It has now been 925 days since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people. Below is a roundup of news from Saturday, April 18, 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 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.”
Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’: Iranian officials say they have again closed the strait of Hormuz after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran said the restrictions would remain if Washington did not “ensure full freedom of navigation for vessels traveling from Iran to destinations and from destinations to Iran.”
Iran rejects uranium transfer abroad: Trump had said on Friday that Washington would work with Tehran to bring enriched uranium – what he called “nuclear dust” – to the US: “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States,” Trump said. On Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson denied any such transfer: “Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere. Transferring uranium to the United States has not been an option for us.”
Tehran confirms no talks scheduled with Washington, blasts ‘excessive demands’
U.S. Military Prepares to Board Iran-Linked Ships in Coming Days, Officials Say: The U.S. military is preparing to board and seize Iran-linked oil tankers and commercial ships in international waters in coming days. This expanded naval crackdown, dubbed “economic fury,” aims to force Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and make nuclear program concessions.
US officials say Iran retains significant drone, missile capability despite strikes: Report
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 14 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.)
The Israeli military asserts that the ceasefire does not restrict them from taking actions in self-defense*. Israel claims that “terrorists” approached IDF soldiers in a threatening way, so the Israeli Air Force conducted precise strikes against them. In addition, “terrorist infrastructure sites” used to facilitate attacks were struck.
*NOTE: Israel regularly frames all manner of hostile actions as “self-defense,” which enables Israel to portray itself as the victim. It often claims that a group “was about to attack,” or “wants to wipe out all Jews” (read more here – also check out Israel’s history of preemptive strikes).
Israel Continues ‘Gaza Tactics’ in Lebanon, Leveling Villages and Homes in Violation of Ceasefire: Just as it did in Gaza, Israeli Army Radio announced Friday night that Israel had established a “yellow line” in southern Lebanon about 10 kilometers north of the Israeli border, effectively allowing Israel to occupy about 10% of Lebanese territory and maintain control of 55 towns and villages. According to a report by Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research, Israeli forces have been destroying more than 1,000 homes per day since March 2, sometimes wiping out entire villages across southern Lebanon.
FOR PERSPECTIVE, NOTE THAT More than 1,000 Tel Aviv homes were left uninhabitable by the Iran war
Israel’s long history of stoking sectarian tensions in Lebanon, and what it means for the ceasefire: Netanyahu may have been “coerced” by Trump into a ceasefire with Lebanon, but this won’t stop Israel from following a well-worn playbook: exploit sectarian divisions to weaken or disarm resistance while entrenching Israeli expansionism.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Israel Could Spend as Much as $6.4 Billion a Year Maintaining a Buffer Zone in Southern Lebanon: Holding the zone would require an additional 40,000 reserve troops, an Israeli defense official said, and could cost as much as 19 billion shekels ($6.4 billion) annually, The Marker calculated. The rise of West Bank Jewish terror is also driving costs
UN peacekeepers* said one of its personnel was killed and three others, were wounded, including two seriously, after a patrol came under small-arms fire from “non-state actors” in southern Lebanon. The force said initial assessments indicated the fire came from “non-state actors (allegedly Hezbollah).” Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident, and expressed surprise at what it called premature accusations, saying some parties were quick to assign blame “while remaining silent during Israeli attacks on UNIFIL forces.”
*NOTE: Israel has attacked or fired upon UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) positions hundreds of times over the past decades. Major incidents include 270 occurrences in 1996 and over 30 direct attacks in 2006. Recently, in October 2024, UNIFIL recorded dozens of incidents, including direct attacks on sites and personnel.Read more about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- Lebanon: at least 2,294 people have been killed (including 260 women, 172 children)
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 army fire killed a Palestinian Saturday in northern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in the latest Israeli violation of a ceasefire agreement in force since last October. Sources said the victim was left lying at the scene for hours before medical crews were able to retrieve his body because of the danger posed by continued Israeli fire. In northern Gaza, another Palestinian died Saturday of wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli shooting.
‘I thought I might die’: A Palestinian mother’s account of Israeli detention: Detained while fleeing northern Gaza, Saeda al-Shrafi recalls weeks of interrogation, torture and imprisonment that changed her life.
Documents Reveal US Contractor’s Modifications of Spy Plane Just Before Flights Over Gaza: A US defense contractor flew spy planes over Gaza. FAA docs show Sierra Nevada Corporation installed a military air traffic control device and surveillance equipment before the plane’s deployment.
Board of Peace* official says Israel’s border restrictions main obstacle to aid delivery**: Nickolay Mladenov, high representative of the Board of Peace, said in an interview that Israel’s war on Gaza has destroyed previous aid distribution mechanisms, while alternative systems are not yet in place. He stressed that Israeli restrictions at border crossings, particularly related to items classified as “dual-use,” constitute the “biggest obstacle.”
*NOTE: The so-called “Board of Peace” for Gaza is stacked with wealthy and powerful Israel supporters, dictators, and authoritarians, as well as Israeli prime minister and war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and two other Israelis – both 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.
Trump appointed himself the Board’s lifelong chairman, and gave himself unilateral veto power. 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.
**NOTE: After imposing severe restrictions on aid to Gaza for months and causing widespread hunger and hundreds of deaths due to starvation, the October 2025 ceasefire terms required Israel to surge massive quantities of aid into Gaza (600 trucks a day – actually a modest amount given the circumstances). More than 6 months into the ceasefire, the entry of aid is well below the amount agreed upon – about 110 truckloads per day.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 766 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- 72,345 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.)
Israeli Army Kills A Palestinian Near Hebron: On Saturday morning, Israeli soldiers killed Mohammad Ahmad Sweity, 25, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part, after he allegedly approached an illegal Israeli colony built on Palestinian lands, wielding a knife. The Israeli army said he was “neutralized.” After the shooting, soldiers refused to allow Palestinian medics to approach the area, and took Sweity’s body to an unknown destination.
Israel is racing to expand West Bank settlements before new political realities end its era of impunity: Israel is approving the construction of new West Bank settlements at an unprecedented rate because it knows its window of impunity is closing — especially if Iran emerges intact from the war and the Republicans lose the U.S. midterms.
MUST-READ: Israel’s largest land grab since the Nakba
Israeli Colonizers Burn Cars, Agricultural Room in West Bank
Israeli Invasions And Violations, Saturday
Israeli Colonizers Attack Bedouin Village Near Jericho
Israeli occupiers torch Palestinian home in West Bank, assault elderly woman
Colonizers Continue West Bank Violations, Saturday
Israeli Forces Shoot Worker, Intensify West Bank Invasions
DEATH TOLL – WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM (tentative):
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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.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Help Wanted in Israel: Hangman. Steady Work, Benefits and Strong Sense of Purpose Guaranteed: The Israel Prison Service is seeking an enthusiastic candidate for a new position of a distinctly national character – a hangman. Rewarding conditions, stable employment, public support and a sense of mission not found in any desk job are guaranteed. The person in question will be required to hang people by the neck with a rope until dead. The people the hangman will encounter on the gallows will solely be Palestinians whom the security services have determined, using their various methods, to be terrorists.
Israeli army launches new incursion into Syria*’s Quneitra, sets up prefabricated structures: Earlier in the week, Israeli forces raised a flag at a military site in the Tel Ahmar area of Syria*’s Quneitra province.
*NOTE: Although Israel is not at war with Syria, the Israeli army has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 cross-border raids on Syria since December 2024. Israel has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria, allegedly to prevent any “potential threat” from post-war Syria – but has vowed to stay permanently in what seems to be an informal border expansion.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Women IDF Soldiers Made to Wear Long Pants in Jerusalem Marathon; Men Wore Shorts
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
Capitol Hill Dems turning their backs on Israel:
- 40 Senate Dems voted Yes on a resolution this week to block arms sales to Israel, up from just 15 on a similar vote last April.
- Every Senate Democrat who’s eyeing a 2028 presidential run voted against arms sales to Israel.
- In the House, some Dems are turning against support for defensive weapons, including funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. (That was “seen as insanely fringe four years ago,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) told Axios.)
- Multiple Democrats who voted for Iron Dome in 2021 told Axios they’re done providing financial aid.
Hind Rajab Foundation* targets IDF vet in Sri Lanka in first US-citizen case: The group claimed that the Israeli-American tourist was part of an IDF Combat Engineering Battalion and took part in “illegal demolitions of civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”
*NOTE: Read about the organization’s effort to hold Israeli soldiers accountable here; find out who Hind Rajab was here.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Persian Gulf oil production can take two years to recover from war: IEA chief
Trump “prohibits” Israel from bombing Lebanon – unsuccessfully
Israeli Strikes Killed Average of 47 Women and Girls a Day During Gaza War
Tennessee advances ‘Judea and Samaria’ bill, sends measure to governor
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – APRIL 18, 2026*:
- At least 73,494 Palestinians killed, 183,942 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 72,345 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,242 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,149 killed (~232 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 18, 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)
- Senate again fails to block weapons to Israel
- Think the Iran war is a disaster? Blame these DC think tanks first.
- Number of Palestinian Prisoners Rises By 83% Since October 2023
- Mearsheimer: Israel Owns Trump
- Mark Levin and Jonathan Pollard Push for Nuking Iran
- TCN: America Enables Israel’s Crimes
- Israel’s Next Leader Will Be Just Like Bibi – but Without the Corruption
- Born into war, raised across borders: The story of Gaza’s premature babies separated from their parents amid Israel’s genocide
- Israeli soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian detainee allowed to return to service
- Gaza flooded with sweets as fuel and medicine withheld, health official warns
- Commentary: take away Israel’s biggest weapon
- The Myth of Israel as ‘US Aircraft Carrier’ in Middle East
- Israeli Media: ‘Diseases Are Everywhere’: Gaza’s ‘Catastrophic’ Healthcare Crisis Is Worsening
- Declassified Files Expose Jewish Pre-state Underground Militia’s Contacts With Nazi Germany
