Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
At least 78 Palestinians were killed in Gaza Friday, including 12 aid seekers, as Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave continues unabated.
For detail on Israeli attacks in Gaza on Friday, go here.
GAZA NEWS, SNAPSHOTS, & HEADLINES:
IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites
The Israeli military claims to have launched an investigation* into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites.
On Friday the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying they had been told to fire at crowds near food distribution sites to keep them away from Israeli military positions. The soldiers said they had concerns about using unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat. An army unit is looking into the allegations.
In a statement reported by Israeli media, the IDF rejected the accusations: “To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians,” the IDF said.
In a joint statement issued late on Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Israel Katz, the defense minister, accused Ha’aretz of “malicious falsehoods designed to defame the IDF, the most moral military in the world**” (continue reading here).
*NOTE: Israel’s self-investigations – on the rare occasions when they do take place – consistently whitewash its crimes and fail to appropriately punish the perpetrators. The Israeli military’s self-investigations tend to focus on individuals and individual incidents, ignoring the dangerous, far-reaching policies and assumptions rampant in Israeli thinking: impunity, lethality, and dehumanization.
**NOTE: Israel’s self-identification as the state with “the most moral army in the world” does not hold up to scrutiny. The immorality of its military’s tactics are at times in themselves violations of international law. For example, the IDF’s so-called Dahiya Doctrine – which calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure (which is being employed right now in Gaza) – is expressly prohibited under international law.
Israeli soldiers are regularly ordered to demolish homes of Palestinians, torture Palestinians (including children), use them as human shields, and use sexual violence, forced transfer, starvation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide – to name a few (find more categories of crimes here and here; read about specific cases here and here and here, for example).
Expert weighs in on weaponized “humanitarian” distribution sites
Environmental researcher Yaakov Garb, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, has been using satellite data to analyze the design, location, and expansion of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation facilities.
Garb found in an analysis published earlier this month on Harvard Dataverse that most of Gaza’s population cannot access these centers in a safe and practical way, and unpacks how the physical layout of the compounds prioritizes control and surveillance over safety. The aid sites appear to lack key facilities — such as toilets, water, and shade for recipients — and involve crowds moving in narrow lines through fenced aisles. This creates a “chokepoint”: a predictable movement path that allows for no cover or concealment.
Israel claims that it needs this level of control to ensure aid doesn’t get diverted to Hamas*. But humanitarian experts say that Israel could have used a good-faith effort to address any such concern through the existing system (continue reading here).
At least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access humanitarian supplies in the past four weeks.
*NOTE: Israeli officials are fully aware that Hamas has not been hijacking or looting aid trucks. Rather, criminal gangs in Gaza have been stealing truckloads of aid – with assistance from the Israeli military and at the behest of the government. Aid agencies have said again and again that Hamas has not been stealing aid, to no avail.
RELATED: What is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and why has it been criticized?
“NEW VISION FOR WEST ASIA”: President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu have reportedly reached a preliminary agreement on a new strategic vision for West Asia. The proposal includes an end the war in Gaza within two weeks and international administration of the territory, adding Saudi Arabia and Syria to the Abraham Accords, and laying the groundwork for a conditional two-state solution. Hamas leaders would be exiled, hostages would be released, international donors would pay for reconstruction, and emigration options would be opened for Gazans wishing to leave. This “vision” did not appear to include input from Palestinians.
LATEST ON GAZA CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS: “At the current moment, matters appear stalled due to Hamas’s insistence on rejecting the latest proposal put forth by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains firm in his hardline stance against any proposal that includes the term ‘ending the war’,” a source told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. Witkoff is reportedly open to some changes in “phrasing” of the current proposal, but not content.
Trump’s comments on Gaza betray ignorance, oversimplification
“We think within the next week we’re gonna get a cease-fire. I’m often asked – I think it’s close,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “I just spoke with some of the people involved. It’s a terrible situation.”
“We’re supplying a lot of money and a lot of food to that area. We have to. In theory, we’re not involved, but we’re involved. People are dying,” he said. “I look at those crowds of people with no food, no anything. We’re the ones getting it there.”
In reality, the Trump administration is deeply involved in the starvation of Gaza. Trump (and Biden before him) supplies weapons and millions of dollars a day in military aid. The US is now providing $1M a day to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which runs a deadly, inhumane food distribution that is not only complicit in the killing of Palestinians, but also contributing to their ethnic cleansing.
Trump continued, “Some of [the food] being taken by bad people. You give it out, and some people end up stealing it and selling it. We have a pretty good system now.”
It has been widely reported for months that Israel is behind the looting of aid in Gaza. Aid agencies have said again and again that Hamas has not been stealing aid. Trump’s “pretty good system” is more of the same, which keeps Gaza on the brink of starvation.
“You see the lines of people just to get one meal? It’s too bad. Other countries aren’t helping out – no one’s helping out. We’re helping out on a humanitarian basis. We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of,” Trump added. “A lot of food has been sent there. Other countries in the world should be helping also.”
International groups attempting to deliver aid have been turned away. Israel itself has halted the entrance of aid. Charity groups have been blocked by Israel from delivering the quantities needed.
Only efforts by Palestinians themselves have worked.
IRAN AND IRAN-ADJACENT SNAPSHOTS AND HEADLINES:
ISRAEL WILL BE WATCHING IRAN: The Israeli army is developing a comprehensive operational plan against Iran, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday. The plan will include “maintaining Israel’s air superiority, preventing nuclear advancement and missile production, and responding to Iran for supporting terror activity against Israel,” Katz said in a statement cited by Israeli Channel 12. “We will work regularly to thwart these threats,” he added, without providing further details.
TRUMP HAS CHOICE WORDS FOR KHAMENEI: US President Donald Trump said Friday that he halted all work on sanction relief for Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s made a threatening statement.The president declared that Iran is “always so angry, hostile, and unhappy. I wish the leadership of Iran would realize that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!” he added (continue reading here).
WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS AND HEADLINES:
Israeli court ruling threatens eviction of 700 Palestinians from Jerusalem neighborhood
OTHER NEWS AND HEADLINES:
20 genocide-inciting statements by Israeli lawmakers or public figures since 7 October 2023
Israel unleashes massive wave of strikes on south Lebanon
White House expects Syria to normalize ties with Israel amid ‘quiet talks’
US Senate blocks Iran war powers resolution
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JUNE 27, 2025:
- At least 57,410 Palestinians killed, 141,839 injured – including:
- at least 56,412 killed in Gaza (~16,500 children)
- at least 998 killed in the West Bank (~200 children)
- at least 133,054 injured in Gaza
- at least 8,785 injured in the West Bank
According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19 – March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 170 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.
Since the Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, it has killed at least 6,089 people. 31 Israeli soldiers (most recent June 24) have been killed during the same time period.
Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – June 27, 2025: ~1,620 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 435 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 221 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 185 and 283 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)
- 100,000 Dead: What We Know About Gaza’s True Death Toll
- Israel is building a tunnel to cut off Palestinians from the heart of the West Bank
- “No Evidence”: WTKR’s Attempt to Sink the USS Liberty Reunion
- The infants who died at the sound of bombs: Death without weeping
- In Light of Israel’s War on Iran, the Late David Glick’s 2015 Essay Proves Sadly Predictive
- ‘The Hunger Games’: Inside Israel’s aid death traps for starving Gazans
- Trump official to The Grayzone: CIA’s Ratcliffe acts as ‘Mossad stenographer’ on Iran
- The Iran war is Trump’s unconditional surrender to Israel
- Israel is luring the US into a trap
- ‘Trapped in incubators’: Gaza’s premature babies caught between Israeli siege and world silence
- What Life Is Like for a Palestinian in Israel as It Attacks Iran
- Genocide goes Squid Game as Israel outsources ‘aid’ to Gaza gangs
- AIPAC demands Democrats “stand with Israel” on Iran
- Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention after more than three months
- Why BBC editors must one day stand trial for colluding in Israel’s genocide
- American Committee on Foreign Relations Miseducates Public and Censors Truth-Telling Analysts
- UC San Francisco fired me for speaking out against genocide, but as a physician I could not remain silent
- Is Israel’s favorite US general helping to push us into war?
- Israel blocks its Palestinian citizens from bomb shelters during Iran strikes
- Meet the American military veterans fasting for Gaza
- IAEA report didn’t say Iran is producing nuclear weapons
