Claire Parker is an independent journalist working around the Mediterranean, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Her work centers on civilians navigating conflict and crisis, the effects of U.S. and European foreign policy on ordinary people, Arab politics, and post-conflict societies. She previously served as the Washington Post’s Cairo bureau chief from August 2023 until February 2026, playing a key role in the paper’s coverage of the regional ripple effects of Israel’s war in Gaza and the high-stakes diplomacy surrounding that conflict. She has reported extensively from Israel and Palestine in recent years, covering the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, rifts in Israeli society after the Oct. 7 attacks, and Israeli military incursions and settler violence in the West Bank. 

She has also reported from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, France, Afghanistan and the United States. Her work has appeared in the Associated Press and Foreign Policy in addition to the Washington Post. She graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Social Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 2019 and was an Overseas Press Club Foundation Fellow that year.