Jewish terrorism, apartheid rule the West Bank – Not a ceasefire Day 125

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

(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 850th day.)

Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 587 Palestinians. Over 1,550 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.

GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:

(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.

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:

(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.)

When burning homes* no longer counts as terrorism in the occupied West Bank

A new Shin Bet policy now limits the definition of terrorism to attacks with ‘clear intent to kill’. Palestinians say the change is normalizing settler attacks and rendering them invisible.

Last week, Israel’s Shin Bet revised how it classifies these attacks. According to public broadcaster Kan, only incidents showing a “clear intent to kill” are now counted as terrorism. Everything else, torched homes, burned cars, vandalized farmland, is downgraded to “serious incidents” (continue reading here).

*NOTE: Israeli settlers – many fueled by extremism – have carried out a number of mass attacks or “pogroms” that include killing and destruction of property. These well-organized groups aim to destroy the West Bank economy and/or drive out the indigenous Palestinians (including Palestinian Christians).

Several headlines illustrate the aggression, as well as the complicity of the Israeli military: (New York Times) “With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High: Extremists are carrying out one of the most violent campaigns against Palestinian villages since the U.N. began keeping records”; (Ha’aretz) “The IDF Can’t ‘Protect’ Palestinians From Settler Attacks. Settlers Are IDF Auxiliaries”; (Drop Site News) “Settler violence against Palestinians often appears sporadic, but it is an official government system with an organized structure operating as intended.”

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About 50 illegal settlers, accompanied by a bulldozer and an Israeli military vehicle, demolished homes made of tin and concrete belonging to 15 families, forced residents out, looted their belongings, livestock and vehicles, and prevented them from returning.

*NOTE: Israel has built around 280 settlements and 256 settlement outposts, home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers, 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 – a phenomenon that has grown significantly worse since October 7th, 2023.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 Learn more about Israeli settler violence here and here.

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ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: MORE ISRAELI OCCUPATION ACTIONS ON WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday: Invasions, Abductions, and Violations Across West Bank

Israeli Forces Demolish Structures in Jerusalem and Hebron

Soldiers Abduct 2 Siblings, International Activists, Near Hebron

ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:

(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 passes along only factual reporting.)

The draft legislation, which passed its first reading in the Knesset in November 2025, mandates capital punishment for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis – but not for Israeli citizens convicted of the same offense.

*NOTE: This is just one of many examples of Israel’s apartheid framework, which extends in various forms across Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and inside Israel (where 21% of residents are Palestinian).

Multiple human rights organizations have documented and reported that Israel is indeed practicing apartheid, including: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem, and Yesh Din, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, the International Court of Justice, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.

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Israeli artillery strike hits cemetery in southern Syria

*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.

NEWS & HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:

(You can learn a lot about a country from its headlines. Get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions that receives $63 million a day from America.)

Israel Won’t Return Arab [i.e. Palestinian] Israeli’s Body, Despite Doubting ‘Whether He Was a Terrorist*’

IDF soldiers shot and killed 20-year-old Mu’aman Abu-Riash, a resident of central Israel, in the West Bank, saying he was throwing stones at a road alongside other young men. The military admits it doesn’t know whether he was involved.

*NOTE: What is striking about this headline is that the person killed appears to be a “terrorist” by virtue of his (allegedly) throwing rocks. Each year, hundreds of Palestinians (many of them minors) are imprisoned for throwing stones, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years (for Palestinians, not Israeli Jews). Arguably, these are the lucky ones. Israel regularly labels Palestinians they have killed as “terrorists” or “stone-throwers” to rationalize their deaths, whether they did anything threatening or not.

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US firm that secured aid sites talking with administration about new role in Gaza

UG Solutions says it has ‘provided information and proposals to US-led Board of Peace,’ after it was revealed to be looking for Arabic-speaking contractors with combat experience (read about UG Solutions’ previous deadly work in Gaza here).

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Trump, Netanyahu hold three-hour meeting, set red lines on Iran as Gaza talks continue

Trump also said that “tremendous progress” has been made in Gaza and in Mideast. Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially joined Gaza Board of Peace.

OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:

Member of White House religious committee removed for questioning Zionism

Carrie Prejean Boller argued that the United States “cannot and must not” make loyalty to a particular theology about Israel a litmus test for protected speech. Her line of questioning focused on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and whether it risks conflating criticism of Israel with hatred of Jews.

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Cardinal Pizzaballa slams US-backed ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza as ‘colonialist operation’

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said the Trump-backed ‘Board of Peace’ plan hands Palestine’s fate to outsiders while arguing the Catholic Church should not take part.

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AIPAC Has a New Opponent: PAL PAC

After spending decades and decades lobbying and intimidating members of Congress into supporting Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has a new counter-weight: the Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC – PAL PAC.

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Trump’s Approval Rating Higher in Israel Than in the US

According to a new poll conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute, Trump’s approval in Israel is 73%, while in the US it is 41%, according to a New York Times analysis of multiple recent surveys.

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Trump invited to receive Israel Prize in Jerusalem

Minister of Education Yoav Kisch on Tuesday invited U.S. President Donald Trump to attend the Israel Prize Award Ceremony in Jerusalem on April 22 at which he will be awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Special Contribution to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

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Trump says he insisted on further Iran talks during meeting with Netanyahu

‘Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible,’ says US president.

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Over 2,000 Britons served for Israel amid Gaza genocide

More than 2,000 Britons served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Gaza genocide, it can be revealed. They were among over 50,000 IDF soldiers with Israeli and at least one other nationality. 

Paul Heron, a lawyer with the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), told Declassified: “The UK has clear duties to prevent genocide and avoid assisting unlawful military action. Where dual nationals have served in units implicated in atrocities, the authorities must investigate promptly and, where the evidence meets the threshold, pursue arrest and prosecution like any other serious crime”.

ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:

Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate

Settlers filmed entering Palestinian village, harassing locals at night

Israeli court blocks life-saving cancer care for boy, 5, due to his Gaza address

(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – FEBRUARY 11, 2026*:

• At least 73,149 Palestinians killed, 182,666 injured – including:
• At least 72,037 killed in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
• At least 1,112 killed in the West Bank (~230 children)
• At least 171,666 injured in Gaza
• About 11,000 injured in the West Bank

*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 10,000 more are still buried under rubble; 5,000 more are reportedly missing, with no information about their fate.

Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count.

At least 25 Palestinians in Gaza have died due to the extreme cold, including 21 children, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023. At least 11 Palestinian children have died of extreme cold this winter.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – February 11, 2026: ~1,661 – including ~1,139** on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 471 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. 

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)
• Why Israel persecutes children like my son Shadi
• In Gaza, One Man Is Searching for the Remains of His Family With a Flour Sifter
• Mysterious ‘peace’ groups are sending Americans pro-Israel texts
• Epstein files: Western media must stop burying the Israel connection
• Software developer exposes Israeli nonprofits’ massive spending to influence Americans
• Ronald Lauder’s son-in-law Kevin Warsh emerges as the next Fed chair
• A 14-year-old Palestinian Bled to Death for 45 Minutes as Israeli Soldiers Stood Nearby
• The toxic legacy of genocide
• Global Sumud Flotilla to launch ‘largest relief operation in history’ for Gaza
• Pentagon Makes Largest Known Arms Purchase From Israel — For Banned Cluster Weapons
• Israeli Military Found Gaza Health Ministry Death Toll Was Accurate. Will These Deniers Admit It?
• AIPAC Coordinates Donors in Illinois House Primaries
• Geneva Academy warns Gaza death toll could top 200,000
• Media ignore allegations that Israel raped German journalist