Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israeli forces killed at least 99 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, of which 77 were in northern Gaza; 9 aid seekers were killed. In total, Israel has killed at least 2,513 aid seekers since May 27, 2025 (learn about aid seekers here).
Among the dead was photojournalist Mohammed Alaa’ Al-Sawalhi.
The total known number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition stands at 435, including 147 children.
For detail on Israeli attacks in Gaza on Wednesday, 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.)
Gaza City in Total Blackout as Israel Cuts Internet, Escalates Bombardment
The Israeli occupation army has cut all telecommunications and internet connections in Gaza City, completely isolating 800,000 Palestinians as it escalates attacks on the besieged area, a human rights body has warned.
The measure, causing a total blackout, comes amid relentless bombardments and collapsing high-rises as well as the advance of Israeli military vehicles into the city, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said (continue reading here).
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UN says women in Gaza forced to give birth on streets amid worsening Israeli attacks
UN warns no supplies for northern Gaza after Israel closes crossing
The UN voices grave concerns about food and other supplies running out in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are already experiencing famine.
With the shortage of fuel to hospitals, “The shutdown of the central oxygen station and ambulances in Gaza Governorate means we are facing a serious health and humanitarian disaster,” the Gaza health ministry said.
The Zikim Crossing was shut on September 12 and no aid groups have been able to import supplies since.
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Israeli army destroys 25 residential towers in Gaza City amid intense bombardment
*NOTE: As traumatizing as October 7th was for Israelis, it can not be stressed enough that “many, if not most of the civilians killed that day were killed by the overwhelming firepower the Israeli military deployed” using the Hannibal Directive. As for “atrocities,” it has been reported in both Israeli and Western media that the accusations leveled against Hamas (for example, beheading babies) were lies propagated by the Israeli government and left unchallenged by mainstream media.
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WATCH: New wave of Israeli attacks targets Palestinians outside hospitals in Gaza City
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Ha’aretz: Israeli Defense Officials Warn of Civil Chaos and Disease Outbreaks in Gaza’s “Humanitarian Zone”
Senior defense officials warned that the Israeli military may be unable to provide long-term water, power and sanitation for the two million Gazans expected to live in a designated “humanitarian” zone in central Gaza, raising fears that overcrowding from evacuations due to the ground incursion into Gaza City could spark disease outbreaks and civilian riots.
Defense officials said the humanitarian zone cannot provide basic living conditions for such a large population, even though defense bodies have built water and power lines and garbage collection stations. There is currently no system in place for waste removal or drainage of contaminated water.
The army intends to allow the entry of large quantities of aid to the zone*, but Israel may not be able to ensure the aid reaches those who need it. Defense officials do not rule out an extreme scenario in which hundreds of thousands of unarmed Gazans march to the Israeli border.
NOTE: Israel has on many occasions claimed it was going to “flood Gaza with aid,” but has never followed through.
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GAZA HEADLINES:
“They Fear Our Lenses”: Gaza Photojournalists Speak Out
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.)
Zionist terror attacks surge across West Bank
On 11 August, soldiers – or settlers dressed as soldiers, opinions varied among villagers and volunteers after the fact – entered school grounds, tampered with waterlines, blocked entry roads, and forced their way into a home. A family member reported that the invaders threatened the family, yelling they would “burn us alive.”
I was there. As protective presence volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement, my partner and I intervened. Yet despite having our hands up, we were beaten and robbed at gunpoint. They took my phone and cash.
At one point, the uniformed men, holding me at gunpoint, deliberately trained green dot lasers at my genitals. Targeting the genital area has become a disturbingly widespread practice by the Israeli military and has resulted in the mutilation of numerous Palestinian boys.
A parent later told us: “They will kill our children in the dark” (continue reading here).
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If Israel’s settlement plan goes through, the West Bank will soon cease to exist
“There will be no Palestinian state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared last Thursday, attending a ceremony in the heart of the West Bank held at the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
Fast forward to the following Tuesday, September 16. Just a few meters away from Maale Adumim’s entrance, Israeli forces installed large metal gates at the entrance of the Palestinian town of al-Aizariyah, just a stone’s throw away from the Israeli settlement. It was a direct result of Netanyahu’s visit last week.
The Israeli PM had come to formally approve the E1 plan, a wide-ranging settlement project that would be built over a strategic tract of land separating the northern half of the West Bank from the south. It would effectively split the West Bank in two (continue reading here).
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WEST BANK HEADLINES:
Hundreds Detained in West Bank as Israeli Forces Escalate Arrest Campaigns
Invasions and Abductions Across the Occupied West Bank
Israeli Colonizers Assault Residents, Steal Livestock Near Ramallah
Palestine urges UNESCO to protect Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque after Israeli seizure
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.)
UN says at least 75 Palestinians died in Israeli detention since October 2023
At least 75 Palestinians, including a 17-year-old, have died in Israeli detention since Oct. 7, 2023, according to a report released on Wednesday by the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The office said Israeli authorities “must urgently end the systematic torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians held in their prisons and other places of detention and protect and ensure their right to life.”
The report cited repeated beatings, waterboarding, stress positions, sexual violence, starvation, and denial of hygiene and medical care (continue reading here; find the full report here).
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“50 States, One Israel” – American leaders converge in Israel
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel coincided with the controversial “50 States One Israel” annual event, which brought more than 250 American legislators to Israel*, the largest such delegation in history. The trip, from 14 to 18 September, is fully funded and organized by Israel’s foreign ministry, and includes meetings with Netanyahu, Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
The itinerary featured visits to the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in occupied Jerusalem, as well as trips to Israeli communities allegedly affected by the 7 October 2023 events.
Israeli officials used the event to press lawmakers to advance anti-BDS legislation in their home states, urging them to combat what Israel calls “global delegitimization efforts”.
*NOTE: 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.
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Israeli FM threatens EU with ‘retaliation’ over possible sanctions
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls the European Commission’s proposed measures against Israel “morally and politically distorted.”
“Actions against Israel will harm the interests of Europe itself,” he says on X.
Sa’ar promises that “Israel will continue to fight, with the help of its friends in Europe, against attempts to harm it while it is engaged in an existential war. Steps against Israel will be answered in kind, and we hope they will not be necessary.”
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Israel demolishes 40 homes in unrecognized Negev village of Al-Sir
Israeli authorities demolished 40 homes in the village of al-Sir, an unrecognized and threatened village in the Negev desert.
Local sources said that Israeli police fired sound and smoke grenades at the residents protesting the demolitions, while fires broke out inside several homes after their owners set them on fire in response to the arrival of Israeli bulldozers, sparking clashes and assaults on locals.
Dozens of families now face the threat of forced displacement, with approximately 50 families received immediate demolition orders for their homes. This move comes after the demolition of approximately 30 homes last week, leaving many residents homeless in dire conditions.
NOTE: Read more about the Palestinian villages inside Israel that the Israeli government refuses to recognize, and works to demolish, here.
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ISRAEL HEADLINES:
Thousands of Israelis back petition calling for recognition of Palestinian state, end to Gaza war
Israel committing war crimes in southern Syria: Human Rights Watch
79,000 Israelis left country in 2024, outnumbering newcomers, official figures show
OTHER NEWS:
The House is poised to expand the use of a secretive mechanism for funneling weapons to Israel. The legislation was crafted by committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a vehement supporter of Israel.
Hidden deep in a must-pass State Department funding bill is a provision that would allow for unlimited transfers of U.S. weapons to a special Israel-based stockpile, reducing public scrutiny. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to discuss the bill Wednesday morning.
The stockpile — known as War Reserve Stock for Allies-Israel, or WRSA-I — is “the least transparent mechanism of providing arms to Israel,” former State Department official Josh Paul said. Since Oct. 7, Israel has quietly purchased huge numbers of American weapons from WRSA-I. “Israel can just drive in, pull whatever it requires, and drive out,” said Paul.
In the early days of the conflict, Biden administration officials appeared to dodge transparency rules by cutting up larger transfers from WRSA-I into smaller weapons packages that fell under the $25 million threshold for notifying Congress of the sale.
NOTE: If this legislation passes, it will be on top of the $63 million a day that the US already gives Israel in military aid.
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Trump Sanctions Palestinian Human Rights Groups for Doing Their Job. Anybody Could Be Next.
For decades, the Treasury Department has politicized its authority to impose sanctions. Now, however, with the Trump administration sanctioning three Palestinian human rights organizations, civil society activists around the world are shocked and terrified: Could they be next?
The alarm is due to the brazen willingness of President Donald Trump to sanction the staff of these Palestinian groups specifically because of their advocacy with the International Criminal Court to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.
It’s the first time the U.S. has levied sanctions against an organization specifically for its efforts to use lawful, peaceful tools of advocacy in pursuit of legal accountability. There is no pretense other than the groups’ work on legal issues that the administration doesn’t like (continue reading here).
RELATED: Assaults On Free Speech (including pro-Palestine) Go Into Hyperdrive After Charlie Kirk Killing
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Mahmoud Khalil and his lawyers on Wednesday affirmed their plan to fight an immigration court ruling that paves the way for his deportation to Syria or Tunisia, months after plainclothes agents accosted the lawful permanent resident and his US citizen wife outside their home in New York City.
“It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again,” Khalil said in a statement (continue reading here).
RELATED: UC Berkeley hands over private staff and student information for Trump’s ‘antisemitism’ probe
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Pope Leo says Gaza is the Palestinians’ land, stands in solidarity with them
Pope Leo XIV says Palestinians are living in “unacceptable conditions” as they’re forcibly expelled from Gaza City, the enclave’s biggest urban center, during heavy Israeli bombardment.
“I express my deep solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands,” he said.
“I renew my appeal for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, for a negotiated diplomatic solution, and for the full respect of international humanitarian law. I invite everyone to join my heartfelt prayer that soon a dawn of peace and justice will rise.”
MORE HEADLINES:
ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
Israeli army deploys booby-trapped armored vehicles into Gaza City amid heavy bombardment
Gaza City evacuation orders constitute ethnic cleansing, war crimes: Israeli rights groups
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 17, 2025*:
- At least 66,184 Palestinians killed, 175,155 injured – including:
- at least 65,141 killed in Gaza (~20,000 children)
- at least 1,043 killed in the West Bank (~212 children)
- at least 165,925 injured in Gaza
- at least 9,230 injured in the West Bank
- at least 435 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 12,590 people. 56 Israeli soldiers (most recent Sept. 8) 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 17, 2025: ~1,629 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 460 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 267 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 201 and 319 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)
- 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?
- ‘God loves Gaza’: US Christians gather in rare display of solidarity with Palestine
- Charlie Kirk refused Netanyahu funding offer, was ‘frightened’ by pro-Israel forces before death, friend reveals
- Netanyahu’s Crude Exploitation of Charlie Kirk’s Death to Get the American Right Back into Line
- Western media’s pre-existing condition? Gaza atrocity denialism
