Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israeli forces killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday; 4 aid seekers were killed. In total, Israel has killed at least 2,518 aid seekers since May 27, 2025 (learn about aid seekers here).
The total known number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition stands at 442, including 147 children.
For detail on Israeli attacks in Gaza on Friday, go here.
GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:
(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.)
Civilians made up 91% of people killed by Israel in Gaza since March, data suggests
About 15 of every 16 Palestinians the Israeli military has killed since its renewed offensive in Gaza began in March have been civilians, data collected by the independent violence-tracking organization Acled indicates.
The civilian death rate implied by a report from Acled, which stands for Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, is one of the highest recorded during the conflict, and will increase international pressure on Israel as its forces advance into Gaza City, forcing up to a million people to evacuate and threatening further large-scale civilian casualties (continue reading here).
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Gaza City under ‘heaviest wave’ of Israeli attacks since war began
Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from Deir al Balah: Friday’s military operation is completely destroying entire blocks, and there are still families who are trapped under the debris of the targeted houses, particularly in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood.
Also, distressing images are coming out of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Israeli quadcopter drones dropping grenades in the courtyards of UN-run shelters.
RELATED: UN agency says escaping Gaza costs a family over $3,000 amid intense Israeli attacks
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Israel releases 9 Palestinians from Gaza after months of harsh detention
The Israeli army on Friday released nine Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who appeared exhausted after months of detention under harsh conditions.
While no direct statements were obtained about their conditions during detention, previously released prisoners reported suffering from malnutrition and injuries caused by severe physical torture in Israeli jails.
Detention conditions in Israeli prisons and interrogation centers do not meet the minimum standards of human rights.
Gaza Civil Defense says 450,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza City
OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:
(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.)
Al-Aqsa preacher barred by Israel police from entering mosque after brief arrest
Israeli forces carry out arrests, blow up home in West Bank raids
Soldiers Bomb Home Near Ramallah, Injure 2 Children Near Bethlehem
West Bank: Civilians Abducted, Property Ransacked
Israeli Soldiers Assault Journalist, Doctor, Near Jenin
Israeli Forces Detain Dozens Near Hebron
ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:
(Get a glimpse inside Israel and the turmoil within its government. Often, our news items and headlines are taken from Israeli media.)
Israeli defense minister threatens to assassinate Houthi leader, raise flag over Sanaa
Israel’s killing of 31 Yemeni journalists marks deadliest global attack in 16 years
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel’s September 10 strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, killed 31 journalists and media workers, making it the deadliest single attack on the press since the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines.
The strikes destroyed printing presses, archives, and newsrooms, wiping out one of Yemen’s most important historical records and leaving some victims’ bodies buried under rubble. A child was among the dead, and 22 journalists were injured.
“Since October 7, 2023, Israel has emerged as a regional killer of journalists, with repeated incidents in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and now Yemen confirming Israel’s longstanding pattern of labelling journalists as terrorists or propagandists to justify their killings,” said CPJ Regional Program Director Sara Qudah.
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Smotrich vows to ‘strangulate’ Palestinian Authority economically to block statehood
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed Friday to push for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by economically “strangulating” it to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“I will act using all the tools at my disposal to prevent the danger of a Palestinian state, including the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, through economic strangulation,” the far-right minister wrote on the US social media company X, claiming that the PA’s “entire essence is the pursuit of the destruction of Israel.”
Smotrich has frozen the transfer of clearance revenues—taxes collected by Israel on imports destined for Palestinian markets—to the PA, which has faced a severe financial crisis that has left it unable to pay full salaries to its employees for months. Israel began deducting portions of these revenues in 2019 under various pretexts, deepening the PA’s fiscal shortfall.
Smotrich has also threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with moves to dismantle the Palestinian Authority if Israel does not impose sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s Channel 12 quoted Smotrich as telling Netanyahu: “I will work to bring down the Palestinian Authority if sovereignty is not applied to the West Bank.”
ISRAEL HEADLINES:
Israeli airstrikes kills 2, injures 3 in southern Lebanon
HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI PAPERS:
Ha’aretz: An Israeli Judge Frees a Settler Who Killed a Palestinian for No Reason. It’s the Common Practice.
FLOTILLA NEWS & HEADLINES:
(Read about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2025 missions here and here; learn about the deadly mission in 2010 here; and find out about the global flotilla here. Get live updates on the Global Flotilla from Al Jazeera here.)
Evidence posted over the weekend online appears to show that tech giant Google has allowed the government of Israel to purchase sponsored content spots so that online users searching on the Global Sumud Flotilla will be shown inaccurate, propagandized content accusing the flotilla participants as being allied with violent, terrorist elements.
The Sumud Flotilla—a group of international humanitarians and peace activists sailing toward the coast of Gaza with over 40 vessels in its fleet as a way to break the unlawful blockade of life-saving supplies imposed by Israel and its allies amid an ongoing genocide—has no documented connection to any terrorist organization and has made clear repeatedly that it is a completely nonviolent effort by independent groups and individuals who want to see an end to the suffering, starvation, and death taking place in the besieged Palestinian enclave (continue reading here).
6 Greek boats join global flotilla to break Israeli blockade on Gaza
Six Greek boats carrying dozens of activists have set sail on Friday in the Aegean Sea to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international initiative challenging Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
On board are 26 Greek activists and 20 international supporters sailing to meet the wider flotilla bound for Gaza. Two more vessels, the committee noted, will appear soon on the international tracking system (continue reading here).
OTHER NEWS:
U.S. Plans $6 Billion in New Arms Sales to Israel (paid for by US military aid*)
The Trump administration is seeking congressional approval to sell nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel, people familiar with the request said, moving forward despite Israel’s missile strike on Hamas in Qatar and intensifying offensive in Gaza City, which have drawn strong condemnation in Europe and the region.
The proposed sales include a deal worth $3.8 billion for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters that would nearly double Israel’s current fleet of the aircraft. The administration is also seeking approval for a $1.9 billion deal for 3,250 infantry assault vehicles for the Israeli army, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and one of the people familiar with the request.
The arms would be paid for by U.S.-provided foreign military financing, according to the documents. Israel buys most of its American-made weapons using U.S. taxpayer money that comes via billions of dollars in annual military aid.
*NOTE: The United States’ own laws prohibit sales of weapons to security force units credibly implicated in gross violations of human rights. The laws have been implemented thousands of times a year against various countries – but never against Israel, although our government is aware of hundreds of times that Israel used our weapons against Palestinian civilians.
RELATED: Leahy Law bars US aid to violators of human rights, except Israel
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Why Is New York City Leasing Space to Israeli Military Suppliers?
New York City markets the Brooklyn Navy Yard as an economic hub for minority- and women-owned small businesses.
But the city-owned industrial park also leases space to two companies that provide drones and license camouflage technology allegedly used by the Israeli military.
Protesters have been pushing for the Navy Yard to evict the companies for over a year. New York state Sen. Jabari Brisport joined the protesters on Wednesday in calling for the companies’ eviction. “Mark my words: They will be removed,” he said outside the complex (continue reading here).
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Palestinian President Abbas to address UN General Assembly via video
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the annual gathering of world leaders next week via video after the United States said it would not give him a visa to travel to New York.
The resolution received 145 votes in favor and five votes against, while six countries abstained.
Washington said last month it would not allow Abbas and other Palestinian officials to travel to New York, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.
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Italian port blocks explosive shipments bound for Israel
The mayor of the Italian port of Ravenna, Alessandro Barattoni, said, “Thanks to courageous dockers, we were informed last night of the scheduled arrival today of two containers to the Ravenna port,” which workers refused to load onto an Israel-bound ship.
Regional leaders of the Emilia-Romagna government, a major region in northern Italy, formally cut ties with the Israeli government in June, following the earlier decision by the southern coastal region of Puglia.
“You must choose a side, and Emilia-Romagna and Ravenna know perfectly which,” the leaders said in a statement, “the one of innocent victims and hostages, and not the one of criminal governments and terrorist organizations.”
MORE HEADLINES:
Brazil intervenes in genocide case against Israel at world court
NOTABLE QUOTE: “History will not forgive the USA”
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, commenting after the 14-1 vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza:
For the sixth time, the United States has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the unbearable suffering of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza struggling to survive Israel’s genocide that has been cruelly unfolding, before the world’s eyes.
It is morally reprehensible that instead of using its leverage to halt the endless catalogue of horrors, the USA has – yet again – abused its veto rights to effectively further green-light Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
That this veto comes just two days after the Independent UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) published a report concluding that Israeli authorities and forces are committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, makes it all the more reprehensible.
History will not forgive the USA for standing alone against the international community, emboldening Israel in its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and further eroding a fragile global legal system meant to protect human rights, but which has seen its norms and very legitimacy crushed by pervasive impunity and contempt for international law.
ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
Panic in Gaza City as Israel advances on center, ‘sandwiching’ population
Israel requires GHF to source only Israeli products for Gaza food aid
Israel Foreign Ministry calls Global Sumud Flotilla ‘jihadist initiative serving terror group’
TAKE ACTION FOR GAZA
If Americans Knew has prepared a whole set of resources for educating and informing the public on the situation in Gaza: short videos, statistics, links, and downloadable flyers that you can print and hand out.
Watch this introductory video, and visit the website. Then pitch in to make a difference!
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – SEPTEMBER 19, 2025*:
- At least 66,251 Palestinians killed, 175,501 injured – including:
- at least 65,208 killed in Gaza (~20,000 children)
- at least 1,043 killed in the West Bank (~212 children)
- at least 166,271 injured in Gaza
- at least 9,230 injured in the West Bank
- at least 442 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 147 children
At least 2,513 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid parcels from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which started operating on May 26, 2025.
Since the Israeli army unilaterally broke the January ceasefire on March 18, 2025, it has killed at least 12,653 people. 62 Israeli soldiers (most recent Sept. 18) have been killed during the same time period.
*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble. Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 19, 2025: ~1,629 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 464 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, about 52 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 268 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 201 and 320 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)
- Total communication blackout in Gaza City as Israeli tanks push in
- Reps. Elise Stefanik, Brian Mast introduce legislation to protect Netanyahu and Israel
- In Gaza, the So-called ‘Evacuation of Civilians’ Is a Trail of Bombs and Death
- ‘United States of Israel’: Bipartisan US delegation draws backlash for largest-ever foreign trip
- Israel to flood Gaza City with explosive-laden robots, report says
- California governor set to sign bill restricting teaching of Palestinian history in schools
- Skewering History: The Dark Politics of Counting Gaza’s Dead – 680,000 In Total?
- Top UN legal investigators conclude Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza
- Top Democrats dodge questions on Israeli attack hitting Qatar
- 15K Gaza Students Have Been Killed. Survivors Are Denied Their Education.
- NYTimes: This Is What Malnutrition Does to Children’s Bodies
- Faith, politics and armed resistance: A Palestinian-Christian perspective
- Israel carries out systematic erasure of Gaza’s historical landmarks and cultural heritage
- ’A Man With 10 Children Who Worked in Israel for More Than 30 Years – How Can Soldiers Kill Him So Easily?’
- People in 100 cities around the world to go on hunger strike for Gaza
- The Disappearance of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya
- I Helped Israel Propagandize American Christians
- New York state sends police chiefs to Israel for ‘counterterrorism’ training
- New owner of CBS coordinated with former Israeli military chief to counter the country’s critics, according to leaked emails
- Local JCRC’s Latest IRS Filing Shows 100% Increase in Revenue – and over $5 Million Spent On Pro-Israel “Program Activities”. Why Isn’t This Considered Lobbying?
