News roundup for Sunday, May 31, 2026, Day 968 since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people.
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
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.
Two Palestinians were killed and 24 others, including children, were injured on Sunday in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, amid continued violations of an ongoing ceasefire, medical sources said.
33 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in Gaza during Eid holiday: Over 130 people were injured in Israeli attacks during 4-day Eid al-Adha, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 930 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025 (247 children, 191 women)
- 72,938 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 forces kill Palestinian who allegedly carried out car-ramming attack in occupied West Bank: The alleged perpetrator was Amjad Jawad Abdul‑Fattah Natsha, 31. The Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that two female occupiers (settlers) were injured in the attack.
The Israeli army on Sunday shot dead Palestinian worker Imad Haroun Ishtayeh, 27, as he climbed the separation wall in the occupied West Bank in an attempt to enter Jerusalem in search of work. Israeli forces have killed five workers attempting to reach the other side of the barrier since January.
Israeli occupiers (i.e. settlers) on Sunday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem under police protection, “raising the Israeli flag inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with performing provocative rituals,” which a Palestinian spokesperson said “is part of a systematic and deliberate official Israeli policy led by the extremist occupation government.”
Israeli Forces Invade West Bank, Abduct Palestinians
Colonizers Injure Student, Invade Communities Across West Bank
Colonizers Chase Schoolchildren Near Bethlehem
Soldiers Shoot Palestinian In Tulkarem, Continue West Bank Violations
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.
Home Front Cracks: Israel Confronts Deepening Crises with No End in Sight: New data and expert assessments reveal growing psychological, military and social pressures inside Israel after years of war, as Israeli analysts increasingly question whether military operations are producing strategic gains or merely prolonging attrition.
ISRAEL-US WAR/CEASEFIRE ON IRAN – NEWS & HEADLINES:
It can not be overemphasized that Israel is the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran. 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.
Satellite images reviewed by CNN show how Iran has used simple equipment such as bulldozers and dump trucks to undo Israeli/US efforts to make underground missile sites accessible. If hostilities resume, “There’s nothing to prevent the launchers from being armed with the ample stockpile of missiles that the Iranians still have,” according to a specialist.
Trump demands ‘stricter’ changes to Iran deal as talks continue: Trump has demanded changes to a proposed Iran agreement, further delaying negotiations by several days.
Iran said it downed a U.S. MQ-1 drone Sunday for entering Iranian airspace.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13 (or more)
- Iran: at least 3,636 (1,701 civilians, 254 children)
- Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 154
- At least 26 Israelis have been killed in Iranian attacks
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.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens of others injured on Sunday in Israeli strikes targeting towns and villages across southern Lebanon, in the latest violations of an ongoing ceasefire, according to Lebanese authorities and media.
Thirteen healthcare workers were injured on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike targeting the vicinity of Hiram Hospital in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The bombardment also caused “severe damage after the hospital sustained damage in earlier Israeli attacks.”
Israel seizes strategic castle in deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years: Israel had used the castle as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000. Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend the ceasefire between US and Iran. Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, called the Israeli military’s actions “a scorched-earth policy and collective punishment” that would bring “neither security nor stability” to Israel.
RELATED: Beyond Beaufort Castle: What’s next in Israel’s Lebanon offensive?
Israel damages important historical, cultural sites in southern Lebanon: Israeli attacks reportedly destroyed important historic commercial markets, public libraries, and archaeological sites in the districts of Bint Jbeil and Nabatieh, as well as several other sites in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army spokesperson claimed the the IDF was “destroying terrorist infrastructure and eliminating militants.”
RELATED: European leaders condemn Israel’s deepening incursion into Lebanon
US ‘does not expect Israel to absorb’ Hezbollah attacks, signals green light for IDF escalation: On Sunday, two sources told the Post that senior Israeli officials had appealed to senior US officials to allow the IDF to expand its operations in Beirut.
UN Security Council to hold meeting on Lebanon on Monday: Meeting follows a request by France, which described Israel’s military operations in Lebanon ‘extremely concerning.’
Nine Syrian refugees from the same family, including six children, were killed Saturday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential house in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- At least 380 killed since “ceasefire” began on April 17, 2026 (22 children, 39 women)
- At least 3,412 people have been killed since war began on March 2, 2026
- 25 Israelis—24 IDF soldiers and one civilian military contractor—have been killed over the same period
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
US Congress moves to deepen military ties with Israel: Why it matters: Lawmakers in the United States are quietly advancing a proposal that could deepen military ties between the US and Israel in unprecedented ways, at a time when public support for Israel among Americans is increasingly fractured. Analysts say the plan would weave Israeli military interests more deeply into the fabric of US national security policy.
RELATED: Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries
Israeli ministers who backed ethnic cleansing of Palestinians join New York parade: New York’s pro-Israel parade hosted ministers who called for starving Palestinians and the use of nuclear weapons on Gaza.
Israeli army launches new incursions into southern Syria*
*NOTE: Although Israel is not at war with Syria, the Israeli army has reportedly carried out over 1,600 violations inside Syrian territory since August 2025. 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.
RELATED: Far Right Israeli Settler Movement Enters Syria in a Push for “Greater Israel”
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
ISRAELI MEDIA: All of Israel’s Rotten Apples Shelter in the Shade of a Single Tree: Netanyahu
“Israel is pursuing a policy of comprehensive destruction” in Lebanon
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MAY 31, 2026*:
- At least 77,106 Palestinians killed, 185,585 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 72,938** killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,919 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,168 killed (~244 children), 12,666 injured
*NOTE: Thousands of remains in Gaza have yet to be identified, and thousands more are still buried under rubble; others are reportedly missing.
**NOTE: The Gaza health ministry noted that 112 additional fatalities were added to the cumulative count after their records were verified and approved by the Committee for the Accreditation of Martyrs earlier this month.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – May 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 conflicts with Lebanon or Iran).
**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)
- ‘To call it a ceasefire is a joke’: Israeli soldiers share rare accounts from Gaza with AP
- Israeli Espionage: How Israel and its American agents stole US uranium
- From Paul Findley to Thomas Massie: How the Israel Lobby Purges Republican Dissenters
- Israeli US Attorney Drops Charge Against Israeli Connected to Biolab
- Trump wants the Palestinians to pay for the U.S. occupation of Gaza
- I Was Detained by Israel: Here’s What Ben-Gvir Didn’t Want You to See
- Israel Privately Pressing U.S. to Kill Iran’s Lead Negotiator and Launch New Strikes
- This isn’t about a few ‘bad apples.’ Israel is annexing the West Bank
- Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries
- ‘A War Criminal Admitting to His Crimes’: Netanyahu Says He Ordered Military to Seize 70% of Gaza
- Pro-Israel cash goes undercover as US voters turn against Israel
- Trump pal funneled millions of Israeli gov’t cash into US media
- ‘My only “crime” was being a doctor’: Dr. Ahmad Mhanna on his 22 months in Israeli detention
- In the epicenter of Lebanon’s legacy of conflict with Israel lies Palestine – Two Articles
- U.S. bears brunt of Israel’s missile defense, Pentagon assessments show
