Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
WARS ON IRAN, LEBANON – NEWS & HEADLINES:
Why is If Americans Knew covering the war on Iran? 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.”
DEATH TOLL (all numbers are tentative):
- 13 US troops have been killed since the war on Iran began, with 232 injured.
- In Israel, 18 people have been killed and 3,727 injured.
- In Iran, 1,500 people have reportedly been killed since the conflict began (240 children).
- In Lebanon, at least 1,039 people have been killed (at least 118 of them children, 79 women, and 40 healthcare workers).
- In other Arab states (including Palestine), at least 89 people have been killed.
ISRAEL-US WAR ON IRAN:
US Soldiers ‘Do Not Want To Die For Israel’: As the possibility of an American ground operation in Iran is growing, some U.S. troops who are caught up in the war are reporting vulnerability, overwhelming stress, frustration, and disillusionment to the degree they may leave the military. “I’m hearing out of service members’ mouths the words, ’We do not want to die for Israel — we don’t want to be political pawns,” one reservist/mentor said. Another reservist in touch with current troops separately reported hearing similar comments.
‘Unprecedented*’: Israel, US carry out extensive strikes across Iran: An Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in Tehran has reported that the size and volume of the explosions in the Iranian capital Monday were “unprecedented.” US and Israeli forces have not only hit military installations but also hospitals, schools and more than 5,000 residential units.
*NOTE: Similarly, in Gaza, at least 94% of hospitals, 97% of schools, and more than 321,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed due to Israeli attacks.
NYT: Pentagon Considers Deploying 82nd Airborne Troops for Potential Attack on Iran’s Kharg Island: The troops would come from the 82nd Airborne’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers that can deploy anywhere in the world.
Israeli-US offensive targets energy infrastructure in Iran: Iranian media: Attacks come after Trump said earlier that he ordered a 5-day postponement of all strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.
US treasury secretary says Washington has ‘plenty of money’ to fund [Israel’s] Iran war: Bessent says Trump administration does not plan to raise taxes to cover Pentagon’s $200B request for funding.
Trump says he and ‘the ayatollah’ can share control of Strait of Hormuz: Trump said the waterway through which 20 percent of global energy supplies pass will be “jointly controlled. Maybe [by] me. Maybe me. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is.” A US move to recognize Iran’s sphere of influence over the strategic waterway would be a concession.
Tehran says Trump’s peace talk claims are ‘fake news’: US President Donald Trump announced discussions with Iran, saying that “this time, Iran means business; they want to settle. They want peace”. But Iran’s parliamentary speaker said such claims are “fake news” and being “used to manipulate financial and oil markets”.
Trump says if deal is reached, US will take Iran’s enriched uranium
Israeli media claims that US eyes April 9 to end Iran war: “Washington has set April 9 as a target date for ending the war, leaving about 21 days for continued fighting and negotiations,” said the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, citing an unnamed Israeli official.
Netanyahu wants to slow down US ceasefire negotiations: “Earlier today, I spoke with our friend, President Trump,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump believes there is an opportunity to leverage the tremendous achievements we have reached alongside the U.S. military to realize the goals of the war through an agreement, an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests.”
Behind the scenes, however, the phone call was not enough to reassure Jerusalem that Washington had its interests in mind, and Netanyahu dispatched his closest advisor, Ron Dermer, to deter the Trump administration from reaching a “not good” deal, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Israeli-US strike on primary school prompts Iran to request urgent UN Human Rights debate: “A strike on a functioning school during class hours represents a grave assault on children, on education, and on the future of the entire community,” Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said in a letter to the council president dated March 23.
Israel’s aggression triggers worldwide energy crisis worse than 1970s’ oil shocks combined, IEA head says: IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said Monday that the energy crunch prompted by the Israeli-US war on Iran exceeded the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks and gas shortages stemming from Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine put together.
Strait of Hormuz crisis threatens world fertilizer supply chain
ISRAEL’S WAR ON LEBANON:
‘Israel’s new border must be the Litani’: Israeli minister demands annexation of south Lebanon: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on 23 March that Israel should annex large swathes of southern Lebanon, extending its border to the Litani River, as Israeli forces bombed bridges and destroyed homes in an ongoing military campaign. Israel has sought to annex south Lebanon for decades to secure additional water resources and expand ‘Greater Israel.’
Israel to Occupy Southern Lebanon, Block Residents’ Return, Defense Minister Says
Israel has now blown up the main coastal bridge into the city of Tyre, further cutting off south Lebanon from the rest of the country ahead of their ground offensive. https://t.co/aQo2n9CXum pic.twitter.com/Z2Hvyhguka
— Will Christou (@will_christou) March 22, 2026
Israeli army says it will strike another bridge in southern Lebanon
Lebanon says over 1.16M people displaced by Israeli attacks
Israel committing war crimes in Lebanon with forced displacement, threats against civilians: HRW: Human Rights Watch said the Israeli military is deliberately destroying homes and carrying out strikes against civilians with the intention of forcibly displacing them – actions which are considered war crimes.
The BBC’s Lucy Williamson says Israel is destroying south Lebanon “using Gaza as a model – a blueprint for destruction used again as a path to peace”.
That’s right: genocide as “a path to peace”.
Orwell would be proud. pic.twitter.com/4St8lifzBK
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) March 22, 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.
While a “ceasefire” is ostensibly in place, Israel has continued its assault on Gaza without interruption. If Americans Knew considers the war to be ongoing, and in its 886th day. Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 680 Palestinians. Over 1,813 have been injured. Death toll figures are tentative. Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 1,620 times (as of Feb. 1, 2026). More statistics below.
‘Substantial evidence’ of double-tap strike in killing of Gaza’s Hind Rajab: Analysis by the global campaign group Avaaz has found evidence that the killings of Hind Rajab’s family and the ambulance crew that came to her rescue contravened international combat law under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute. “Israel is not only killing Palestinians – it is systematically killing those who try to save them.”
Paperwork lost in destroyed Gaza homes prompts fears for property rights: The Palestinian Housing Council has found widespread loss of ownership papers and tenure insecurity. “We worry that our right to the house will be lost because we have no proof it belongs to us.”
In first since reopening, Israel arrests Gazan returning* via Rafah crossing: Palestinian source warns crossing could become a detention point under tight Israeli controls.
*NOTE: Over 100,000 Palestinians reportedly want to enter or exit Gaza through the Rafah crossing (the only crossing that does not share a border with Israel): around 22,000 are seeking to leave for needed medical treatment abroad, and about 80,000 outside the Strip have registered to return to Gaza. Only a handful have been allowed to do so.
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.)
Jewish settler gangs* rampage through West Bank villages for three consecutive days: Saturday through Monday, illegal Israeli settlers continued their violent attacks, including use of pepper spray, uprooting olive trees, raiding a school, torching homes, cars, and a health clinic, and spray-painting graffiti.
*NOTE: More than 700,000 settlers live illegally on Palestinian land 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.
Monday Dawn Invasions, Abductions, In West Bank
Bishop Shomali: Israeli Colonizers Tightening Grip on West Bank
Israeli Forces Shoot Three, Including a Child, in Nablus
West Bank: Israeli Colonizers Injure Palestinians in Nablus, Hebron
Israeli Forces Invade Bethlehem, Nablus, Other Towns in Ongoing West Bank Attacks
Israeli Forces Demolish a Home Near Nablus, Farm Structures Near Hebron
Colonizers Vandalize A School in Jordan Valley
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.)
Less Than 1% of Public Bomb Shelters in Israel Are in Palestinian Communities
Israeli economy lost over $57B during 2 years of Gaza war: Central bank: Loss is equivalent to 8.6% of Israel’s annual gross domestic product between 2023 and 2025.
“Reports of 1-year-old Karim Abu Nassar being burned with a cigarette and pierced with a nail followed the publication of a United Nations analysis detailing Israel’s “systematic” torture of Palestinians since October 2023.”https://t.co/Mydk33XGhC
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) March 24, 2026
Israel’s defense companies report record $80 billion backlog as global demand surges
Israeli forces raid village, search houses in Syria’s Quneitra
*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, killing dozens of Syrians.
Israeli Police Chief Wants to Fire ‘The Only Officer Who Refuses to Bow to Ben-Gvir’
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
‘Handful’ of ICC* states aim to sabotage report clearing Karim Khan: Experts warn that ICC faces ‘real risk’ of politicization, as a small number of mainly western, pro-Israel states look to undermine the report clearing prosecutor of wrongdoing (background on this story here).
*NOTE: The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on Nov. 21, 2024, over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel has run an almost decade-long secret “war” against the International Criminal Court, surveiling, hacking, pressuring, smearing, and allegedly threatening senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court’s inquiries into Israeli leaders’ crimes. Read more here.
US defense company deepens collaboration with Israel’s drone sector: From Kansas farming to military drones, EagleNXT is focused on expanding into the Israeli defense sector.
Pope Leo XIV Suggests Aerial Bombing Campaigns Should Be ‘Banned Forever’: “Airplanes should always be carriers of peace, never of war,” Leo said. “No one should be afraid that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky.”
Why I resigned from the UN to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Mondoweiss interviews former UN official Chloé Ludden about her experiences at sea during the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and why we can no longer afford the luxury of silence.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Trump halts US strikes on power plants after claiming ‘very good conversations*’ with Iran (conversations that Iran denies)
Israeli Strikes Kill Five in Gaza Amid Deteriorating Conditions
Overnight pogroms by Jewish settlers target Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank
Trump Calls Israel’s President Herzog a ‘Liar, Weak Person, Pathetic’
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MARCH 23, 2026*:
- At least 73,386 Palestinians killed, 184,612 injured – including:
- At least 72,253 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,912 injured in Gaza
- At least 1,133 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 – March 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 conflict with Lebanon or the war with Iran).
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 281 Palestinian journalists and media workers (as of Jan. 21, 2026); Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 215 and 333 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)
- From Sde Teiman, the truth about Israel’s military justice system has been set free
- Child denied life-saving bone marrow transplant by Israel ‘because he is from Gaza’
- Raffi Berg: BBC Middle East Editor Exposed as CIA, Mossad Collaborator
- Jerusalem Archbishop Rebukes Netanyahu’s Statements on Christianity
- US to embed Palantir AI across entire military: Report
- Israel’s assassination game: Take all pragmatists off the board
- Food shortages return to Gaza as Israel tightens aid restrictions under the cover of its war on Iran
- Meet the former fashion blogger and shady doctor behind the ‘30,000 dead’ Iran psy-op
- Vatican Secretary of State to Trump, Israel: End the war as soon as possible
- The Majority of Americans Believe War Against Iran Benefits Israel More Than US
- Efforts to shut down pro-Palestinian speech face series of setbacks in court
- What has Israel done to my brother?
- Trump: Israel attacked Iranian gas field without US knowledge. No more such attacks!
- America’s friends must help extricate it from an unlawful war
