Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ended his quest to form a new coalition, the president said, in a step that pushes the country into new political uncertainty.

He has led Israel for 13 years, but his desperation to be re-elected was not just about continuing his project of hardcore religious nationalism, but about securing immunity from indictment on charges of fraud. It remains to be seen whether the prime minister really will be politically sidelined, writes Shlomo Ben-Ami

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to begin annexing West Bank settlements if he wins re-election.

As Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes, the Palestinian death toll rose to 22, including two pregnant women and two babies.

Former Eurovision winners Charlie McGettigan and Paul Harrington had opposite views on boycotting the Eurovision song contest in Israel this May.

On the eve of elections that seem to carry particular weight for Israel and that troubled region, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if he is re-elected tomorrow.

A third young Palestinian has died as tens of thousands of protesters gathered near the Israeli border to mark the first anniversary of weekly demos in the Gaza Strip.

Imagine if South Africa’s last white president FW de Klerk had, rather than recognise change as manifested by Nelson Mandela, insisted non-whites would be second-class citizens forever?

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used a prime-time address to again dismiss a series of corruption allegations against him.

As a senator, Frances Black has recently been battling against Israeli settlements, but she is also looking forward to gigging again with her old friends, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

The Israeli Defence Minister has called for the "immediate" closure of its Dublin embassy days after a bill was passed by the Seanad banning the importation of goods originating from Israeli settlements in Palestine.

Here are all the latest headlines this lunchtime.

Israel has unveiled "half ton" of Iranian nuclear documents which it claims prove that Tehran covered up a nuclear weapons programme before signing a deal with the international community in 2015.

Fifty years ago today Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

For more than a decade, it has been an open secret that Israel was responsible for the 2007 bombing of a site in Syria reputedly the location of a nuclear reactor under construction.

President Donald Trump insists he is "not backing down" on his plan to impose stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminium despite anxious warnings from House Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressional Republicans of a possible trade war.

Police have recommended indicting Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a pair of corruption cases, according to media reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his country's Foreign Ministry to summon the Irish ambassador in Israel after the Seanad debated a bill tonight to block the import and sale of goods from Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian president hit out at US president Donald Trump in a fiery, two-hour-long speech on Sunday, saying "shame on you" for his treatment of the Palestinians.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will no longer accept any US plans for peace in the Middle East because of the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The defence minister of Israel is calling for a boycott of Arab businesses where residents carried out violent protests against the US president's recognition of Jerusalem as his country's capital.

US President Donald Trump has declared it is time to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israel's health minister, who heads a powerful ultra-Orthodox political party in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, has resigned, saying he opposed continued maintenance work on the country's railways on the Sabbath.

Priti Patel is thought to be on her way to Downing Street to learn her fate, after being summoned back from an official visit to Africa by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Latest: New Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said he is "both honoured and excited" by his promotion, following Sir Michael Fallon's resignation amid sleaze allegations.

The West’s failure to support Kurdish independence will condemn this people to further oppression by hostile forces, writes Shlomo Avineri.

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy has said Hamas must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel if it wants to play a role in any Palestinian government.

IN disavowing the hard-won 2015 Iran nuclear deal, US president Donald Trump has just made the world more dangerous for this and future generations, angering both friends and foes in the process.

The comments drew an angry condemnation from the Palestinians and created a new test for the Trump administration.

Muslim leaders have urged the faithful to keep up their prayer protests and avoid entering a contested Jerusalem shrine, even after Israel dismantled metal detectors which initially triggered the tensions.

Israel has taken down metal detectors from entrances to a holy Jerusalem shrine to defuse a crisis that angered the Muslim world and triggered some of the worst clashes in years.

Ireland is giving €200,000 to the disputed West Bank territory in the Middle East.

An open-ended ceasefire in southern Syria brokered by the United States and Russia has come into effect.

The parole board of Israel's Prison Service has granted former prime minister Ehud Olmert early release from his 27-month corruption sentence.

An Israeli court on Sunday ordered a journalist to pay more than €21,600 in damages to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara for libelling them.

US president Donald Trump has said Israel's Arab neighbours are realising they share a "common cause" with Israel over the threat from Iran.

US president Donald Trump has cast the elusive pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians as the "ultimate deal" as he continues his tour of the Middle East.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he is hopeful after his first meeting with US president Donald Trump.

Israeli defence officials said this week that Syria still has up to three tons of chemical weapons in its possession.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House, the Trump administration is going back and forth over whether its vision for Middle East peace includes a Palestinian state.

Israel has approved 2,500 new settlement homes in the West Bank.

The first official press briefing by Donald Trump’s administration will be held later amid a series of attacks on the media by senior White House figures.

US President Barack Obama is warning that the "moment may be passing" for a two-state solution to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.