News roundup for Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Day 1,056 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.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The number of Palestinians being killed in Gaza is lower since the October 2025 “ceasefire” began, over 300 days ago – about 4 per day, vs. over 100 per day during the 733 days of the “war.” But Israel is actively working (with Trump’s “Board of Peace“) to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinian population, even as the low-level killing continues. Genocide experts, along with organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International, maintain that the genocide is ongoing.
At least eight Palestinians were killed and 10 others injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday.
Gaza isn’t able to recover from famine as acute malnutrition soars across the Strip, new report finds: Israeli restrictions on food entry are stalling recovery from famine in Gaza as malnutrition cases climb, an IPC report finds. Two-year-old Hashem Abu Mustafa, born hungry in a Rafah tent, may already be beyond saving.
*NOTE: Gaza’s starvation is not the result of a natural disaster. According to the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, signed by Hamas and Israel on October 9, 2025, Israel was to begin allowing entry of at least 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid per day into Gaza, in addition to several other critical obligation – none of which have been fulfilled. An average of only about 86 truckloads of aid have entered Gaza per day (as of Aug. 14, 2026).
Israeli settlement leaders tour Gaza, call for starvation of Palestinians: One Israeli leader explicitly called for the use of starvation as a weapon: “We must attack those launching drones and kites* and eliminate the militants. This is the only way to win. Even if we have to apply pressure by preventing food from entering and imposing civil sanctions, similar to what the United States is successfully doing against Iran, we can do the same in Gaza.”
*NOTE: In the summer of 2021, Israel bombed Gaza relentlessly, ultimately killing 253 Gazans (66 of them children), while Palestinian rockets killed 12 Israelis (2 of them children). (Such a disproportionate ratio is typical.) A small number of Gazans began – when the wind was right – attaching Molotov cocktails to bunches of balloons and kites, and launching them toward Israel. Some property and land damage were reported, but no Israeli deaths.
Israeli leaders may be recalling this brief “terror balloon” trend, and worrying that their nuclear capabilities are no match for such cutting-edge weaponry. Notably, no incendiary devices have been found on kites recently.
Gaza’s famine one year on: Did the world learn anything?
Selling flour to bury my cousin: “I went to the cemetery to see how much it would cost to bury Thair. The man who works there said, ‘It costs $400 and don’t haggle with me.’ The night before, I had bought some flour for $300…”
Trump’s Board of Peace* is “failing”: Athena Rayburn, who heads the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), an umbrella group representing more than 100 international aid agencies operating in Gaza, told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that Trump’s Board of Peace should be judged on whether it is protecting civilians, bringing about an end to Israel’s illegal presence, and moving towards self-determination for Palestinians.
“By these basic measures, the Board of Peace is failing,” she said.
*NOTE: The so-called Board of Peace is a pay-to-play group of wealthy and powerful Israel supporters, dictators, and authoritarians, as well as Israeli prime minister and war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and two Israeli real estate tycoons – but no Palestinians. In fact, the organization’s charter makes no reference to Gaza.
The lower-tier technocratic committee, made up of Palestinians, will do the grunt work in Gaza – if and when Israel allows the group to enter the Strip.
BoP is problematic in multiple ways, not the least of which is its tendency to view the world through a real estate lens, rather than human rights, justice, or humanitarianism.
Board of Peace Chief Blasts Israel For Ignoring Gaza Truce: The Board of Peace’s High Commissioner Nickolay Mladenov warned Israel that its relentless attacks on Gaza during a ceasefire “do not change the status quo that produced 7 October 2023. They preserve it.” He added, “Will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or loosening its grip on Gaza? It will not.”
Israel considers expelling UK from Gaza monitoring center*: The move is being considered in response to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s plans to introduce stronger measures against illegal Israeli settlements. The Israeli government is reportedly also considering expelling Italy and Germany from the IGSC.
*NOTE: This action by Israel would be harmful not to the UK, but to the people of Gaza, who are ostensibly the recipients of assistance from the Gaza coordination center. Additionally (or perhaps most importantly), Israel is setting up criteria in which it can select only pro-Israel backing, assuring that Gaza will be administered to Israel’s specifications.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE death toll (tentative) since “ceasefire” began Oct. 11, 2025:
- 1,303 (35% of those killed, 49% of those wounded were children, women, and the elderly)
- 5 Israeli soldiers – one by friendly fire, and four others in incidents during the first three weeks of the ceasefire.
- More statistics below
أضرار جسيمة في مستودع للمساعدات الغذائية وخيام تؤوي نازحين؛ جراء غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت منزلاً في دير البلح، وسط قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/WKHz290rHm
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 26, 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.)
Israel to return body of Palestinian child held for over 9 months: 15-year-old Jadallah Jihad Jumaa Jadallah was shot and killed during an Israeli raid on the Al-Fara’a refugee camp in the West Bank in November 2025.
The National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian Martyrs’ Bodies said Israel is holding the remains of around 1,700 Palestinians, including 799 whose identities are known. Among the identified bodies are those of 81 children under 18, 99 Palestinians who died in Israeli prisons and 10 women.
Palestinians in Qusra Asked for Help Against Settlers. Israelis Detained Palestinians Instead: In the besieged West Bank village of Qusra, workers were building a fence for keeping settlers out. Soldiers allowed the settlers to trespass. The Israeli military’s actions that night stand as an example of the Israeli government’s broader role in settler violence in the occupied West Bank — emboldening the settlers’ lawless behavior as they forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes and land.
Hundreds of Israeli occupiers (i.e. settlers) storm ‘Joseph’s Tomb’ with military escort: Israeli forces deploy dozens of military vehicles, fire tear gas at journalists and close roads in eastern Nablus.
Israeli Occupation Repurposes Seized UNRWA Training Center: On Wednesday, the Israeli occupation municipality began converting the seized UNRWA-run Qalandia Vocational Training Center in Kafr Aqab, north of occupied Jerusalem, into what it called “a municipal educational complex,” while Israeli forces maintained control of the compound for a second consecutive day.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Forget a Map: This is how Palestinians are navigating West Bank roads: Taxi drivers, commuters, and ambulance crews rely on a crowdsourced web of radio broadcasts and messaging groups to cross a landscape of checkpoints and roadblocks that can change by the minute.
Israel renaming Jerusalem landmarks to erase city’s Arab identity: Governorate: Replacing Arab place names with Hebrew ones threatens city’s Arab, Islamic and Christian heritage, Jerusalem Governorate says.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Nearly all US Senate Democrats write Netanyahu to demand action on ‘fatal’ settler violence
‘All-out war in the West Bank’: Israeli media alleges major PA (Palestinian Authority) military buildup: The PA has been coordinating with Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank for years, helping them to crack down on resistance. Now Tel Aviv is on heightened alert over an alleged enhancement and buildup of the Palestinian Authority (PA) military arsenal – fearing these weapons could be turned against it, according to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom’s report on 25 August.
Israeli Authorities Seize Land, Isolate 380 Dunams (about 94 acres) Near Al-Bireh
Home Invasions and Abductions Across the West Bank
Escalating Israeli Violations in Occupied West Bank
DEATH TOLL SINCE OCT. 7, 2023 – 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.
Netanyahu in closed talks: Likud will lose election unless situation changes
ISRAELI MEDIA: Tensions rise in Givati unit after religious soldiers refuse mission involving female medic
The GOAT (Greatest of All Time) Merchant of Death: In Israel, militarization has become an economic model: occupation, surveillance, and assaults on Palestinians generate technologies that can then be marketed abroad as “combat-proven.” Palestinian lives have effectively become part of the research, testing, and marketing cycle of death.
IRAN, LEBANON, & SYRIA – NEWS & HEADLINES:
IRAN
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.
Iran says US owes full compensation for damages caused by unilateral sanctions
LEBANON
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.
Israeli warplanes strike southern Lebanon despite US-mediated deal
SYRIA
Although Israel is not at war with Syria, the Israeli army has reportedly carried out over 1,600 violations inside Syrian territory since August 2025, and demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria – but also vowed to permanently occupy some areas.
Israeli Defense Minister Vows IDF Troops Will Remain in Syrian ‘Buffer Zone’
DEATH TOLL – WARS ON IRAN & LEBANON (tentative):
- United States: 18 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Iran: at least 3,636 (1,701 civilians) since Feb. 28, 2026 (another source puts the number at 3,499)
- Lebanon: at least 4,348 people since March 2, 2026
- Arab states: at least 154 (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon)
- Israel: at least 60 people (Iran killed 20 civilians; Hezbollah killed 40 soldiers, 4 civilians)
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
Trump sends Saudi nuclear deal to Congress, ties pact to Israel normalization: Riyadh has publicly maintained that there will be no normalization with Israel until a pathway to an independent Palestinian state is established.
Three pro-Israel Democrats given key roles on House foreign affairs panel: Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Wesley Bell to join as Jared Moskowitz becomes ranking member on sub-committee. The decision comes at a fractious time for the party amid a growing divide among its voters over US aid to Israel.
Denmark joins international declaration opposing Israeli West Bank settlement plan: 21 countries, European Commission say E1 project threatens 2-state solution.
Israeli soldiers set up Gaza-themed promotional stand at Columbia University, drawing protests: Images on social media show table covered with Israeli flag, sign reading: ‘We are IDF. We’ve been in Gaza. Ask us anything*!’ Students “denounced allowing soldiers facing documented accusations of genocide and war crimes to brag about their actions without deterrence.”
*NOTE: Independent investigations have demonstrated time and again that the Israeli military (and individual soldiers) have committed war crimes in Gaza, and/or that Israeli (and US) officials have lied to cover up or justify wrongdoing. Israeli soldiers come to college campuses with the singular goal of whitewashing Israel’s (and their own) reputation – Israel has budgeted $730M for propaganda, targeting mainly college students and Christians – with a heavy emphasis on social media and AI.
Israel’s foreign ministry and pro-Israel orgs regularly sponsor trips to Israel for influencers and the influence-able – trips that invariably provide a whitewashed view of Israel and no exposure to the Palestinian narrative, and by withholding the truth, “buy” new Israel partisans.
In tandem with Israel’s own propaganda machine, pro-Israel billionaires have bought social media corporations and TV networks in order to control their content.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
“Access to Oxygen Is Not a Medical Luxury”: With No Spare Parts Allowed In, Gaza’s Hospital Equipment Is Collapsing
More than 40 Congress members have penned a letter to US Sec’y of State Marco Rubio
“This is our land”: Netanyahu remarks signal clear plans to take over West Bank
Schadenfreude: From hidden gas chambers to Israel’s viewing gallows
From Colombia to Venezuela, Palestine is a global litmus test
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – August 26, 2026*:
- At least 74,632 Palestinians killed, 187,438 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 73,447 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 174,438 injured.
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,185 killed (~251 children), 13,000 injured
*NOTE: Thousands of remains in Gaza have yet to be identified, and as many as 15,000 more are still buried under rubble; others are reportedly missing.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 26, 2026: ~1,663 – 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).
**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 Is Sending Armed Militias Into Gaza to Commit War Crimes – and the IDF Has to Protect Them’
- Fake US think-tank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda
- Schadenfreude: From hidden gas chambers to Israel’s viewing gallows
- How AIPAC keeps its name off candidates’ disclosure lists
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Ehud Barak, Soros Fund & Epstein’s corporate web
- Documents Reveal Trail of Unreported Millions From Israeli Military to U.S. Universities
- US military newspaper editor voices censorship fears after being fired
- ‘Orcas’ with likely inside info win big on Trump Jr.-funded Polymarket
- Israel’s Lobby: More powerful and more unpopular than ever
- El-Sayed’s GOP Opponent Attended 3 AIPAC-Hosted Fundraisers in 1 Day
- Israel making Lebanon a burned out hellscape and US paying for it
- What the ‘Iran Experts’ Didn’t Tell the White House
- War On Iran: – Borg Concedes Loss Of Control In Middle East
- Flashback: The role of the Israel lobby in Jon Ossoff’s ascendance
