It has now been 923 days since Israel began its 2023 genocide on the Palestinian people. Below is a roundup of news from Thursday, April 16, 2026.
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
ISRAEL-US WAR/CEASEFIRE ON IRAN – NEWS & HEADLINES:
It can not be overemphasized that Israel has been the impetus behind US policies and actions vis-a-vis Iran for years. 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.
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.”
Trump says US ‘very close’ to making Iran deal as two-week ceasefire nears end: If there is a deal, Trump says, “oil goes way down, prices go way down, inflation goes way down, and you won’t have nuclear holocaust.” He added, “We’re getting along very well with the new Iranian leaders. It really is a regime change.”
RELATED: US Allies Believe It Will Take Six Months to Reach an Iran Peace Deal
26 million Iranians volunteer to defend country, including public figures: Volunteers are expected to be deployed alongside the Revolutionary Guard and the regular army. Plans also include forming human chains to protect potential targets.
Iran supreme leader’s adviser threatens to sink US ships in Strait of Hormuz
Germany approved millions in arms sales to Israel during early days of Iran war
Individuals and organizations from 30 countries, including the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, have put their name to a blistering open letter condemning the US/Israeli war on Iran (read the full text here)
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON IRAN (tentative):
- United States: 13 (this number is believed by some to be an undercount)
- Iran: at least 3,375 (2,875 men, 496 women, no details on the remaining four people; other sources have higher numbers)
- Israel: 30 (including 11 Israeli soldiers, and 1 friendly fire – including both Iran and Lebanon-related deaths; another count shows 20 Israeli civilian deaths)
- Arab states (including Palestine, excluding Lebanon), at least 154
ISRAEL’S WAR/CEASEFIRE ON LEBANON – NEWS & HEADLINES:
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 signed a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon in November 2024, Israel has attacked Lebanon almost every day since, committing over 10,000 air and ground violations – the most violated ceasefire deal in recorded history – and killing at least 397. (Read about UNIFIL, the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, here.)
SUMMARY: THE US ANNOUNCED A CEASEFIRE, TO BEGIN THURSDAY NIGHT. BUT THE CEASEFIRE HAS A LOOPHOLE FOR ISRAEL TO CONTINUE MILITARY OPERATIONS. IN FACT, AFTER THE CEASEFIRE BEGAN, AN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE KILLED AT LEAST 8 IN LEBANON.
Israeli airstrikes destroy last remaining crossing in southern Lebanon: The Qasmiyeh Bridge is one of the most strategic crossings in southern Lebanon, linking western, central, and eastern sectors and serving as a key route for people, vehicles, and goods.
Trump says Israel, Lebanon agree to 10-day ceasefire starting Thursday evening: “I just had excellent conversations with the highly respected President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the two leaders had agreed.
Israel has agreed to 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon: Netanyahu: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has agreed to a temporary 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon but insisted that Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon despite Hezbollah’s demand for their full withdrawal.
The State Department released a statement following the announcement that outlined the details of the agreement, which said Israel “shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense*,” adding, “Besides this, it (Israel) will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon by land, air, and sea.”
US Statement on Lebanon Ceasefire Leaves Major Loophole That Israel May Exploit To Continue Attacks: The statement says that Israel “shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” Israel frequently claims its attacks on Lebanon, Gaza, and elsewhere in the region are a response to some sort of threat, even when it’s clear there was none, and the US has historically tolerated major Israeli ceasefire violations.
Similar language was included in a side deal between the US and Israel on the November 2024 Lebanon ceasefire deal, which Israel went on to constantly violate with strikes, surveillance flights, and ground operations, killing hundreds of people. During that same period, Hezbollah didn’t fire any rockets toward Israel until after the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28.
Israeli strike kills 8, injures dozens in southern Lebanon after ceasefire announcement: Attack comes after Trump announced 10-day truce between Lebanon, Israel.
Trump hopes Hezbollah abides by ceasefire: ‘I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time. It will be (a) great moment for them if they do,’ says US president.
Israel escalates attacks on medics in Lebanon Wednesday with deadly ‘quadruple tap’: Rescuers in Lebanon have long been wary of the double-tap attack, when Israeli forces target a location, wait until people gather to help survivors, and then strike again. Wednesday’s three-wave attack after the initial one prompted the coining of a fearsome new term: the quadruple tap. Lebanese health ministry says killing of 91 healthcare workers shows ‘total disregard’ for international law.
Israel Will Keep Occupying Lebanon Despite Ceasefire: Reduced violence is welcome, but the Gaza “ceasefire” has meant continued genocide. We can’t let them get away with it in Lebanon.
DEATH TOLL – WAR ON LEBANON (tentative):
- In Lebanon, at least 2,196 people have been killed (including 260 women, 172 children)
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.
Four Palestinians, including a 9-year-old child, were killed Thursday in separate Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, in the latest violations of the ceasefire agreement in force since Oct. 10, 2025.
Gaza faces looming environmental, health catastrophe as waste crisis spirals: A spokesperson said the worsening crisis, driven by Israel’s closure of major dumping sites and restrictions on fuel and equipment, has pushed the enclave’s waste management system to the brink of collapse.
DEATH TOLL – GAZA GENOCIDE (tentative):
- At least 766 since ceasefire began Oct. 11, 2025
- 72,345 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.)
Israeli Soldiers Kill A Palestinian Teen Near Jerusalem: The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate has confirmed that Israeli soldiers shot and killed Palestinian teen Mohammad Morad Rayyan in Beit Duqqu, northwest of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers prevented Palestinian medics from reaching the wounded teen before he succumbed to his wounds. The army then placed him on a stretcher and took him away.
378 crimes in 40 days: Surge in West Bank settler attacks occurring under government cover: Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that monitors settler violence, said on X: “Israel can stop settler violence if it chooses to. Instead, government policy encourages criminal settlers and fuels the spread of violent farm outposts across the West Bank,” adding, “the objective of this state-backed violence: the displacement of Palestinians from their land and their confinement to small, densely-populated enclaves.”
Israeli Colonizers Injure Two Palestinians Near Bethlehem
Israeli Forces Abduct Many Palestinians Across West Bank
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.
Number of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prisons Rises By 83% Since October 2023: According to current data, the total number of detainees reached more than 9,600 by early April 2026, compared with 5,250 before October 2023. Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners has become part of a broader system of violence targeting Palestinians in all aspects of their lives. Human rights organizations have compiled extensive documentation and testimonies revealing widespread abuses inside Israeli prisons and military camps, including torture, starvation, denial of medical care, and various forms of physical and sexual assault.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Vitriol and Vendetta: Israel Is Doing Everything It Can to Drive Its Closest Allies Away: From social media attacks to real-life diplomatic snafus, from Berlin and Paris to Seoul, Gideon Sa’ar’s Foreign Ministry has increasingly jeopardized relations with all but U.S. President Trump.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Israeli Government to Boost Funding for Anti-Arab [i.e. Anti-Palestinian] Jerusalem Day Marches: The marches, marking Israel’s 1967 capture of East Jerusalem, have a history of violent clashes, with Arab areas often targeted during parades; this year, events will be held in nearly a dozen cities to ‘strengthen a sense of belonging with Jerusalem.’
‘One million people have spoken’: Petition triggers formal review of EU–Israel trade deal: The petition demands the full suspension of the agreement over “violations of international law and human rights,” as well as Israel’s “genocide, occupation, and apartheid.”
Israeli High Court ‘temporarily’ restricts powers of National Security Minister Ben-Gvir
ISRAELI MEDIA: Israel’s Top Court Turns a Blind Eye as Ben-Gvir Runs the Police Like a Mob Boss
MORE NEWS & HEADLINES:
The Dam Breaks: Democratic Senators Overwhelmingly Reject Arms Sales to Israel: The Democratic votes on the pair of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders were not enough to overcome opposition from Republicans – still, the votes represented a watershed moment in the party’s relationship with Israel and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After Clash With Trump, Pope Leo Sets New Goal: To Stop Settler Violence
ICYMI, A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
US prepares for more fighting, possible ground ops, in Iran
Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Have Killed 172 Children as Attacks Target Homes* Far From Hezbollah War Front Lines
War Pollutants May Be Poisoning a Generation of Mothers and Their Babies in Gaza
Israel arrested 1,700 Palestinian children in West Bank since October, 2023
Bernie Sanders’ effort to block US weapons sales to Israel fails in Senate
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – APRIL 16, 2026*:
- At least 73,494 Palestinians killed, 183,942 injured – including:
- Gaza: at least 72,345 killed (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls), 172,242 injured
- West Bank/East Jerusalem: at least 1,149 killed (~232 children), 11,700 injured
*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. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count. Additionally, the numbers of injured are very conservative estimates.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – April 16, 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 (these numbers do not include deaths from the conflicts with Lebanon or Iran).
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 282 Palestinian journalists and media workers (most recent March 9, 2026; other groups have tallied between 215 and 356 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used). Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (all on October 7, 2023).
**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)
- Mark Levin and Jonathan Pollard Push for Nuking Iran
- TCN: America Enables Israel’s Crimes
- Israel’s Next Leader Will Be Just Like Bibi – but Without the Corruption
- Born into war, raised across borders: The story of Gaza’s premature babies separated from their parents amid Israel’s genocide
- Israeli soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian detainee allowed to return to service
- Gaza flooded with sweets as fuel and medicine withheld, health official warns
- Commentary: take away Israel’s biggest weapon
- The Myth of Israel as ‘US Aircraft Carrier’ in Middle East
- Israeli Media: ‘Diseases Are Everywhere’: Gaza’s ‘Catastrophic’ Healthcare Crisis Is Worsening
- Declassified Files Expose Jewish Pre-state Underground Militia’s Contacts With Nazi Germany
- No diapers, no relief: Gaza’s infants face growing hygiene crisis because of Israeli restrictions
- ‘Not Acceptable’: President of Iran Condemns Trump For His ‘Desecration of Jesus, the Prophet of Peace’
- We Are the Barbarians
- Netanyahu Says the Trump Administration Gives Him Reports on Iran Talks Every Day
