This past week, despite growing tensions at the borders, Israel announced a plan to move forward into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Also, Israeli airstrikes killed many in Lebanon.
In Hebron, many settlers have joined the ranks of the Israeli military. Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists say the result has been abuse and harassment.
U.S. Central Command said it was the first time the Iranian-backed rebel group had been observed using an uncrewed underwater vessel since starting a series of attacks in the region in October.
The United Nations' highest court opens historic hearings Monday into the legality of Israel's 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.
The last messages sent by Dr. Khaled al-Serr were on Thursday night from a Gaza hospital raided by the Israeli military. Colleagues fear he has been detained by the Israeli military.
Israel is recruiting skilled laborers from India after suspending work permits for most Palestinian workers following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas-backed militants.
The Genco Picardy is not an American ship. It doesn't pay U.S. taxes, none of its crew are U.S. nationals, and when it sailed through the Red Sea last month, it wasn't carrying cargo to or from an American port.
But when the Houthis, a tribal militant group from Yemen, attacked the ship, the crew called the U.S. Navy. That same day, the Navy fired missiles at Houthi sites.
On today's show: How did protecting the safe passage of other countries' ships in the Red Sea become a job for the U.S. military? It goes back to an idea called Freedom of the Seas, an idea that started out as an abstract pipe dream when it was coined in the early 1600s – but has become a pillar of the global economy.
This episode was hosted by Alex Mayyasi and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, edited by Molly Messick, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez, with help from Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
A series of deadly strikes on Wednesday and Thursday underscored the risk that daily cross-border skirmishes could quickly escalate and turn the war in Gaza into a broader regional conflict.
Roughly 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah are bracing for a potential Israeli assault, but hoping for a diplomatic breakthrough as negotiators work to secure a cease-fire.
The talks come as Israel signals it may soon launch an invasion of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. The talks were expected to center on a plan that would pause the fighting for up to six weeks.
The question looming over the war between Israel and Hamas is what will happen what will happen to Rafah, the city in southern Gaza. More than half of Gaza's population has sought refuge there–an estimated one and a half million people.
Israel says that in order to defeat Hamas, it needs to bring the war to Rafah. The Biden administration says a military operation in Rafah cannot proceed. Is this a hairline crack or the beginning of a rift between the U.S. and Israel that could reverberate across the region?
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's visions for the future of the war in Gaza are beginning to look irreconcilable. What does that mean for Biden's steadfast support of Israel?
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The court said there is a "clear risk that Israel's F-35 fighter jets might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law."
