News roundup for Saturday, August 29, 2026, Day 1,059 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, over 320 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 with organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International, maintain that the genocide is ongoing.
Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least four people, while several others were wounded in a strike on a medical warehouse inside a hospital compound in Deir al Balah. The Israeli military claimed without evidence that a Hamas commander was struck.
Up to 3,000 people forcibly disappeared in Gaza during Israeli war: Rights group
Israel Restricts Cooking Gas Into Gaza, So We Must Burn Toxic Plastic to Cook: The vile fumes saturate our food with their smell. Our daily inhalation of toxic burned plastics is slowly killing us.
Armed with a whistle, Gaza’s lifeguards do what they can to save swimmers: Shortages leave Gaza’s lifeguards without essential rescue equipment, as Palestinians flock to one of the few leisure activities available.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE death toll (tentative) since “ceasefire” began Oct. 11, 2025:
- 1,313 (35% of those killed, 49% of those wounded were children, women, and the elderly)
- 5 Israeli soldiers – one by friendly fire, and four others in incidents during the first three weeks of the ceasefire.
- 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.)
NBC: Palestinian woman and NBC News team attacked* by masked Israeli settlers in West Bank: The woman and crew were treated for injuries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence committed “by a handful of rioters.”
*NOTE: This is a firsthand account of the settler attack – followed by un-ironic quotes (read them in the original article, linked) from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his spokesman Doron Spielman, condemning the violence. In reality, the Netanyahu administration, especially National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, champions the settler project. Netanyahu rarely condemns settler violence (when he does, he downplays it). The NBC article fails to mention pertinent background, for example the fact that settlements are illegal under international law, or that Israeli soldiers routinely assist the settlers in their attacks.
IAK will be watching for good-faith reporting on the incident. Meanwhile, below is some relevant background:
More than 780,000 settlers live illegally on Palestinian land in over almost 600 Jewish-only settlements and settlement outposts 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. Learn more about Israeli settler violence here and here. It is noteworthy that settlers are only rarely prosecuted for their crimes.
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. Israeli settlers are sometimes referred to as “colonizers.”
RELATED: How complicit media tried to sell a genocide
So when you read about eight members of an NBC News Team being beaten by Israeli settlers today in the West Bank, it’s important to note two things:
1. The settler wouldn’t do this to Americans had they not received a green light from the Israeli gov.
2. Israel’s gov would not… pic.twitter.com/UY5jX0CqgV— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) August 29, 2026
Breaking silence, Netanyahu decries ‘criminal violence’ after settlers again raid besieged village of Qusra: PM downplays takeover of Qusra home, his office puts out video blaming a ‘small group of rioters, many from broken homes,’ and claiming it didn’t represent the broader settler public.
A UN official reported damage and signs of looting after Israeli forces withdrew from the UNRWA training center in Qalandia on Aug. 28. The center is home to UN assets worth more than $5M, used in its work providing Palestinian refugee youth with education and vocational skills. “At the time of the unlawful entry, the [center] was being prepared for the new academic year, expecting to receive 340 students from across the West Bank next week,” a spokesperson said. Israeli forces reportedly installed surveillance cameras on the premises before leaving (original story here).
Israeli settlers surround Palestinian home in occupied West Bank’s Qusra: At least four Palestinians were reportedly trapped inside the home on Saturday while settlers set fire to nearby land, as a settler siege on Palestinian families has continued for three weeks (read the background on Qusra here).
Palestine calls for int’l action to end Israel’s ‘suffocating siege’ on West Bank village of Al-Mughayyir: The Israeli army and illegal settlers have kept the village under siege for 20 days, in what a government official called “an attempt to isolate the area and displace its residents.” Israeli forces have sealed off the only entrance to the village and banned the entry of ambulances, even as they shoot the residents indiscriminately.
Palestinian Christians are disappearing. Warnings are not enough: Church leaders, activists, and Palestinian media keep sounding the alarm: Palestinian Christians are leaving the Holy Land. But what is needed now is an institutional and economic strategy that makes staying a viable choice, not just a moral one.
RELATED: If not stopped, Israel will wipe out Christians from Palestine by 2050: Bethlehem pastor
Colonizers Attack Communities, Injure Palestinians Across West Bank
Israeli Forces Shoot Two Palestinians, Abduct Five in West Bank
DEATH TOLL SINCE OCT. 7, 2023 – WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM (tentative):
- 1,185 killed (~253 children)
- More statistics below
Israeli soldiers carrying rifles patrol a street during a raid on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, West Bank, Palestine, on June 18, 2026. (Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency)
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.
Israelis rate education system 4 out of 10 as school year opens, new research warns
Seven arrested in Jerusalem on suspicion of spitting at Armenian church, vandalizing Muslim graves: Over the course of the weekend, the police stated, four people were arrested on suspicion that they had spat at the Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem’s Old City.
RELATED: WSJ: Spitting Attacks Show Rise of Anti-Christian Hate in Israel
Israel’s national security minister ‘pleased’ with harsh conditions of Palestinian prisoners
Culinary larceny: Why the true history of Palestine belongs to the soil, not the Israeli kitchen
IRAN, LEBANON, & SYRIA – NEWS & HEADLINES:
IRAN
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.
6 Months of Trump Iran War Lies, In 7 Charts
LEBANON
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.
Israeli army blows up elderly care home in southern Lebanon
Israeli forces raise flag on under-construction building in southern Lebanon
SYRIA
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.
Israeli army shells southern Syria area despite de-escalation talks
DEATH TOLL – WARS ON IRAN & LEBANON (tentative):
- United States: 18 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Iran: at least 3,636 since Feb. 28, 2026
- Lebanon: at least 4,352 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 40 soldiers, 4 civilians)
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
RELATED: Mahmoud Khalil files lawsuit accusing Trump officials, pro-Israel groups of conspiracy
How the military-industrial complex is waging war on the planet
Prominent cinema personalities urge Venice festival to fly Palestinian flag
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
Israeli commander that ordered strike on WCK convoy defends killing of aid workers
89% of property fires in West Bank caused by Israeli occupiers (i.e. settlers)
US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are ‘beyond critical’ due to Iran war, officials say
Bondi library returns book How to Sell a Genocide* to shelves
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – August 29, 2026*:
- At least 74,634 Palestinians killed, 187,472 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 73,449 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 174,472 injured.
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,185 killed (~251 children), 13,000 injured
*NOTE: Thousands of remains in Gaza have yet to be identified, and as many as 15,000 more are still buried under rubble; others are reportedly missing.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 29, 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)
- This creepy Israeli spy tech is likely operating in a city near you
- American Historical Association’s secret playbook on Palestine
- Senate Resolution Will Demand Answers on Extremist Israeli Settler Violence Against US Citizens
- How a Billionaire Is Using His Fortune to Reshape the Democratic Party
- Israel’s Lobby 2.0: What Walt & Mearsheimer didn’t anticipate
- Under Israel’s watch, Palestinian gangs are sowing chaos in the West Bank
- Inside the Israeli military policy to ‘justify’ lethal actions in deadly attacks on civilians in Gaza
- Israel intentionally foments Islamophobia, its efforts are paying off
- The GOAT (Greatest of All Time) Merchant of Death
- How Can CNN’s Dana Bash Pretend to Be an Objective Journalist Anymore?
- Gaza isn’t able to recover from famine as acute malnutrition soars across the Strip, new report finds
- Home Invasions and Abductions Across the West Bank
- ‘Israel Is Sending Armed Militias Into Gaza to Commit War Crimes – and the IDF Has to Protect Them’
- Fake US think-tank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda
