News roundup for Thursday, September 3, 2026, Day 1,064 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 320 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.
The Israeli army killed four Palestinians, including a child, and wounded others in Gaza on Thursday despite a ceasefire, according to a medical source.
Far-right Israeli minister outlines plan for removal of all Palestinians from Gaza*: Ben Gvir’s plan aims to remove 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza in the first year, followed by the rest of its population of roughly 2 million over the next six years. “It’s realistic,” he said, claiming there were countries that were “ready” to take in Palestinians from Gaza**, without naming which ones.
Ben Gvir has reportedly spent months developing the proposal, which would cost more than $3bn in its first year and about $20bn in total over seven years.
*NOTE: Forced population transfer is a crime against humanity, and a form of ethnic cleansing.
**NOTE: Israel has been actively seeking to relocate Gazans since October 2023 (and even long before that). Israel reportedly looked into Indonesia, Libya, Somaliland, Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, as well as Jordan and Egypt. None of the countries agreed to take the people of Gaza in as refugees. There are many practical reasons why countries would say no, for example:
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- Preventing Permanent Displacement: Arab leaders fear that if Palestinians leave Gaza, Israel will not allow them to return, resulting in a permanent displacement, as was the case in 1948.
- Protecting Sovereign Borders: Countries like Egypt refuse to host refugees in the Sinai Peninsula due to concerns that militant groups would move alongside the civilians, turning foreign soil into a base for future attacks and threatening regional peace treaties.
- Internal Stability Concerns: Host countries worry about economic burdens, internal unrest, and armed clashes. The US’s unrest about immigrants is similar: whether it is warranted or not, many worry about safety, job security, and economic ramifications of taking in needy migrants.
If world leaders truly want to offer Gazans a good life outside Gaza, the just solution would be to return them to their homes in historic Palestine.
No end to torture of Gaza doctor Abu Sufiya* in Israeli prison: What to know: Abu Sufiya, in custody for nearly two years, continues to face abuse inside prison, his lawyer says.
*NOTE: Read about Gaza’s beloved pediatrician, Dr. Hussam Abu Sufiya, who has been held in Israel without charge, tortured and medically neglected, since December 2024 here. 13 other Gazan doctors are also being held by Israel.
Israel’s siege on Gaza is forcing dentists to operate in the streets: Scarce resources and office space means that dental work is a luxury for most people in Gaza.
GAZA DEATH TOLL – (tentative) since “ceasefire” began Oct. 11, 2025:
- 1,338 (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
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.)
*NOTE: Territory is considered occupied when it is placed under the authority and control of the hostile army. “Annexation” is the acquisition of territory by force, and is a flagrant violation of international law. As such it can have no effect on the legal status of the territory, which remains de jure occupied. In the context of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), “annexation” means extending Israeli law to areas which are recognized as occupied and treating them as part of the territory of Israel.
“It Feels Like a Death Sentence”: In the West Bank, settlers* are blatantly stealing livestock worth a fortune to push Palestinians off their land.
*NOTE: More than 780,000 settlers live illegally on Palestinian land in over almost 600 Jewish-only settlements and settlement outposts 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. It is noteworthy that settlers are only rarely prosecuted for their crimes. Learn more about Israeli settler violence here and here.
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. Israeli settlers are sometimes referred to as “colonizers.”
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.
Palestinian Christian forced out of dream home by Israeli occupiers (i.e. settlers) attacks: Palestinian Christian Bashir Naim says he spent 7 years building a home in Taybeh for his family but was forced to abandon it after repeated occupier attacks.
Who are the ‘Hilltop Girls’ behind Israel’s ‘soft settlement’ strategy? Young Israeli women are adopting an ostensibly peaceful, domestic lifestyle on West Bank hilltops to quietly expand illegal outposts and realize a vision of a ‘Greater Israel’.
Thursday: Invasions, Violations And Abductions In West Bank
Israeli army arrests 21 Palestinians, including journalist, in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces raid West Bank, Jerusalem as settlers cut water supply to Tubas community
Thursday Dawn Israeli Violations Across the West Bank
Army Abducts Palestinian as Colonizers (i.e. Settlers) Assault Residents Near Hebron
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.
Israel’s military ‘justice’ system is working exactly as intended: A handful of probes into high-profile massacres in Gaza are a smokescreen: Israel has convicted only two soldiers for harming Palestinians since Oct. 7.
Ben-Gvir posts Palestinians on conveyor belts to detention camps. The world is silent: If the podcaster Hasan Piker had tweeted this, with Israelis as the subject rather than Palestinians, it would be front-page news. This is the same Israeli minister who came up with crocodile moats around Palestinian prisons, and is building an execution chamber for hanging Palestinians – with a viewing room.
ISRAELI MEDIA: ‘October 7 treason?’ 40% of Israelis believe there was ‘betrayal from within’ during massacre
ISRAELI MEDIA: Ruth Bar breaks silence on her 1993 affair with Netanyahu, his early political rise – interview
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 18 killed, 142 injured in US strikes since Sunday
Iran launched more retaliatory attacks on Thursday, targeting U.S. assets in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. President Donald Trump had warned Iran not to retaliate against recent U.S. strikes.
Trump Says Reports of US Missile Shortages Are ‘Treasonous’
Tel Aviv threatens Iran with strikes on energy facilities if it attacks Israel
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 forces shell southern Lebanon, stage incursions with tanks, bulldozers
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 army conducts drill in occupied Golan Heights: Exercise simulates dozens of scenarios, including Oct. 7 events, says army. Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967.
Israeli artillery targets Syria’s western Damascus countryside
Syria announces 1st chemical materials destruction since fall of Assad regime: Syrian envoy to UN warns Israeli attacks impede chemical destruction operations.
DEATH TOLL – WARS ON IRAN & LEBANON (tentative):
- United States: 18 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Iran: at least 3,636 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Lebanon: at least 4,352 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:
US House passes bill penalizing universities that participate in boycott of Israel: The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act passed by a 237-169 vote, with 33 Democrats breaking with the rest of their party to vote in favor, and only two Republicans opposed. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
“Board of Peace*” Billionaire Backs AIPAC Fund Targeting Pro-Palestine Candidates: “He sits on a board that will decide Gaza’s future. Palestinians did not choose him, and neither did American voters. Americans and Palestinians alike deserve to know whose interests are actually being served.”
*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.
UK: Four imprisoned Palestine Action activists appeal ‘terrorism’ sentences: Supporters of those who participated in a raid on an Israeli weapons maker say the sentences set a dangerous precedent.
Gaza flotilla* coalition ‘not deterred’ by Israeli intimidation, aims to break blockade in October
*NOTE: Read about the Gaza Flotilla missions earlier in 2026 here, here, and here; 2025 missions here and here, and the deadly 2010 mission here; find out about the history of the global flotilla movement here and here.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2026*:
- At least 74,664 Palestinians killed, 187,540 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 73,474 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 174,540 injured.
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,190 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 – September 3, 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)
- ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt says ADL doesn’t exist “for some universalist ideal, we exist to protect the Jews”
- Appeal to Pope Leo XIV: To Organize a Global Leaders Summit to Address the Questions of Peace and Nuclear Disarmament
- Haley Stevens Smears Bernie Sanders and Abdul El-Sayed, Calls Anti-Zionism a ‘Sickness’
- ‘They destroy, we build’: Gazans rebuild their homes out of mud and rubble
- Israeli Raid Forces Gaza Kindergarten to Frantically Evacuate 200 Children
- US army secretary resigns amid signs of Pentagon unease with Iran war
- Israel targets identity of Palestinian students in Jerusalem
- Israeli Officials Promote Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories About Israel
- Senator Chris Van Hollen says AIPAC is spending $50,000 on attack ads against him
- Is Israel paving streets with Gaza rubble containing bodies – and is the Board of Peace funding it?
- Board of Peace told PA to remove ‘Palestine’ from textbooks, former UK envoy says
- The Kushner-Soros Money Trail Nobody Talks About
- NY TIMES: These Generals Fought for Israel. Now They See ‘Jewish Terrorism’ as the Threat.
- Gaza ‘ceasefire’ has merely slowed the pace of societal destruction
