News roundup for Sunday, July 19, 2026, Day 1,017 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.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The number of Palestinians being killed in Gaza is lower since the October 2025 “ceasefire” began, about 280 days ago – about 4 per day, vs. over 100 per day during the 733 days of the “war.” But Israel is actively working (with Trump’s “Board of Peace“) to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinian population, even as the low-level killing continues. Genocide experts, along organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International, maintain that the genocide is ongoing.
Four Palestinians were killed in the latest assaults across the Gaza Strip. At least 10 others, most of them children, were injured after an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza on Sunday.
Israel releases 16 Palestinian detainees through Karem Abu Salem crossing: More than 9,600 Palestinians, including 350 children and 73 women, are currently held in Israeli prisons and face torture, starvation and medical neglect, according to Palestinian and Israeli rights organizations.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 1,144 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025 (247 children, 191 women)
- 5 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began – one by friendly fire, and four others in incidents during the first three weeks of the ceasefire.
- 73,250 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.)
Two Palestinians were killed and another was injured after Israeli occupiers (i.e. settlers) opened fire during an attack late Sunday on the village of Deir Jarir near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials. The victims were Awda Abdul Rahim Awda Farakhna, 53, and Ahmed Adel Rashid Abu Mukh, 26.
Multiple fires broke out in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of one settlement and injuring at least two firefighters, according to police and rescuers.
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.
Israeli leaders joined a march towards Gaza Sunday to call for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements* in Gaza. The rally shows how calls to resettle Gaza have moved into Israel’s mainstream political discourse. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees settlement affairs, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and more than two dozen ministers and legislators, reportedly joined the march.
*NOTE: The 2005 Gaza disengagement was part of a unilateral plan adopted by Israel without Palestinian input, but with the approval of the US. According to the plan, Israel would withdraw all 8,500 settlers from Gaza and 500 from isolated settlements deep inside the West Bank – relocating about 2% of the total number of settlers. Israeli troops left Gaza, while still controlling its coastline, borders, and airspace, and claiming the right to intervene militarily, including preemptively, in “self-defense.” In a sense, this represents a change in the form of military occupation from direct to indirect control.
Dov Weisglass, a close advisor of PM Ariel Sharon, stated in October 2004 that the plan was intended to postpone the creation of a Palestinian state indefinitely, and to relieve pressure on Israel to make further withdrawals from the West Bank.
Today, some Israeli groups are calling for Jews to return to Gaza.
While the World Focuses on Cease-fire Talks, Settlers Are Reimagining Gaza: Sunday’s march to Gaza, calling for Jewish resettlement, is far more than a routine demonstration. It exposes how prolonged war reshapes the national political imagination, stripping away previous limits and normalizing ideas once considered extreme.
IRAN, LEBANON, & SYRIA – 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.
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 is not at war with Syria, the Israeli army has reportedly carried out over 1,600 violations inside Syrian territory since August 2025, and demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria – but also vowed to permanently occupy some areas.
IRAN
U.S. CENTCOM said Sunday that a 3rd service member was killed in action this weekend, this time in northern Iraq during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. CENTCOM also recovered human remains from Jordan, where an Iranian attack Saturday killed 2, with 1 more reported missing. The three confirmed fatalities this weekend bring the number of American troops who have died in the conflict to 17.
Iran’s strikes on US sites in Jordan result in ‘dozens of casualties, destroyed helicopters’: Iranian attacks on Jordan – 4 in 5 days – have reportedly wounded dozens of U.S. service members and damaged a number of helicopters, in addition to killing 2 and leaving another missing. The pace of the Iranian responses and the heavy losses they inflicted show that Iran still has “ample missile stocks” and is becoming more skilled at evading US air defenses.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Sunday that it launched a ninth new wave of strikes against Iran beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Iran slams US’s ‘barbaric terrorist attack’ on nuclear plant construction site: Iran called the strike an “unjustifiable terrorist attack, aimed at obstructing Iran’s path toward progress and independence,” adding, “the US strike directly violates international law, the UN Charter, and IAEA General Conference Resolutions 444 and 533.”
RELATED: America’s spies say Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment
14 US refueling aircraft arrive in Israel amid Iran escalation
LEBANON
Israeli forces destroy three more schools in south Lebanon: Israeli soldiers reportedly looted the schools before wiring up the buildings with explosives and reducing them to “piles of ashes.” Over 100 schools have been damaged by Israeli forces during the conflict, leaving as many as 500,000 Lebanese children without access to education.
Lebanese president meets top US diplomat at start of Washington visit
SYRIA
Settler activists illegally cross into Syria, stay for full day before being nabbed by IDF
DEATH TOLL – WARS ON IRAN & LEBANON (tentative):
- United States: 17 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Iran: at least 3,636 (1,701 civilians) since Feb. 28, 2026 (another source puts the number at 3,499)
- Lebanon: at least 4,328 people since March 2, 2026
- Arab states: at least 154 (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon)
- Israel: at least 60 people (Iran killed 20 civilians; Hezbollah killed 36 soldiers, 4 civilians)
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
ICC’s Khan probe ‘reduced to political referendum’, Palestinian rights groups warn: 140 Palestinian human rights organizations have raised an alarm about the disciplinary process against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, days before member states vote on his removal. The orgs take “no position on either the validity of the claims or the defense” against Khan, but warned that human rights guarantees are at risk, and the disciplinary process “has been reduced to a political referendum following the national interests of individual States Parties”(background on Karim Khan here).
RELATED: Spying & threats: Israel spent 9 years trying to keep the ICC off the trail of Israel’s war crimes.
Activists project images of Marwan Barghouti* near Eiffel Tower, demanding his release
*NOTE: Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian legend for his activism and long imprisonment, enjoys unparalleled popularity and is often described as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. His power and influence are unique. If Palestinian elections were held, Barghouti could be elected president even from prison. He is now 67, and has been repeatedly assaulted in recent months by his Israeli jailers, leading to serious concerns over his safety.
Egypt urges EU, international community to ban products from illegal Israeli settlements
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Palestinian woman dies after Israeli army delays ambulance for more than 30 minutes in Ramallah
Palestinian teenager Fadi Hamdallah al-Nassan, who played for his country’s national youth football team, has died
Inspired by Trump, Israel Advances Plan for Crocodile-Ringed Prison for Palestinians
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – July 19, 2026*:
- At least 74,431 Palestinians killed, 186,751 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 73,250 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 173,751 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,181 killed (~244 children), 13,000 injured
*NOTE: Thousands of remains in Gaza have yet to be identified, and thousands more are still buried under rubble; others are reportedly missing.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – July 19, 2026: ~1,663 – 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)
- Israel admits it holds Gaza bodies as bargaining chips
- Mahmoud Khalil files lawsuit accusing Trump officials, pro-Israel groups of conspiracy
- Democrats Rejected U.S. Aid to Israel, and AIPAC Couldn’t Stop Them
- Kamala Harris’ Palestine shift is all for show, don’t fall for it
- Palestine Letter: The school of Palestinian journalism
- Amid the ongoing genocide, Gaza’s food crisis worsens with closure of World Central Kitchen centers
- Iran Sent Message to JD Vance Warning that Kushner and Witkoff Were “Abusing” Their Inside Access to Negotiations
- Inside the Pentagon Plan to Stitch Israel Into American Defense
- Rep. Ro Khanna: ‘Israel Has Lost Americans Under 50. Bibi Netanyahu Has Antagonized an Entire Generation’
- ‘They want to break our will’: Gaza flotilla activist tells of rape in Israeli detention
- The not-so-secret Israeli strategy: This is the real Gaza plan
- Senators Block $1.15 Trillion Pentagon Bill Over Trump’s Illegal Iran War, Israel Integration
- Tucker Carlson’s left-right, third party dream
- Family Wiped Out, Police Targeted: Israel’s Genocide Claims 16 More Lives
