fcap]
News roundup for Friday, May 22, 2026, Day 959 since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people.
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
NEWS & HEADLINES FROM GAZA:
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.
Several Palestinians were killed Friday, and others were injured in Gaza, in spite of a “ceasefire.”
Report says Israel is still failing to allow goods into Gaza, in violation of ceasefire agreement: A weekly crossings report highlighted the continued Israeli restrictions on Gaza’s border points. According to the Government Media Office, only 1,287 trucks were allowed through the crossings during the week – just 30 percent of the 4,200 trucks that were supposed to be allowed in. These included 559 commercial trucks, 693 carrying humanitarian aid, and 35 fuel trucks, among them seven carrying commercial gas and 28 carrying diesel for institutions. The ceasefire agreement of October 10, 2025 stipulated the entry of 600 trucks of aid and goods per day, in addition to 50 fuel trucks.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 890 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- 72,783 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls) since October 2023
- More statistics below
FLOTILLA NEWS & HEADLINES:
Go here to read about the most recent flotilla; go here to read about the history of flotillas to Gaza.
At least 15 Gaza flotilla activists allege sexual assault and rape in Israeli detention: Israeli prison service denies claims of abuse during detention of 430 people trying to take aid to Palestinians.
*NOTE: Allegations of sexual abuse have become commonplace from people who have spent time in Israeli prisons. Credible testimonies abound (including at least one video) of Palestinians being sexually abused at the hands of Israeli soldiers – some of whom have become folk heroes. (American mainstream media have failed to cover this issue in any meaningful way.)
RELATED:
Israel’s arrogance is becoming the evidence in the case against it: Ben-Gvir’s video of abused flotilla activists reveals a state so accustomed to impunity that it documents its own cruelty, even against Westerners.
🚨 Warning: distressful content!
Those genocidal maniacs RAPED humanitarian activist trying to take food and medicine to children in Gaza! And the worst is that even this they escalate to much worse forms with the 9000 Palestinians in israeli dungeons (almost 400 children)! pic.twitter.com/a0yuMuilvQ
— Thiago Ávila (@thiagoavilabr) May 21, 2026
WATCH | Gaza Global Sumud Flotilla activists arrived in Turkiye in terrible condition after their severe abuse at the hands of Israeli forces during their abduction and imprisonment.
Footage shows activists displaying severe marks of abuse sustained during their abduction and… pic.twitter.com/akhG1DqRby
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) May 22, 2026
NEWS & HEADLINES FROM THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM:
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.)
Israeli Soldiers Injure Two Children In Bethlehem: Israeli soldiers invaded the town of Al Khader on Friday night, during which they fired tear‑gas canisters and stun grenades, causing two children, aged two and four, to suffer from suffocation.
Israel Ramps Up Demolitions of Palestinian Homes Ahead of Fall Elections: “The atmosphere is: Go ahead and do it,” Ofran said. Those driving the displacement know it. “They feel they have impunity, that no one is going to stop them. They have Trump, and he has their back,” says Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch.
Israel revokes permits for dozens of Al-Aqsa Mosque* staff: Sources say the decision affects 30 senior Islamic Waqf employees from the occupied West Bank, in a move seen as further limiting Palestinian access to the site.
Israeli Colonizers Escalate Attacks, Home Seizures In West Bank
Colonizers Invade a Palestinian Home, Storm Several Areas in Hebron
Nine Western States Decry Israel’s Colonial West Bank Expansion
Palestinian Forced To Demolish His Home in Silwan
DEATH TOLL – WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM (tentative):
NEWS & HEADLINES FROM ISRAEL:
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 news 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.
The Secret Israeli Unit Spying on Teachers Who Criticize the Government: Internal documents reveal how an Education Ministry committee, headed by a former Shin Bet operative, monitors left-wing and Arab educators over social media posts, protest activity and political speech | A Haaretz investigation. “The offices belong to the Education Ministry’s Enforcement Administration, but education is not what happens there. What happens there is espionage.”
Why Netanyahu leaked his secret wartime visit to the UAE: By going public with a meeting Abu Dhabi wanted kept quiet, Netanyahu trapped the Emiratis between domestic embarrassment and the regional cost of their Israel ties. (Original story here.)
Let’s stop pretending Ben-Gvir is not the true face of Israel: Ben-Gvir is not an aberration but the most vulgar expression of Israel’s previously well-disguised violence, supremacy, and apartheid, writes Izzeddin Araj.
ISRAEL-US WAR/CEASEFIRE ON IRAN – NEWS & HEADLINES:
It can not be overemphasized that Israel is the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the US to attack Iran for decades, using lies and deception. Under President Trump, he got his wish.
Trump said weighing new Iran strikes as he seeks ‘decisive’ victory; Netanyahu frozen out of talks: Reports say Trump, ‘frustrated,’ has reviewed possible targets but not yet made decision; Netanyahu ‘banished from the cockpit,’ forced to rely on regional sources and intel for details.
With signs of a possible Iran deal within reach, pressure is mounting on Trump to return to war: Political and economic realities are pushing Donald Trump to pursue a deal with Iran, but he will need to resist mounting pressure, including from Israel, to return to all-out war.
Washington spent ‘far more’ interceptors than Tel Aviv to defend Israel during war: Report: The perception is growing that the US is fighting the war with Iran on behalf of Israel and at the expense of its own security.
Iran destroyed 20 percent of US’s MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet: Report: The US has lost around $1bn to Reaper drones destroyed by Iran, compounding the cost of war.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13 (or more)
- Iran: at least 3,636 (1,701 civilians, 254 children)
- Israel: about 40 (19 Israeli soldiers, and 1 friendly fire – including both Iran and Lebanon-related deaths; another count shows 20 Israeli civilian deaths)
- Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 154
ISRAEL’S WAR/CEASEFIRE ON LEBANON – NEWS & HEADLINES:
Israel has invaded Lebanon seven times in the last half century. Between 1978 and 2000, Israel maintained an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon — Hezbollah was formed to fight that occupation.
Although Israel signed a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon in November 2024, Israel has attacked Lebanon almost every day since, committing over 10,000 air and ground violations – the most violated ceasefire deal in recorded history. (Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.)
Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed 10, including six paramedics, health ministry says: Lebanon’s health ministry condemns attacks as violations of international law; Israel says it struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites and militants.
Israel Is on a Killing Spree of Paramedics and Rescue Workers in Lebanon: Israel claims it is targeting Hezbollah fighters and “terrorist infrastructure”—but on the ground, civilian men, women, children, and the elderly make up the majority of the victims, and residential houses and civilian infrastructure have been systematically demolished. At least nine journalists have been killed in 2026 alone, making Lebanon the deadliest place for journalists in the world this year. Most brazenly though, Israel has attacked emergency and medical workers with frightening regularity.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- At least 380 killed since “ceasefire” began on April 17, 2026 (22 children, 39 women)
- At least 3,089 people have been killed since war began on March 2, 2026
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
Are Israel and the United States planning a joint AI hub in the Negev? “Project Spire” aims to create a highly secure campus in southern Israel, according to a Hudson Institute report. According to the report, the facility’s goal is to create an operational zone immune to Chinese espionage, allowing for secure AI development with full intellectual property protection.
Palestine’s UN envoy withdraws bid for General Assembly vice presidency following US threats: A State Department cable says the US does not want Riyad Mansour to have a ‘pulpit’ to highlight Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza at the UN.
France bans far-right Israeli minister Ben-Gvir over abuse of activists
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
‘Board of Peace’ plan accused of turning Gaza disarmament into Israeli land grab
How Ben-Gvir’s flotilla video shattered Israel’s veneer of innocence
Israel has a master plan to relocate thousands of Palestinian Bedouins to a giant ghetto
Hezbollah drone seriously wounds Israeli commander of brigade accused of killing Hind Rajab
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MAY 22, 2026*:
- At least 73,949 Palestinians killed, 184,479 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 72,783 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,779 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,166 killed (~244 children), 11,700 injured
*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. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count. Additionally, the numbers of injured are very conservative estimates.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – May 22, 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 (these numbers do not include deaths from the conflicts with Lebanon or Iran).
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 282 Palestinian journalists and media workers (most recent March 9, 2026; other groups have tallied between 215 and 356 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used). Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (all on October 7, 2023).
**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)
- Israel’s long record of using banned incendiary weapons on civilians
- How Jeffrey Goldberg weaponized Jewish trauma to pave the way for war with Iran
- They Were Children During the Nakba. This Is What They Remember 78 Years Later
- Pro-Israel commentator warns critics face ‘buzzsaw’ of ‘Jewish money’ after Massie defeat
- How Dumb Does Ted Cruz Think Americans Are?
- Autopsies of Gaza Medics Killed by Israeli Troops Show Some Were Shot in the Head
- U.S.: New Data Highlights AIPAC Ties to the U.S., Israeli Governments
- Joe Kent: Trump can’t end war until Israel taken out of the loop
- ‘Over the Border It Was Okay to Be Crazy’: IDF Soldiers Tell About the Army’s Moral Decay in Lebanon
- In Response To ICC Arrest Warrant, Israel’s Smotrich Orders the Destruction of a Palestinian Village
- Student protest silencing goes to new extremes on US campuses
- Has Trump torpedoed the ICC’s Gaza probe?
- The Numbers Behind the ‘Sacred Work’ of Cleansing West Bank Palestinians for Future Jewish Villas
- ‘Unprecedented act of savagery’: How Israel’s new law places Palestinians on death row by default
