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 870th day.)
Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 637 Palestinians. Over 1,704 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.
WAR ON IRAN NEWS & HEADLINES:
Why is If Americans Knew covering the war on Iran? It can not be overemphasized that Israel has been the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran for years. This is especially true right now, under Donald Trump. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the US to attack Iran for decades.
The American people have made clear that they do not want to go to war with Iran, but Israel partisans and the Israel lobby use their massive political clout to bring about whatever is beneficial to Israel – including putting the US military in harm’s way. For more background on Israel’s role in American wars, watch IAK’s short film, “The Israeli Hit List.”
Death toll (all numbers are tentative):
- Six US troops have been killed and 18 more have been “seriously wounded” since Saturday, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
- In Israel, 13 people have been killed and 834 injured since Saturday, the majority with minor injuries.
- In Iran, 1,230 people have reportedly been killed since the conflict began, state media says (other sources put the number somewhat lower).
- In Lebanon, at least 123 people have been killed.
- In other Arab states, at least 25 people have been killed.
IRAN:
World Health Organization has “verified 13 attacks on health care in Iran and one in Lebanon.”
Missiles fired by US, Israel hit two schools near Tehran: Iranian media: US-Israeli missiles have hit two schools and several nearby residential units on Thursday in the town of Parand, southwest of Tehran. Also hit were 33 civilian locations nationwide, including hospitals, schools, residential areas, the Tehran Grand Bazaar, the historic Golestan Palace complex – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and the Azadi Stadium, Iran’s largest sports complex,
Iran ‘confident’ it can counter potential US ground invasion, says top diplomat: Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi tells NBC News, ‘We are confident that we can confront [American ground troops], and that would be a big disaster for them,’
UNITED STATES/TRUMP ADMINISTRATION:
Sources Briefed on Iran War Say U.S. Has No Plans for What Comes Next: “The administration doesn’t have a clue. They do not have an actual, real rationale, endgame, or plan for the aftermath of this.”
Pentagon Prepares for Possibility That Iran War Will Last Through September: U.S. Central Command, meanwhile, is asking the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days but likely through September.
Trump wants a say in choosing next leader of Iran: President Trump told Axios Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader. Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, is the most likely successor, but Trump said of him, “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight…We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”
‘Deranged and Dangerous’: Trump Says ‘I Guess’ Americans Should Expect a Deadly Attack on US: “We have totally unserious, completely incompetent people taking us into mindless, deadly war,” said Democratic US Sen. Chris Murphy.
US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say: U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed about 165 children on Saturday, but have not yet reached a final conclusion.
ISRAEL:
Israel planned this war on Iran for 40 years. Everything else is a smoke screen: Might Khamenei’s successor – having seen how utterly untrustworthy the US and Israel are, how they operate as rogue states unconstrained by international law – now decide that developing a nuclear bomb is an absolute priority to protect Iran’s sovereignty?
Israel Accused of Using AI to Pick Iran Targets ‘Without Any Human Oversight’—Just Like in Gaza: “Similarities between Israel’s bombing of Gaza and Tehran are growing stronger,” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft executive vice president Trita Parsi said Thursday on X. “In both cases, it appears Israel is using AI without any human oversight.”
Iran threatens to strike Israeli nuclear reactor*, vows revenge for deadly US attack on sailors: Iran warned that the US will “regret” its attack on an Iranian frigate in international waters and said it could target the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona (*NOTE: Yes, Israel has nukes).
Israel Has Dropped 4k Bombs on Iran — Surpassing 12-Day War in Just 4 Days: The death toll has already surpassed that of last year’s war, with Iranian officials reporting 1,230 killed so far.
Israel’s Smotrich threatens to bombard Lebanese capital till it resembles Gaza’s Khan Younis: Hezbollah ‘made a mistake and will pay a heavy price,’ Bezalel Smotrich threatens amid Israeli attacks on Beirut. Israel completely destroyed Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
LEBANON AND MIDDLE EAST:
Israel launches huge strikes against south Beirut after mass evacuation order: Israel gave just hours for over 500,000 people to evacuate their homes. Israeli warplanes struck alleged Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included hospitals and government ministries. Human Rights Watch says the mass evacuation order “raises serious risks of violations of the laws of war.”
Hezbollah issues evacuation warning to Israeli northern settlements; Hezbollah has issued a warning in Hebrew, directing the evacuation of Israeli residents within 5km (3.1 miles) of the border with Lebanon. The group declared that the aggression of the Israeli army against Lebanon “will not go unanswered”.
Children Paying Heaviest Price as Half a Million People Flee Israeli Bombing of Lebanon: UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk warned of violations of “international humanitarian law” by Israel, “in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer.”
Saudi journalist says ‘not all attacks’ on Gulf coming from Iran, fears US-Israel dragging monarchies into war: “Some believe this war is an American-Israeli trap to implicate the Gulf countries and draw them into a confrontation with Iran,” Ahmari said. “This hypothesis, I think, increases every day.”
EUROPE AND BEYOND:
Poll: Most Italians Oppose US-Israeli War on Iran as Debate Grows in Rome: The emerging picture in Italy reveals a growing disconnect between government policy and public opinion.
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.
Medical stocks ‘critically low’ in Gaza, WHO says
The World Health Organization said on Friday that medical supplies in Gaza were running critically low despite Israel’s reopening of a key crossing this week.
Supplies of some items such as gauze and needles have already run out, said WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy, citing information from the Health Ministry in Gaza, devastated by the two-year Israel-Hamas war. “Stocks of essential medicines, trauma supplies and surgical consumables are critically low, and fuel shortages continue to limit hospital operations,” she said.
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.)
As the War on Iran Spirals On, Israel Further Blocks Movement Within West Bank
While the world’s attention is on the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, the Israeli military has placed the West Bank under a functional lockdown.
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Ha’aretz: Iran War Fails to Halt West Bank Expulsions as Palestinian Community Leaves After Settler Harassment
A week ago, the village of Duma’s electricity supply was cut off, and residents evacuated the women and children. On Friday, settlers arrived and harassed the remaining residents for hours until they, too, finally left. ‘We are afraid to go near and see what is left,’ said a resident.
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Ha’aretz: Israeli settlers*, with IDF soldiers, raid West Bank village and trample livestock
Israeli settlers, accompanied by IDF soldiers, attacked the West Bank village of Aqaba. Witnesses said the soldiers fired into the air as the settlers raided the village and ran over sheep. Several people were reportedly wounded, and an ambulance was blocked on its way to the scene. This was the third attack on the village in less than 24 hours. The IDF has not yet responded to either incident.
*NOTE: More than 700,000 settlers live illegally on Palestinian land in over 500 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.
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.”
Many analysts believe the word “colonizer” is more accurate than “settler.” Zionism has been described by several scholars as a form of settler colonialism. Zionism’s founders and early leaders were aware and outspoken about their status as colonizers; early leading Zionists such as Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau, and Ze’ev Jabotinsky described Zionism as colonization.
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Israel cancels Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque amid Iran conflict
Authorities say the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be closed to worshippers and visitors of all faiths on Friday amid the spread of the Iran conflict.
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3 children injured as illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in Hebron
Israeli Forces Invade Several Towns Across Ramallah District
Ramallah: Israeli Forces Shoot a Young Man With Disabilities
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 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.)
Times of Israel: Telling Arab [i.e. Palestinian] Israelis to ‘take shelter’ is a cruel joke*
After the last war with Iran, the state said there was time to help the 46% of Arab [Palestinian] citizens who have no protection from missiles. And then, it did…nothing.
*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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Times of Israel: Trump: Herzog is a ‘disgrace,’ must pardon Netanyahu now so PM can focus on Iran war
Herzog’s office: Israel a ‘sovereign state governed by the rule of law,’ pardon decision will be made sans external input; Trump says he won’t meet with president until he issues pardon (background on Netanyahu corruption charges here).
OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:
House Kills Resolution To Halt Trump’s War on Iran
The War Powers Resolution failed in a vote of 212-219 in the House on Thursday. The Senate defeated a parallel resolution on Wednesday. The measures failed, even though the Trump administration hasn’t made a coherent case for the war, and is escalating the conflict with no clear timeline or goals.
— AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) March 5, 2026
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
Hegseth says fighting with Israel a ‘breath of fresh air’
White House Expected To Ask Congress for Extra $50 Billion for Iran War
White House Says US Launched War With Iran Because Trump Had a ‘Feeling’ They Were Going to Attack
Gaza authority warns of catastrophic impact as Israel halts cooking gas supplies
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MARCH 5, 2026*:
- At least 73,241 Palestinians killed, 183,801 injured – including:
- At least 72,120 killed, 172,801 injured in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
- At least 1,121 killed, 11,000 injured in the West Bank (~232 children)
*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 8,000 more are still buried under rubble (some sources put the number of missing as high as 14,000); 3,000 more are reportedly missing.
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 (2025-26).
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – March 5, 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.
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)
- ‘Dirty Work’ :The truth about how Israel was founded
- Mass Expulsion in Lebanon as Israel Expands War: “We Don’t Know Where to Go”
- Lies, distortions, and propaganda: how the U.S. mainstream media coverage on Iran hides the truth
- Palestinians in Gaza fear famine returning as Israel cuts off food amid Iran war
- AIPAC, other pro-Israel groups enter midterms with $100 million to spend
- Iranian girls killed by ‘double-tap’ strikes on Minab school
- Bari Weiss Is Going Full ‘Propaganda-Palooza’ With the Iran War
- Inside the Pro-Israel Campaign to Stop ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ From Winning an Oscar
- After Iran, It’s Turkey
- Inside the plan to kill Ali Khamenei
- More than 1,000 Civilians Killed in U.S.-Israeli Bombing of Iran, Rights Group Says
- The Neocons: First in War, Last in Peace
- With focus on Iran and Gaza, Israel is quietly annexing the West Bank
- Is the International Norm Against Assassination Dead?
