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 827th day.)
Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 464 Palestinians. At least 1,275 have been injured. Death toll figures are tentative.
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 8 Palestinian children have died of extreme cold this winter.
Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 1,193 times (as of Jan. 9, 2026). More statistics below.
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.)
Another Palestinian baby dies of severe cold in Gaza amid shortage of shelters
A Palestinian baby died on Saturday due to severe cold in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, a medical source told Anadolu, raising the number of children who died due to cold weather to eight since the start of the current winter season.
The medical source at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told Anadolu that the baby, Aisha Ayesh al-Agha, aged 27 days, died as a result of extreme cold.
*NOTE: A number of infants died of hypothermia in the winter of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, for the same reason it is happening now: Israel’s refusal to provide shelter – a responsibility under international law.
An UNRWA spokesperson recently stated, “We have sheltering supplies for 1 million people sitting outside the Gaza Strip that we could bring in immediately if we were allowed to. So there’s a political choice [by Israel] to deny us the possibility of bringing that aid in.”
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(Ha’aretz) Seventy-eight years after the Nakba and the end of the British Mandate, and after generations of dreaming of self-determination and seeking to realize it, Palestinians face a new, American governance framework – without any Palestinians on board (continue reading here).
*NOTE: Among the world leaders invited to be on the Board of Peace is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal – but no Palestinians.
OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:
(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 Kill 14-year-old Palestinian, Say He Ran Towards Troops Holding a Stone
In yesterday’s update, we reported that Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old child, Mohamad Saad Sami Naasan, while illegal colonizers carried out an incursion into the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank.
Ha’aretz now reports that the IDF said that forces arrived to the al-Mughayyir area over reports of stone-hurling and shooting towards Israelis in the area, and that “dozens of terrorists were identified hurling stones” at the Israeli soldiers,” and one ran at the soldiers while holding a rock.
According to the military, “the soldiers responded to the imminent threat” by firing warning shots in the air, and later shooting and killing Naasan.
Locals said that Israeli settlers had been carrying out attacks against the village, under the protection of the IDF.
*NOTE: Everything about this news story is typical: illegal Israeli settlers were involved, a Palestinian was lethally shot for an alleged minor action (often the excuse for shooting turns out to be a lie), the Palestinian is characterized as a terrorist, and there is no proper investigation (or if there is, the incident is whitewashed).
The use of the word “terrorist” for an individual or group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice. In reality, international law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, the UN extending that right to the point of armed resistance. Additionally, Israel regularly labels Palestinians they have killed as “terrorists” to rationalize their deaths, whether they did anything threatening or not.
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The past year has seen an unprecedented displacement of Palestinian communities in the West Bank
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 passes along only factual reporting.)
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Saturday, “The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board (to run Gaza), which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy,” adding that Netanyahu “has instructed the Foreign Affairs Minister (Gideon Saar) to contact the US Secretary of State on this matter.”
*NOTE: The so-called “Board of Peace” for Gaza is stacked with wealthy and powerful Israel supporters. Political strategist Ashish Prashar said, “It appears the only qualification for joining the Gaza ‘peace board’ is to have a strong track record of endorsing (and arming) Israel’s project of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and criminalizing those who oppose it” (continue reading here).
RELATED: Why Is Trump’s ‘Peace Plan’ Focused on Deradicalizing Palestinians, Not Israelis?
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Israel demands Hamas disarm within two months as US ushers in ceasefire second phase
Israel has issued a “final warning” to Hamas, demanding that the Palestinian group disarm within two months, as the ceasefire deal moves into its second phase, which outlines that Hamas and other militant groups in the Palestinian territory must disarm.
*NOTE: Israel has failed to uphold major parts of the ceasefire agreement, causing widespread suffering among Gazan civilians: Israel has continued military activity, killing over 460 Palestinians since the ceasefire started on October 10, and withheld medical supplies, food, fuel, and sheltering supplies.
Critically, Hamas has made clear that it will not surrender its weapons as long as the occupation remains in place. Netanyahu and Trump have been ignoring this fact.
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Israeli army advances into Daraa countryside in violation of Syria’s* sovereignty
*NOTE: The Israeli army has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 cross-border raids on Syria since December 2024.
NEWS & HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:
(You can learn a lot about a country from its headlines. Get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions that receives $63 million a day from America.)
Israeli settlers* raid West Bank village, set fire to property
“The settlers, about twenty of them, arrived while some of us were sleeping,” a human rights activist told Haaretz. “They beat us with clubs and stones, inside the houses and then outside, and set the houses on fire and chased us around…Everything is gone. Everything burned down, even our passports that were inside. Everything is on fire.”
תיעוד: מתנחלים תקפו את היישוב הבדואי מוחמאס שמדרום־מזרח לרמאללה והציתו רכוש
השימוש נעשה בהתאם לסעיף 27א’ לחוק זכויות יוצרים pic.twitter.com/G2cZ3zQq08
— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) January 17, 2026
*NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. 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.
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‘He’s getting revenge’: Israeli cabinet blames Kushner for Turkish, Qatari presence on Gaza board
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Trump’s comments to @politico on needing new leadership in Iran, and Khamenei’s mindless baiting of Trump on X, lead me to believe that Trump is going to try to kill the Supreme Leader this week.
There will soon be a US carrier strike group in the Middle East, making it easier…
— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) January 17, 2026
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NFL silent on anti-Israel message: ‘Blatant propaganda*’
The NFL has decided not to fine Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who took the field with the words “Stop the Genocide” written on his face in clear violation of league rules. Critics said the incident drew no scrutiny: “No journalist looked into it, it flew under the radar.”
*NOTE: Calling out Israel for committing genocide is not propaganda, but truth. Experts in the field of genocide studies have declared that Israel’s actions do in fact constitute genocide. As “proof of Israel’s intention to perpetrate genocide,” a human rights group called Law for Palestine has compiled a public database with over 500 instances of Israeli incitement to perpetrate genocide. Many globally recognized human rights groups and genocide experts agree that Israel is committing genocide.
As early as 6 weeks into the war, the New York Times reported that “Calls for Gaza to be “flattened,” “erased” or “destroyed” had been mentioned about 18,000 times since Oct. 7 in Hebrew posts on X… The cumulative effect, experts say, has been to normalize public talk of “erasing” the people of Gaza, ethnic cleansing, and the nuclear annihilation of the territory…”
It is possible that journalists did Israel a favor by not reminding the public about the genocide.
RELATED: Who Says Israel Is Committing a Genocide in Gaza? Everyone on This List
OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:
NY pension fund may invest* in Israel despite Gaza genocide, defying Mamdani
The Financial Times reported on Saturday that New York City is weighing whether to reinvest Israeli government bonds, even as Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly backed divestment from Israel over its conduct in Gaza.
Critics argue that such financing underwrites Israel’s system of apartheid, the expansion of illegal settlements, the forced displacement of Palestinians and the killing of civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
*NOTE: BDS, the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, is a is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.
Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.
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Iran’s Khamenei says US, Israel links behind ‘thousands killed’ in protests
The country’s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests ‘caused massive damage and killed several thousands’.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Trump announces Gaza’s “Board of Peace,” stacked with Israel supporters
Israeli Forces Kill a Palestinian Child Near Ramallah
House of Representatives approves $3.3bn in military aid to Israel
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JANUARY 17, 2026*:
- At least 72,655 Palestinians killed, 182,353 injured – including:
- At least 71,548 killed in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
- At least 1,107 killed in the West Bank (~230 children)
- At least 171,353 injured in Gaza
- About 11,000 injured in the West Bank
*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 10,000 more are still buried under rubble. 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.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 17, 2026: ~1,661 – including ~1,139** on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 471 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 275 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 215 and 328 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)
- How an Israeli Firm Spreads Lies and Chaos Around the World
- ADL ‘Helping’ Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro ‘Take Down’ Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, CEO Suggests
- Israel is Destroying Hope for the Future: Reproductive Violence in Gaza
- J Street is the new AIPAC in the Democratic Party
- The fate of Gaza’s disappeared remains unknown
- The U.S. has announced ‘Phase 2’ of the Gaza ceasefire. Here’s why it doesn’t matter for Palestinians.
- ‘My leg went to heaven before me’: Israeli war extinguishes Gaza childhoods
- Founders of deadly GHF ‘shaping’ new US-backed administration for Gaza: Report
- Genocide isn’t a mistake. Which is why the media can’t tell you the truth about Gaza
- “Praise Allah, There Are Still People Like You”: Jeffrey Epstein Nurtured Israel-Emirates Ties Before Abraham Accords
- Trump family has long record of supporting Israeli causes
- Militant Pro-Israel Group Agrees to Halt Operations in New York
- Israel Has Demolished 2,500 Buildings in Gaza Since Signing Ceasefire Deal
- Iran, Gaza and the politics of counting the dead
