The temporary cease-fire in Gaza was scheduled to expire Tuesday, but the parties agreed to extend it for two days. Still, witnessing the joy of Palestinians being rescued from Israeli prisons, rather than the killing of Palestinian women and children, offered some relief to people around the world. It is important, however, for the international community to keep objecting to Israel’s massacres. The prisoner exchange revealed that Israel was violating the human rights of Palestinians even before the Oct. 7 attack. Hence the need to keep talking about the two-state solution and mounting pressure on Israel to facilitate a permanent cease-fire is necessary. Specifically, the backlash from the West, including Spain and Belgium, needs to continue without interruption.

Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest businessperson, faced a new campaign against him when he liked an antisemitic post on his platform, X (Twitter). Media Matters, an organization that published a report on the prevalence of antisemitic content on the platform, triggered major American companies advertising on X to withdraw their ads. Musk, experiencing significant commercial losses, attempted to demonstrate his non-antisemitic stance by visiting Israel. However, associating this with proving one's non-antisemitic stance is problematic, considering the history of antisemitism predates Israel's history, and leaders like Prime Minister Netanyahu have a long history of trying to equate criticism of Israel's policies with antisemitism.

Even if Israel emerges from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a limited military victory, it remains the loser of the conflict. Following its intense campaign against Gaza post-Oct. 7, Israel either failed or chose not to seize the greatest historical opportunity since its establishment. Today, it grapples with an ontological security crisis and profound regional and global status anxieties on a scale unseen since 1948.

The mass killings carried out by Israel in response to the large-scale Hamas attack on Oct. 7 have caused a great reaction, both in the region and around the world. As Israeli attacks continued to commit all kinds of war crimes, even some of the Western states that have been giving unconditional support to Israel began to call on Israel to stop its atrocities.

This analysis aims to examine the current situation in the military and political context of Hamas’s October 7 operation and Israel’s ongoing operations.

President Biden's opinion piece published in The Washington Post over the weekend reveals how disconnected he is from reality. Biden makes a peculiar analogy by suggesting that Putin and Hamas are "fighting to erase their 'democratic neighbors' from the map." This is, at the very least, a strange comparison. Biden claims that these actors hope to benefit from the chaos they create by undermining regional stability and integration. However, it's evident that Biden fails to accurately contextualize Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's actions in Gaza.

What has been 46 days since the beginning of Israel's unrestrained and inhumane attacks against the innocent people of the occupied Gaza Strip. Receiving unconditional support from Western powers, Israel has crossed all red lines from the beginning of its attacks. So far, Israel has killed more than 13,000 Palestinians, and wounded more than 30,000 people in Gaza. More than 6,000 Palestinians are still missing, most of which remained under the rubble.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Berlin on Friday. Going to the German capital at the invitation of that country’s government, his meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz related to bilateral economic relations, visa liberalization, irregular migration, the readmission agreement, NATO, relations with the European Union and major developments in the Middle East.

Perpetrating a massacre in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a backlash at home and from the international community. As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Netanyahu that he was destined to lose power, a prominent member of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, argued that the time had come to replace the Israeli prime minister and form a new government.

Navigating a tumultuous week in the U.S. presidential race, it's evident that leadership crises persist in both parties. Tuesday's elections in Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky revealed that despite Biden's waning popularity, Republicans face an uphill battle. The ongoing potency of the abortion issue for Democrats and the sustained resistance against Trumpian candidates were evident. Surveys highlighting Biden's perceived disadvantage in age and the challenge of presenting a vibrant alternative to Trump contribute to the complexity.

The Qassam Brigades launched a comprehensive attack on Saturday, causing the Israel-Palestine conflict to recapture the world’s attention anew after long years. Initially shocked by the assault, Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “our response to the Gaza attacks will change the Middle East” as his government’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, described the scope of the Israeli counterattack as follows: “Everything will be cut off – no electricity, no water, no food, no fuel. We are fighting human-like animals, and we will act accordingly.”

U.S. President Joe Biden paid a three-day official visit to the Middle East between July 13-16 in order to renew its engagement with the region and strengthen its strategic partnership with the regional allies.

Israeli violence sees no limit in Palestine, with Muslims attacked, Islam targeted and international human rights violated

This summer issue of Insight Turkey aims to highlight the recent developments and challenges in the Middle East, specifically on Palesitinian-Israeli impasse, Iranian elections, and Turkey’s foreign policy and increasing influence in the region, with a rich frame including three commentaries and six research articles.

The dissolution that started with the exclusion of Qatar from the GCC now continues with the division between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The crisis is thought to be causing extensive recalibration and reorganization in the region

The Middle East continues to be one of the most dynamic regions of the world. On the one hand, it directly and indirectly influences not only the policies of regional countries but also those of the global powers.

The national conversation in Turkey remains focused on domestic politics as we get closer and closer to a critical meeting in the international arena where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to meet U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time, on the margins of the June 14 NATO summit.