Rharrit, a former US diplomat who resigned in protest against Washington’s handling of the war. She also speaks to Mark Schwartz, a defence researcher at the RAND Corporation, to examine the White House's support for Israel. And we hear from Alex Vatanka, the founding director of the Iran programme at the Middle East Institute, on the prospects of an Israeli retaliation against Tehran.

Since the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of September, Israel has expanded its air strike campaign in Lebanon and launched a ground invasion. It has also struck Yemen and Syria in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has launched a series of rocket attacks towards Israel, which for the most part have been intercepted. At the same time, the war in Gaza is continuing as Israel devastates the north of the enclave.

The other major escalation was Iran directly striking Israel with ballistic missiles for the second time since April. Israel has now vowed to strike back. But when and how?

Until now, Iran has relied on its proxy groups in the Middle East. At first, it was unthinkable that any major world power would want to get involved in a war of that scale. Neither the US nor Iran seemed to want to venture to that point of no return. However, tensions have escalated.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the potential consequences of these recent escalations. We hear from Paul Salem, vice president for International Engagement at the Middle East Institute, and Dr Sanam Vakil, Middle East and North Africa programme director at Chatham House. They analyse how Israel could respond and the geopolitical risks the warring sides may or may not consider.

Beyond The Headlines has been nominated in this year's Signal Awards in the News & Politics category. Click here to vote for the podcast.

Over the past year, reporters, photographers and even children have documented the atrocities in Gaza through their phones, using social media to show the world the horrors they endured.

People all around the world erupted in protests against the war, demanding a ceasefire and later an arms embargo to Israel. But negotiations between the warring parties failed and failed again. UN Security Council resolutions also failed, with the US using its veto power to reject almost every one.

Despite strong warnings from the international community, the war has spilt over across the region. So-called “axis of resistance” groups periodically launch attacks on Israel. Israel has assassinated key Hamas and Hezbollah figures, each time heightening tensions both in the region and around the world.

And now, almost exactly one year after October 7, Israel has expanded its war into Lebanon, hitting the heart of Beirut for the first time in recent history. It has also struck Yemen and Syria. Its air bombing campaign in Lebanon killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and soon afterwards it began a ground invasion into the country’s south. Iran has since launched a barrage of missiles and drones towards Israel, as both continue to threaten one another with more retaliation.

As the situation in the Middle East escalates, where are we today and where do we go from here? In the third and final episode of our series covering one year of war since October 7, host Nada AlTaher looks at the fading attempts to end the war. She also picks at old wounds to understand why, decades later, all efforts for a diplomatic solution to establish a Palestinian state have failed. She speaks to Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot, and to political analysts, and asks the difficult question: what future prospects for peace can there be, if it’s not already too late?

Around 6.30 on the morning of October 7, 2023 thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel. About an hour later, in daylight, Hamas’s armed wing and other armed groups broke through the wire fence along the northern border of the enclave, launching an attack that became the biggest security breach in Israel’s history.

The scenes were violent, bloody, barbaric. People were running for their lives as chaos, panic and fear took over. The fighters infiltrated several Israeli towns near the border, entering homes and taking families captive. By the time the Israeli military intervened, it was too late. About 1,200 people were killed and at least 250 taken as hostages into Gaza.

As the scenes unfolded in Israel, they did so on screens around the world. In those moments one question loomed: How will Israel retaliate?

It has been a year since the war in Gaza began. It has been a year of bombs, destruction, pain and bloodshed. So far, more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed and 96,000 injured, with thousands more still missing under rubble.

This is the first episode in a Beyond the Headlines limited series covering the October 7 attack and consequent war. In this episode, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Palestinian, Israeli and American political experts, in addition to The National’s Gaza correspondents, to unpack what happened on that fateful day.

They also look at the dire conditions in Gaza before October 7, where 17 years of siege and four previous wars had brought the strip to the brink. And they discuss the ideology and motivations behind Hamas’s decision to conduct its deadly attack, knowing full well Israel would retaliate and that Gazans would pay the heaviest price.