To our readers: since October 7th, 2023, If Americans Knew has provided a roundup of the latest Palestine and Palestine-adjacent news. Now, 170+ days after a “ceasefire” was declared in Gaza (October 11, 2025), the assault on the Palestinian people is still going, with no end in sight. Our Daily Updates will continue to keep you abreast of the news – but without the words “war” or “ceasefire.”
It has now been 911 days since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people. Below is a roundup of news from Saturday, April 5, 2026.
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
ISRAEL-US WAR ON IRAN – NEWS & HEADLINES:
It can not be overemphasized that Israel has been the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran for years. This is especially true right now, under Donald Trump. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the US to attack Iran for decades.
The American people have made clear that they do not want to go to war with Iran, but Israel partisans and the Israel lobby use their massive political clout to bring about whatever is beneficial to Israel – including putting the US military in harm’s way. For more background on Israel’s role in American wars, watch IAK’s short film, “The Israeli Hit List.”
At least 30 Iran universities hit as Israel, US ramp up attacks on Iran’s infrastructure: “This hostile act not only targets the security of academics and the country’s scientific environment, but is also a clear attack on reason, research, and freedom of thought,” Tehran’s Laser and Plasma Research Institute said in a statement, calling on international peers to raise awareness about similar strikes.
RELATED: Destroying civilian housing and infrastructure is an international crime, warns UN expert.
Search for missing US crew member of downed fighter jet enters second day: A pilot had been rescued on Friday after the F-15E Strike Eagle became the first US plane to be downed over Iran during the five-week-long war, but the second of the two-strong crew has not been accounted for.
UPDATE: US says missing crew member has been rescued, while Iran says US rescue mission failed, multiple aircraft destroyed near Isfahan.
Iran warns US-Israeli strikes on nuclear sites risk radioactive fallout across region: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns in letter to UN secretary-general, UN Security Council, UN nuclear watchdog head that continued strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure pose serious environmental and humanitarian risks. He added that “radioactive fallout will end life in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) capitals, not Tehran.”
A brief history of the Israeli nuclear program, the open secret at the heart of the Iran war: Israel’s nuclear weapons program was secretly developed with financial and diplomatic support from the West. Its nuclear arsenal, estimated at over 90 warheads, remains a leading driver of conflict across the region.
1,500 US sailors, families flee Bahrain base after sustained missile, drone strikes: The evacuees left in a rush with almost nothing and were returned to the US. Other U.S. military bases in the region have reportedly been evacuated as well.
US Air Force has lost at least 7 aircraft in war with Iran: Report
Drone strike on US Embassy in Saudi Arabia was Israeli ‘false flag’: IRGC: Iran has denied several attacks on its neighbors, including on desalination plans in Kuwait and a major oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.
2 warheads from Iranian fragmentation missile explode near Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv
Iran says psychiatric hospital in Tehran hit in US-Israeli strikes, no casualties reported
Iran says it rejects Trump offer of 48-hour ceasefire: Report: Tehran has said it is also unwilling to meet with mediators for talks in Islamabad. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said Iran was the one asking for a ceasefire. Iran has denied that claim.
Trump: ‘With a little more time’ the US ‘can easily’ reopen Strait of Hormuz: On Truth Social, Trump says US can ‘TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,’ with bridges, power plants next on target list.
Trump Is Trading Europe for Netanyahu’s War: The message from Washington could not be clearer: The transatlantic alliance is conditional on European willingness to subordinate their own national interests to the demands of Washington, which itself, many would argue, is acting in the interests of a foreign country—Israel.
Azerbaijan sends 200 tons of humanitarian aid to Iran: The 200-ton aid package consists of 190 tons of food products, 7 tons of medicines and 3 tons of medical supplies.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13 (this number is believed by some to be an undercount)
- Israel: 24 (another source says 29)
- Iran: at least 3,540 (1,616 civilian, 1,213 military, 711 unclassified)
- Other Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 144
ISRAEL’S WAR ON LEBANON – NEWS & HEADLINES:
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 – and killing at least 397. 80,000 residents remain displaced and unable to return home.
Additionally, Israel continues to occupy five Lebanese hilltops seized during the latest war, and other Lebanese areas it has held for decades. (Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.)
Israeli attacks Saturday on southern Lebanon killed at least two children and wounded 40 people, according to Lebanese health officials. Strikes caused damage to a hospital and destroyed a number of buildings, before hitting a Palestinian refugee camp.
Israel is implementing its Gaza strategy in Lebanon: turning ‘buffer zones’ into permanent borders: Israel has stated it does not plan to leave Lebanon even if the current ‘war’ ends. If the Gaza model is any guide, Israel appears to be moving toward expanding its border into Lebanon.
Israeli forces destroy all 17 UN peacekeeper* cameras in south Lebanon: A UNIFIL spokesperson said that “the cameras appear to have been destroyed by some kind of laser.” Israeli forces are razing buildings to the ground in Naqoura, the southern Lebanon town that hosts UNIFIL’s headquarters. Israeli forces have killed and injured members of UNIFIL in recent attacks.
*NOTE: Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- In Lebanon, at least 1,422 people have been killed (125 children and 91 women, 53 healthcare workers).
Israel has wiped the Lebanese village of Naqoura off the map. pic.twitter.com/2jjma2VAQ2
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) April 5, 2026
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.
Israeli strike on civilian vehicle in Gaza Strip kills one, injures three: One person was killed and three others injured after the Israeli army targeted a civilian vehicle on Salah al-Din Street in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Children in Gaza were filmed playing a game they called “carrying the martyrs,” where they pretend to carry dead bodies on hospital gurneys. pic.twitter.com/0Fcw9QBv5U
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 3, 2026
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 713 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- At least 72,291 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls) since Oct. 7, 2023
- 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.)
Israeli Settlers* Killed a Palestinian Farmer on His Own Land, in Front of His Father. Yes, Again: It was the third time in a month, just the names and location are different: Settler shot and killed a Palestinian farmer on his family’s land. Before the attack, the assailants’ leader said: ‘Abraham gave the land only to the Jews. I am the law and I am also above the law.’
*NOTE: More than 700,000 settlers live illegally on Palestinian land in over 500 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. 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.”
Israeli measures tighten grip on Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque*: Israel has intensified its control over Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque, an important religious site, with measures now resembling the policies applied at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. At Al Aqsa, Israeli forces have the last word in all movement, turning away worshipers, conducting searches, and instigating trouble. Now the Ibrahimi Mosque is experiencing much the same thing.
*NOTE: Around 35,000 Palestinians live in the West Bank city of Hebron, where the Ibrahimi Mosque is located, along with about 800 Jewish settlers, who are protected and supported by 1,500 Israeli soldiers. To read more about Israeli settler violence (backed by Israeli military) in the West Bank city of Hebron, go here, and see the video below.
Pro-Palestine rallies sweep Syria amid Gaza genocide and Israeli occupation: Protesters chant for Palestine as anger grows over Israeli occupation in southern Syria.
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 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 Demolishes Homes* for Construction Violations – If They’re Palestinian: In several cases the municipality has halted enforcement proceedings when the building was transferred to the ownership of Israeli settlers, a Haaretz investigation reveals.
*NOTE: In East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, any new Palestinian structure, electricity pole, or water pipe requires a permit from the Civil Administration – a permit that is almost never granted. This has forced Palestinians to build “illegally,” which has led to rampant demolition of Palestinian structures by Israeli forces. For more on home demolitions, go here.
Ex-Israeli premier says Jews committing ‘crimes against humanity’ in West Bank: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Jews are committing killings, “ethnic cleansing,” and “crimes against humanity” in the West Bank. In an interview with Israeli television, Olmert addressed Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Police Commissioner Danny Levy, warning, “Save the country from this catastrophe. You will end up in The Hague.”
🚨BREAKING:Israel Prepares Execution Facilities for Palestinian Prisoners
“The Prison Service have already started ordering red uniforms… opening a death row wing… setting up a facility.”
After approving the death penalty law targeting Palestinian prisoners, Itamar Ben Gvir… pic.twitter.com/2jGso9ulEx
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) April 5, 2026
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
Far-Right Religious Leaders Advising Trump See Iran as an End Times Holy War: Religious framing makes wars far more difficult to end. Conflicts become existential, not negotiable. Identity replaces strategy. Destiny replaces diplomacy. And for a soldier, sailor, or Marine, it muddies the distinction between national defense and participation in what could amount to religious ethnic cleansing.
RELATED: Lawmakers Want DOD, Hegseth Investigated for Biblical ‘Armageddon’ Claims
Jared Kushner is seeking peace deals in the Middle East. He’s also raising money for his own firm: The president’s son-in-law is acting as an envoy even as he looks to secure billions for his company from foreign governments.
French-based boats depart Marseille to join Gaza aid flotilla: Around 20 boats are making their way toward Italy to join the “2026 Spring Mission” of the Global Sumud Flotilla to break Israel’s Gaza blockade and deliver humanitarian aid. Each vessel is expected to carry around eight people along with humanitarian supplies, including medical aid and seeds, before making an initial stop in Italy.
*NOTE: Read about the Gaza Flotilla 2025 missions here and here, and the deadly 2010 mission here; find out about the global flotilla movement here.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Iran’s March 3 drone attack on US Embassy in Riyadh led to more damage than publicly revealed
IDF official says disarming Hezbollah unrealistic, not a goal of Lebanon operation
Disease risk rises in Gaza as Israeli siege continues
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – APRIL 4, 2026*:
- At least 73,434 Palestinians killed, 183,768 injured – including:
- At least 72,291 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,068 injured in Gaza
- At least 1,143 killed (~232 children), 11,700 injured in the West Bank
*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 – April 4, 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 conflict with Lebanon or the war with Iran).
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 282 Palestinian journalists and media workers (most recent March 9, 2026); Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 215 and 356 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)
- Israel Is Blocking Palestinians from Easter at Church Where Jesus Resurrected
- Plot to assassinate Palestinian activist follows harassment campaign promoted by Zionist groups and elected officials
- Prominent New York synagogue hosts presentation on why U.S. Jews should support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza
- Tapper vs. Piker: Is the CNN Anchor Auditioning for David Ellison?
- ‘War crime’: Global condemnation as Israeli ministers celebrate death penalty law targeting Palestinian prisoners
- 7 Ways Israel Is Turning Lebanon Into Gaza
- World’s Leading Football Bodies Under Fire Over Israel Policies
- Experts warn of possible use of nukes against Iran
- Israeli invasion of Lebanon could be worse than 1982, warn European officials
- Passover: Liberation and collective punishment
- Gaza families reunite years after babies evacuated amid Israel’s war
- International Rescue Committee warns Gaza’s children face grave protection risks
- Iran’s Alleged 47-Year War on America: Debunking the 1,050 American Deaths Canard
