Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
(While a “ceasefire” is ostensibly in place, Israel has continued its assault on Gaza without interruption. If Americans Knew considers the war to be ongoing, and in its 868th day.)
Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 630 Palestinians. Over 1,698 have been injured. Death toll figures are tentative.
Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 1,620 times (as of Feb. 1, 2026). More statistics below.
WAR ON IRAN NEWS & HEADLINES:
Why is If Americans Knew covering the war on Iran? It can not be overemphasized that Israel has been the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran for years. This is especially true right now, under Donald Trump. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the US to attack Iran for decades.
The American people have made clear that they do not want to go to war with Iran, but Israel partisans and the Israel lobby use their massive political clout to bring about whatever is beneficial to Israel – including putting the US military in harm’s way. For more background on Israel’s role in American wars, watch IAK’s short film, “The Israeli Hit List.”
Death toll:
- Six US troops have been killed and 18 more have been “seriously wounded” since Saturday, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
- In Israel, 12 people have been killed and 834 injured since Saturday, the majority with minor injuries.
- In Iran, 1,045 people have reportedly been killed since the conflict began, state media says.
- In Lebanon, at least 72 people have been killed and around 437 injured.
Iran:
Iranian FM: American, Iranian blood shed for ‘Israel First’ agenda: “There was never any so-called Iranian threat,” Araghchi wrote, arguing that the “shedding of both American and Iranian blood” rests with those in Washington who prioritize “Israel’s” strategic calculations. “The American people deserve better and should take back their country,” he added.
Mass funeral for dozens of children killed in school bombing: Thousands of residents in the city of Minab held a mass funeral for the 165 schoolchildren and staff killed in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israeli strikes when a missile hit a girls’ elementary school. Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi shared a photo on social media of what he said were dozens of graves being dug for the schoolchildren. “This is how ‘rescue’ promised by Mr. Trump looks in reality,” Araghchi wrote. “From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood.” The UN says the strike on the girls’ school could amount to a war crime.
U.S.-Israeli strikes damaged 10 health facilities: At least 10 medical centers, hospitals, and emergency bases have been damaged in U.S. and Israeli attacks. The claim was reported by HRANA, an Iranian human rights monitoring outlet that receives partial funding from the United States government.
Al Jazeera investigation: Iran girls’ school targeting likely ‘deliberate’: Al Jazeera investigation raises questions over deadliest single attack of war on Iran that killed 165 schoolgirls and staff.
U.S. Sinks Iranian Warship in Indian Ocean, Dozens of Iranian Soldiers Rescued by Sri Lankan Navy: Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said 180 crew members were aboard the Iranian naval vessel; the U.S. military said Tuesday it had already sunk 17 Iranian warships and was moving toward destroying Iran’s entire navy.
Tehran IVF clinic* devastated by US-Israeli attack as hospitals and homes hit: Iranians describe the agony of not knowing the fate of their samples held in fertility centre badly damaged by war (*NOTE: Israel similarly destroyed fertility clinics in Gaza – see this, this, this).
Iran blames Israel for Saudi Aramco drone attack, calls it ‘false flag’: A military source said, “Iran has announced frankly that it will target all American and Israeli interests, installation, and facilities in the region, and has attacked many of them so far, but Aramco facilities have not been among the targets of Iranian attacks so far.”
Is Iran Violating International Law by Striking US Bases in Gulf States?
United States/Trump:
Twice as much “shock-and-awe” as Iraq: The US military has claimed that the number of strikes carried out in the first 24 hours of its war on Iran was nearly double that of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003, and that nearly 2,000 targets had been hit so far in Iran.
Over 50,000 American troops involved in US-Israeli attacks on Iran: CENTCOM: 200 fighter jets and two carriers also taking part in attacks, says US Central Command.
Trump says he fears Iran’s next leader* could be ‘as bad as the previous person’: “You go through this and then in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better. So we’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people.” (*NOTE: The New York Times reports that Iran’s clerics are close to selecting the hardliner Mojtaba Khomeini as the new supreme leader of Iran. Khamenei is the son of the deceased supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.–Israeli strikes this weekend.)
US lost nearly $2B worth of military equipment in first 4 days of strikes against Iran: A single radar system in Qatar, valued at $1.1 billion, was damaged by a missile strike by Iran on Saturday.
US debuts $35K suicide drone in Iran after fast-tracked Pentagon procurement: The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone, manufactured by Arizona’s SpektreWorks, is part of the US defense industry’s most fiercely competitive sectors.
Witkoff Says One of US’s Demands Was for Iran to Give Up Its Navy: Witkoff ironically denigrated the Iranian negotiators, saying that they “thought they could strong-arm us.” “President Trump sent me and Jared [to negotiations] to really determine on his behalf whether they were serious about doing a deal that addressed his objectives [including] elimination of their navy, so we can have freedom of the seas and not be threatened with the shutdown of the Gulf [sic] of Hormuz.”
Trump Open to Supporting Armed Militias in Iran, U.S. Officials Say: US President Donald Trump is “open” to arming and backing Kurdish separatist organizations and anti-Iran Kurds based in Iraq, in order to “dislodge the regime,” according to US officials.
No ‘day after’ plan: Trump’s mixed messaging on Iran fuels uncertainty: Analysts say mixed signals emanating from the Trump administration indicate the US lacks a coherent strategy for war with Iran.
Trump orders bank to provide ‘political risk insurance and guarantees’ for maritime trade amid Iran war: President Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered the US International Development Finance Corporation to grant sweeping insurance and unspecified “guarantees” for maritime trade amid an escalating US and Israeli war against Iran.
Spain in the doghouse: Trump said the US would cut off all trade with Spain over its refusal to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
US, Israel could see interceptor shortages within week, expert warns
Trump Says US Has ‘Virtually Unlimited’ Munitions to Fight Wars ‘Forever’
Israel:
Special flight set to return many senior doctors, nurses and other medical workers to Israel*: A special rescue flight is expected to return approximately 100 senior doctors, approximately 80 nurses and additional medical workers from Athens to Israel (*NOTE: Israel has for months blocked the entrance of international medical workers to Gaza).
Lebanon:
Mass displacement in south Lebanon as Israeli forces launch new ground incursion: Tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens have been displaced from south Lebanon and the country’s east as a result of Israel’s brutal attacks and mass evacuation orders.
Israeli forces cross into southern Lebanon in breach of UN Resolution: UNIFIL (Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.)
Israel broadens strikes on Lebanon, bombs hotel and residential building: In towns outside the traditional strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, Israeli strikes reportedly killed at least 6 people, including 3 paramedics,
Europe and beyond:
French president says US-Israel attacks on Iran ‘outside the framework of international law’
Turkey Says NATO Defenses Destroyed Missile From Iran Headed Toward Its Airspace
+++
Religious freedom group says 200 troops sent complaints of superiors using extremist Christian rhetoric to justify war. One complaintant said his commander told him, ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.’
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation suggested the reports indicate an increase in Christian extremism in the military, noting that the complainants “report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders” who perceive a “‘biblically-sanctioned’ war that is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian ‘End Times’.”
*NOTE: Christian Zionism, which is foundational to fundamentalist End Time ideology, is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. Much has been written in opposition to Christian Zionism – for example, read this and this and this. For a deep dive into the topic, go here.
+++
Stockpiles of the most advanced US-made weapons are limited – while few know how large Iran’s arsenal is.
RELATED: US ‘stonewalling’ requests by Gulf states to replenish interceptors, sources say.
“We have shot several years’ worth of production in the last few days,” said a former US official.
+++
“Before more children are burned alive or buried under rubble, this lawless war must end.”
NEWS & HEADLINES FROM GAZA & OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM
(For some basic info on the Palestine-Israel conflict, go here. For more critical context, skim this, this, and this. To read about a remarkable but underreported, 20-month-long peaceful protest in Gaza against Israel, go here.
Ha’aretz: Israel Opens One Gaza Crossing* for Humanitarian Aid After U.S. Pressure
A senior adviser to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff urged Netanyahu to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing after it was closed at the start of the Iran war. Other crossings remain shut, and food shortages are emerging as Gaza slips from global attention.
*NOTE: On Saturday, as IAK reported, Israel claimed that Gaza has plenty of food: “four times the nutritional needs of the population…the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period…the closure of the crossings will have no impact on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”
COGAT’s claim seems far-fetched: At the time of the October 2025 “ceasefire,” Israel had committed to bringing 600 truckloads of aid per day to Gaza – over 85,000 total by the end of February. The UN reported in late February that 14,876 truckloads of humanitarian aid have been offloaded in Gaza, under 18%. World Central Kitchen, one of the few NGOs left, may close its soup kitchens across Gaza because Israel has been blocking most of its supply trucks. WCK previously served 1 million meals a day.
+++
Every day, Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem endure dozens of incidents like the ones below, at the hands of Israeli soldiers and/or settlers. For background on the West Bank, read this and this. For information on the significance of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, read this and this.)
West Bank: Nearly 2,000 Israeli Army and Colonizer* Attacks in February
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission documented 1,965 attacks carried out by Israeli occupation forces and illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers across the West Bank in February, including physical assaults, uprooting trees, burning fields, seizing property, and demolishing homes and agricultural structures. About 500 acres of Palestinian land were seized by Israeli authorities.
Commission head Moayyad Sha’ban said the data represents a dangerous phase of organized escalation, with colonizer violence now functioning as a field policy designed to undermine Palestinian livelihoods, terrorize rural communities, and create conditions that push residents toward forced displacement.
*NOTE: Many analysts believe the word “colonizer” is more accurate than “settler.” Zionism has been described by several scholars as a form of settler colonialism. Zionism’s founders and early leaders were aware and outspoken about their status as colonizers; early leading Zionists such as Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau, and Ze’ev Jabotinsky described Zionism as colonization.
Israel has built around 280 settlements (or colonies) and 256 settlement outposts, home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers, on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Some settler groups have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces – a phenomenon that has grown significantly worse since October 7th, 2023.
In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Learn more about Israeli settler violence here and here.
+++
Among the measures that Israel has taken toward that objective during the past few months is legislation in the Knesset making it easier for Israelis to purchase land in the West Bank. More recent actions by the Israeli cabinet have furthered that same goal as well as extending Israeli control over certain holy sites and portions of the West Bank that, according to the Oslo Accords of 1993, the Palestinian Authority is supposed to administer.
At least as significant in creating facts on the ground has been violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents.
Israel arrests 40 Palestinians in widespread West Bank raids
West Bank Sees Escalating Invasions and Abductions
Army Injures Many Palestinians Near Bethlehem
Including a Child, Soldiers Shoot Two, Assault Others Near Nablus
ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:
(Israel is a tiny country, about the size of New Jersey, with a population smaller than the US state of Georgia – about 10 million (of which about 20 percent are Palestinians), yet it is in the news constantly. As has been demonstrated again and again, however, mainstream media rarely covers Israel accurately. IAK gets the facts – sometimes from Israeli media sites, where we can get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions, and that receives $63 million a day from America.)
Police dispersed the 20 protesters, citing Home Front Command’s ban due to the threat of Iranian missiles. One demonstrator was arrested and forced to remove all of his clothes before undergoing questioning. “It’s clear to me that this is how the police conducts itself nowadays,” he said. “They’re doing it just to humiliate, and it’s definitely humiliating” (*NOTE: Israel has used strip searching on Palestinians for years).
OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:
CNN Could Be Next Up for a Right-Wing [and pro-Israel*] Reboot Thanks to the Ellisons
CNN has beheld a pale horse; the rider’s name is David Ellison, and Bari Weiss follows closely behind. After confirmation last week that Warner Bros. Discovery, of which CNN is a subsidiary, would accept Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion takeover bid, the network is set to be swallowed by the father-and-son oligarch duo of Larry and David Ellison, whose naked alignment with the Trump administration predicated their earlier absorption and regime-friendly retooling of CBS News.
Larry, the Oracle CEO, was pivotal in the purchase of TikTok’s U.S. operations from its Chinese owner, installing a new CEO who earlier took credit for the app designating the term “Zionist” as “hate speech.” Many now look to CBS as a preview of what is to come (continue reading here).
*NOTE: Larry Ellison is the largest private funder of the Israel Defense Forces, and is deeply tied to the Israeli national security state; he counts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among his closest friends.
+++
Rubio Admits That America Is Fighting Israel’s War
Israel’s plan to strike Iran would put American lives at risk, Rubio said. Rather than confronting Israel, the U.S. joined their war.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Hegseth: “No stupid rules of engagement…We fight to win”
Rubio says Israel’s strike plan forced US into attacking Iran
‘We’ll run out of food this week’: Israel’s Iran war brings new Gaza siege
Israeli Settlers Kill Two Brothers, Injure Others Near Nablus
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MARCH 3, 2026*:
- At least 73,218 Palestinians killed, 182,796 injured – including:
- At least 72,097 killed, 171,796 injured in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
- At least 1,121 killed, 11,000 injured in the West Bank (~232 children)
*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 8,000 more are still buried under rubble (some sources put the number of missing as high as 14,000); 3,000 more are reportedly missing.
Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count.
At least 25 Palestinians in Gaza have died due to the extreme cold, including 21 children, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023. At least 11 Palestinian children have died of extreme cold this winter (2025-26).
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – March 3, 2026: ~1,661 – including ~1,139** on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 472 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, about 52 military and civilians (by one count, there have been 59 victims) in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 281 Palestinian journalists and media workers (as of Jan. 21, 2026); Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 215 and 333 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).
**NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- Rubio Suggests Trump Joined Israel’s Planned Attack on Iran Instead of Stopping It
- CNN: Timing of attack on Iran bears symbolic meaning in Judaism
- How the New York Times paved the way for apocalyptic war
- Tucker Carlson says Saudi Arabia and Qatar arrested Mossad agents planning bombings
- How Maduro overthrow was key node in US-Israeli war on Iran
- The U.S. media goes to war on Iran
- Tucker Carlson: A New Middle East War for Israel Started by the U.S.
- Israel launches Bible study program targeting US evangelicals
- Israel’s lonely push for war with Iran
- WATCH: How Israel is controlling the world – in their own words
- Trump Starts a Major Regime-Change War with Iran, Serving Neoconservatism and Israel
- US–Israel illegal aggression in Iran is an abomination
- Meet Bari Weiss’s Israel Flag-Waving News Correspondent
- Oman’s Foreign Minister Said US-Iran Deal Was ‘Within Our Reach.’ Then Trump Started Bombing
