Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
ISRAEL-US WAR ON IRAN – 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.”
IDF Confirms: AI Infrastructure Built in Gaza Now Active in Iran, Lebanon: A military source says the IDF’s AI ‘data factory’ creates a single operational picture from multiple data streams. Haaretz has learned it also processes strike plans and targets – confirming its role in offensive operations for the first time.
Iran’s revolutionary guard considers US firms “legitimate targets*” in retaliation for attacks: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to target American companies operating in neighboring countries, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing; the attacks are said to begin April 1. IRGC described US companies in the region as “spy companies”, accusing them of being involved in assassinations and of “actively participating in planning terrorism”.
*NOTE: The IRGC has a point: Big Tech plays a big part in Israel’s war on its neighbors. Read this, this, and this for starters.
Iran says Elon Musk’s Starlink a ‘legitimate’ target: Iranian state media reports that Starlink has a presence in countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran says over 113,000 civilian places damaged in US-Israeli attacks: Over 90,000 homes, 21,000 commercial facilities, 760 educational centers damaged, says Iranian Red Crescent.
Israel pushing Trump to expand attacks on Iran’s civilian infrastructure: Israel is lobbying the Trump administration to allow it to bomb more of Iran’s civilian infrastructure, Israeli news media reported Tuesday. Israeli officials insist that a large-scale attack on the country’s power plants and other infrastructure could collapse the regime and want Trump to sign off on the plan.
Israel says it will not join any US ground operation in Iran
Netanyahu casts Iran war as modern Exodus
‘Get your own oil’: Trump launches tirade against Europe for not joining Iran war: Many countries in Europe have called the conflict illegal, with some blocking Israeli and US planes from moving weapons through their airspace.
Iranian missiles don’t pose a threat to the US, Pete Hegseth admits, undercutting talk of the “imminent threat” repeated by the White House.
US launches first overland B-52 bombers in operation against Iran: Top general
Iran war triggers major environmental damage, carbon emissions surpass Iceland levels: Attacks on oil facilities, ports and military targets release toxic pollution, raise nuclear safety concerns across region.
Jet fuel prices double amid Strait of Hormuz blockade paralyzing supply flows: Sudden drop in shipping capacity, massive rise in insurance premiums paralyze supply, while jet fuel prices in Europe surge 95% since US-Israel war against Iran began.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13
- Israel: 24
- Iran: at least 3,486 (1,568 civilian, 1,211 military, 707 unclassified)
- Other Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 141
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 over 300. 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 invasion of Lebanon could be worse than 1982, warn European officials: For many Lebanese, Israel’s military campaign in recent weeks recalls its 18-year occupation of the south of their country, which ended after when Hezbollah forced Israeli troops to withdraw in 2000. Israel has declined Lebanon’s recent offer for direct talks. As in the past, Israeli officials have made clear they have a military plan for southern Lebanon and intend to carry it out, said a European official with knowledge on the matter.
Israel threatens people living south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River: The forced evacuation zone now extends from the Litani River to areas beyond the Zahrani River, approximately 40km (25 miles) north of the Israeli border. These orders cover more than 1,470 square kilometres (568 square miles) – about 14 percent of Lebanon’s territory – and affect more than 100 towns and villages.
Pregnant woman, husband killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli air strike
Israel strikes Christian area of Beirut for first time since its attacks began
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says homes in southern Lebanon will be demolished and hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese won’t be allowed to return.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- In Lebanon, at least 1,268 people have been killed (124 children and 86 women, 53 healthcare workers).
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 895th day.
Three Palestinians were reportedly killed and 13 others injured on Tuesday in Israeli strikes across Gaza, continuing violations of the ceasefire in place since October 2025.
A Gaza mother waits in agony: Did Israel kill her daughter, or arrest her? Tahrir Abu Mady has her daughter Malak’s death certificate. But a list of prisoners suggests she might have been arrested. Her son is also missing.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 709 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- At least 72,285 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.)
After uprooting Palestinian hamlets, extremist settlers set sights on purge of entire West Bank: As settler violence escalates, apparently under cover of Iran war, some behind the attacks appear to be pursuing a deliberate campaign aimed at ethnically cleansing the whole territory.
.Jerusalem’s Christians urge church leaders to challenge harsh Israeli restrictions: Palestinians say Israel is using war as an excuse to assert control over Old City’s holy sites after Catholic Patriarch was denied entry to Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
ORIGINAL STORY: Israeli police block Catholic cardinal from entering Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday
Israel’s closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque now in its second month
DEATH TOLL – WEST BANK (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.)
ALL ABOUT ISRAEL’S NEW DEATH PENALTY (FOR PALESTINIANS) LAW:
ISRAELI MEDIA: The Death Penalty Bill Illustrates How the Kahanist* Revolution Has Taken Over Israeli Society: The evening of the vote not only marked a moral abyss, but also anointed the next right-wing leader: Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology.
*NOTE: Meir Kahane, born Martin Kahane in Brooklyn in 1932, was an Orthodox rabbi who espoused a virulently racist ideology, founding a violent Jewish extremist movement and fascist political party (labeled terrorist organizations in the US) in Israel. Itamar Ben Gvir has been an open follower of Kahane for years. Read more about Kahane here, and Ben Gvir here.
Israeli court gives govt until May 24 to respond to challenge over Palestinian prisoner execution law: Adalah, a legal center for minority rights in Israel, and other organizations and legislators filed a petition a day after the Knesset approved the controversial law. Adalah said the law should be struck down because it “entails an absolute denial of the right to life” and imposes a cruel and inhumane punishment on those convicted under it.
ISRAELI MEDIA: With the Death Penalty for Palestinians, Israel Signals: Long Live the Jewish Terrorists: Legal viability aside, the new law reveals a deeper question, reflecting a perverse dissonance in Israeli society: Why are Jewish terrorists spared the noose while Arab ones are hanged?
‘They already shoot us for no reason. Now they have a death penalty’: Under Israel’s new law, only Palestinians will face capital punishment. Up next is a tribunal to execute those convicted of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.
A sampling of countries and groups that condemned death penalty law:
- Australia opposes ‘death penalty in all instances,’ says top diplomat
- Council of Europe voices concern over Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinians
- Germany sharply criticizes Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinians
- Spain condemns Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinians as ‘another step towards apartheid’
- EU says Israel’s death penalty bill ‘clear step backwards’
- European socialists call for immediate suspension of EU-Israel deal over Israel’s death penalty bill
- French opposition urges EU action over Israeli death penalty law
- ‘Deeply concerned,’ Switzerland urges Israel to repeal death penalty law against Palestinians
- Israel’s ‘death penalty’ law should be repealed: Amnesty
- UN rights chief urges Israel to repeal death penalty law, warns about war crimes
- US avoids criticizing Israel over death penalty law for Palestinians despite global backlash
- Countries in the Arab world condemned the law the same day it was passed.
ALL ABOUT ISRAEL’S TROOP SHORTAGE:
Israeli army says situation ‘unbearable’ amid troop shortage, calls for conscription law
ISRAELI MEDIA: ‘We Need Everyone’: IDF Pressured Reservists With PTSD to Serve, Some Threatened With Arrest: Israeli soldiers with psychological injuries, including severe PTSD, told Haaretz they were threatened with penalties, including arrest, because they had not yet received formal disability rulings – a process that can take years.
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
American bishop calls civilian killings in Gaza ‘a holocaust of our time’: American bishop of the Catholic Church Joseph Strickland has described civilian deaths in Gaza as “a holocaust of our time” while defending Carrie Prejean Boller following her removal from US President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. “I think Carrie was removed because they didn’t like the truth she was speaking. The truth about Gaza, which is verboten by many…It truly is a holocaust of our time. I knew that if I was going to be the man I wanted to be, if I was going to be the Christian that I want to be, I had to speak up … basically say Carrie was removed from that committee because she was speaking truth,” he said.
Democratic Presidential Contenders are Turning on Israel. Will They Convince Progressives?: As the 2028 primaries approach, Ro Khanna and other Democratic hopefuls are looking to appeal to a base that’s grown more critical of Israel.
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Thousands of Iranians Who Live on Kharg Island Face Possibility of US Invasion
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill several on Monday
Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank
What Would We All Say If Iran Razed M.I.T. Because of Military-Related Research?
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MARCH 31, 2026*:
- At least 73,424 Palestinians killed, 183,714 injured – including:
- At least 72,285 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,028 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 – March 31, 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 351 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)
- Ann Coulter Rips Into Fox News for Iran War Coverage, Compares to False Rigged 2020 Election Reporting
- Joe Kent Urges Americans To Call White House and Congress To Object To Sending Troops Into Iran
- DNC Resolution to Reject AIPAC Funding Puts Democratic Leaders in the Hot Seat
- Swedish foundation to build 400 schools as over 650,000 Gaza children remain without education for 2 years
- Israeli army admits photshopping image of slain Lebanese journalist
- This is how Israel is systematically killing health workers under the cover of war in Lebanon
- Carrying life under fire: Israeli invasion of Lebanon leaves pregnant women facing deadly risks
- Why are Palestinian books struggling to be seen on Amazon?
- The Line Between Affinity and Conspiracy
- Will Trump Go Kamikaze?
- Is the University of Florida Shutting Down College Republicans over Israel Criticism?
- Jewish extremist arrested over alleged plot to firebomb Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani’s home
- More than half of Palestinian child detainees have no charges
- The More Murderous Israel Gets, The More We Hear About “Antisemitism”
