It has now been 930 days since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people. Below is a roundup of news from Thursday, April 23, 2026.
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
ISRAEL-US WAR/CEASEFIRE 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. 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.
The American people have made clear that they do not want the US embroiled in a 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.”
Israel tells US it wants to resume war with Iran: An Israeli source told the Hebrew channel Kan: “We are on maximum alert, awaiting President Trump’s decision.”
US, Israel ‘plan huge assault on Iran’ as ceasefire prospects falter: US media: Israel’s hardline Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday, “We are awaiting a green light from the United States – first and foremost to complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty… and additionally to return Iran to the Dark Age and the Stone Age by destroying key energy and electricity facilities and dismantling its national economic infrastructure.”
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz described upcoming attacks as “different and deadly,” stating that the military will strike “the most painful places,” adding that the attacks would “shake and collapse its [Iran’s] foundations.”
Trump Orders Navy to ‘Shoot and Kill’ Mine-Laying, Iranian Boats: In a Thursday morning Truth Social post, President Donald Trump said he has ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any boat “that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz”; in another post, he claimed that the U.S. has “total control over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran Cashes In on Strait of Hormuz Tolls: Iran’s second deputy speaker of parliament, Hamidreza Haji Babaei, said Thursday that the first revenues from Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll system had been deposited into the country’s Central Bank, reportedly $1 per barrel of oil, paid in crypto and other alternative currencies.
USS George H.W. Bush arrives in Central Command area, giving US 3 aircraft carriers in region
Over two-thirds of US-Israeli targets in Tehran ‘not linked to military’: Report: 2,816 buildings were hit, around 32 percent of which were linked to the military, 25 percent to industry, 21 percent to civilians, while 19 percent were commercial and two percent governmental. According to the Iranian government, the total direct and indirect damage from the war is $270 billion.
IEA chief warns Hormuz crisis wiped 13m barrels of oil per day from global markets: The organization has called the US-created disruption of oil and gas flows the ‘biggest energy security threat in history.’
Panama Canal transit fees skyrocket amid war in Middle East: Canal authorities say prices have more than doubled since US and Israel launched war against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump rules out using nuclear weapon against Iran amid impasse in talks
President Trump on Thursday shared a post calling for the killing of Iranian leaders who won’t accept US demands, ramping up his threats against the country amid a very fragile ceasefire.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13 (this number is believed by some to be an undercount)
- Iran: at least 3,636 (1,701 civilians, 254 children)
- Israel: 30 (including 16 Israeli soldiers, and 1 friendly fire – including both Iran and Lebanon-related deaths; another count shows 20 Israeli civilian deaths)
- Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 154
ISRAEL’S WAR/CEASEFIRE ON LEBANON – NEWS & HEADLINES:
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.
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. (Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.)
Eight people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past 24 hours in spite of the ceasefire, Lebanese authorities said Thursday.
The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been extended by three weeks, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday, following ambassador-level direct talks at the White House. He later added that “Israel is going to have to defend itself*, if they’re shot at, and they will. I would never say that they can’t.”
*NOTE: 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 over 300. Additionally, Israel continues to occupy five Lebanese hilltops seized during the latest war, and other Lebanese areas it has held for decades. The people of Lebanon have a right to defend themselves against Israel’s constant aggression.
Trump’s repetition of the Israeli talking point that Israel has a right to “defend itself,” framing its actions as “retaliatory” (“if they’re shot at”) enables Israel to portray itself as the victim – although it has been killing Lebanese and demolishing homes since the “ceasefire” began.This is an example of Israel’s perpetual use of “self-defense” as an excuse for attacking their latest enemy.
3 killed as Israeli airstrike targets car in southern Lebanon hours before US-hosted talks
Israeli killing of Lebanese journalist draws international condemnation: Lebanese PM calls attack that killed Amal Khalil a ‘war crime’, with rescuers attempting to free her also targeted.
At least 27 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2, along with many others wounded, the Lebanese Press Syndicate Editors said Thursday.
UK Foreign Office unit tracking Israel’s potential breaches of int’l law closes due to cuts: The unit is the only program in the UK that collects, verifies and analyzes human rights and conflict incidents in Israel and the occupied territories, and more recently, Lebanon. The closure means the Foreign Office will lose access to a database of 26,000 verified incidents in the Middle East, stretching back to 7 October 2023. It is thought to be the largest database of its kind in the world.
Lebanese residents reject Jesus statue offered by Israeli army: Report: Instead, with apparent assistance from the Italian contingent of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), an identical statue was brought, and peacekeepers, local residents, and the town’s priest installed the new statue in its place.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
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.
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle in central Gaza on Thursday, including two civil defense workers, in another breach of the so-called ceasefire agreement amid continued daily attacks.
Dozens of Children Go Missing Each Week in Gaza’s Chaos. Their Families Won’t Stop Searching for Them: The Palestinian Center for the Missing estimates that 2,700 children’s bodies are buried under the rubble; 200 other children have disappeared for reasons linked to the war.
Israel is threatening to resume the genocide in Gaza. This time, the world isn’t paying attention: The suggestions turned explicit when Israel’s Channel 14 reported last weekend that Israeli forces were preparing to resume war in Gaza “as early as next month.” According to the report that aired on the channel’s live broadcast, Israel is considering resuming its operations in Gaza after the refusal of Hamas and other Palestinian factions to disarm.
MUST-READ: Israel’s Best-Kept Secret: Palestinian Resistance Never Agreed to Disarm
Gaza’s Yellow Line creeps forward as Israeli forces take more land: The “temporary” Yellow Line was established in October 2025, declaring 53% of Gaza as Israeli-controlled. Since then, residents have awakened to find the line has moved overnight and they are now in free-fire zone. According to the research agency Forensic Architecture, by December Israel had taken 58% of the strip and continued to edge forwards. Israeli forces have killed 269 Palestinians near the Yellow Line – over 100 of them children – although the line is not clearly marked, and changes frequently.
RELATED: How Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ is redrawing Gaza and preventing displaced Palestinians returning home.
Palestinians produce fuel from plastic waste amid fuel crisis (photos): The fuel crisis in the region has pushed Palestinians to develop alternative solutions. Despite the ceasefire, Israel’s restriction on the entry of sufficient fuel into the area has led Palestinians to resort to primitive methods to meet their needs.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 786 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- 72,568 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls) since October 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.)
Occupation Forces Kill a Palestinian Teen in Nablus: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian youth on Thursday, during their invasion of the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. Medical sources reported that Youssef Sameh Ishtayah, 15, succumbed to a critical gunshot wound to the shoulder during a military raid in Nablus city.
Israeli Authorities Advance Provocative Colonial Plan in Jerusalem: The Israeli occupation has approved a plan to establish a Haredi Jewish religious school operated by Or Somayach—a religious institution that functions as part of the Israeli colonial presence in occupied Jerusalem—at the center of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in occupied Jerusalem.
The plan includes an 11‑story building on nearly 5 dunams at the southern entrance of Sheikh Jarrah, directly across from Sheikh Jarrah Mosque, along with dormitory housing for hundreds of Haredi students and residential units for teaching staff.
Israeli Army Escalates West Bank Invasions And Abductions
Nablus: Settlers Assault a Palestinian Man, Damage Vehicles
West Bank: Demolitions, Evictions, and Stop-Work Orders
Israel Orders Eviction of Seven Families in Silwan
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 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 appoints envoy to Christian world after soldier destroy Jesus status in southern Lebanon: George Deek is a member of the Arab Christian community in Jaffa and has long been active within it. His father, Youssef Deek, previously served as head of the Orthodox Christian community in Jaffa and Israel.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Netanyahu Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer, Underwent Radiation Therapy Without Informing Public: Netanyahu was diagnosed in 2024, and the report states that the treatment was ‘fully successful.’ On Friday, the prime minister said he had requested a two-month delay in its release so as not to allow Iran ‘to spread further false propaganda against Israel’ during the war. He has been declared cancer-free.
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
US military commanders warn of strain on weapons stockpiles amid Middle East operations: Report: Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, the United States has used around 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles intended for potential operations against China, officials said.
Protest Targets Capital One to Demand Bank Ends Loans to Israeli Weapons Company: Activists are urging the bank to not extend additional credit to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.
Despite Denials, AIPAC Is Now Funding Campaign of Ala Stanford In Philadelphia
US professors sue Emory University over arrest during pro-Palestine protest: Philosophy professor Noelle McAfee says the university failed to protect students and staff in its crackdown on protests.
Advocates demand release of Milwaukee Muslim Palestinian leader Salah Sarsour from ICE custody ahead of deportation hearing: The 53-year-old president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank who has been living in the US for 32 years as a lawful permanent resident, was seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month when he was pulled over while driving his car. He was apprehended shortly after Canary Mission, a group that targets pro-Palestinian activists, ran a profile of him.
Harvard Youth Poll shows Gen Z voters view Israel, Ukraine as burden on U.S.: Only 16% of young voters view Israel as a benefit.
More than 1,600 candidates in UK local elections make major pro-Palestine pledge
US mulls expelling Spain from NATO for failing to back war on Iran
Italy in favor of restrictions on imports from Israeli occupiers in West Bank, says top official
Slovenia to air films about Palestine instead of Eurovision song contest: Ireland and Spain will also not broadcast Eurovision after decision to boycott live event over Israel’s participation.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Iran demands end to US blockade as Trump announces unilateral truce extension
Israeli soldiers looting homes in Lebanon on large scale, report says
Five Palestinians, including three children, killed in Gaza
Israeli Colonizers Kill a Palestinian in the West Bank
Smotrich claims settlers are “among the least violent people”
This proud war criminal is Israel’s example of a “model citizen”
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – APRIL 23, 2026*:
- At least 73,724 Palestinians killed, 184,038 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 72,568 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,338 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,156 killed (~240 children), 11,700 injured
*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 23, 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 conflicts with Lebanon or Iran).
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 282 Palestinian journalists and media workers (most recent March 9, 2026; other groups have tallied between 215 and 356 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used). Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (all on October 7, 2023).
**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)
- Meet the Top “Content” Producers Linked to Canary Mission
- Lebanese Journalist Amal Khalil Bombed and Left to Die by Israel
- Israel Moves to Re-establish Ganim Colony In Jenin
- Two Iranian Women in ICE Detention Are Not, In Fact, Related to Qasem Soleimani, Documents Show
- Gaza’s unseen casualties: A surge in stillbirths and birth defects
- ‘Day of Ordinary Terror’: Israeli Attack on West Bank School Kills Man, Child
- Final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment
- Zionist Doxxing Campaigns Upended Their Lives. Now They’re Suing for Damages.
- Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says
- Top Biden Official Supports Trump Iran Attack, Says Biden May Have Done The Same
- A history of Israel’s invasions of Lebanon
- How the powerful pro-Israel lobby keeps controlling Democrats in the US
- Replay: Israel’s slow ethnic cleansing of Christians from the Holy Land
