Compilation of news reports – IAK staff (If Americans Knew)
At least 26 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
At least 921 Palestinians have been killed and 2,054 others injured in a surprise aerial campaign by Israel on Gaza since March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
On Saturday in the West Bank, Israeli forces killed Ahmad Qasem Suleiman Bani Odeh, 22, after shooting and abducting him from a home in Tammun town, south of Tubas.
Hamas accepts latest ceasefire proposal, Israel makes counteroffer
Top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the group “dealt positively” and “accepted” a proposal by Egypt and Qatar to stop the fighting in the territory, according to Al Jazeera.
Israeli media outlets have earlier reported that the deal would involve the release of five Israeli captives in exchange for resuming the truce the first day of Eid.
Israel confirmed on Saturday night that it had received the proposal by Egypt and Qatar and it had made a counteroffer on Saturday afternoon.
The deal would include a 50-day ceasefire to begin over Eid in exchange for the release of five living captives, an Israeli official told Walla News.
The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the new offer was made “in full coordination with the US.”
The official said the bodies of deceased captives would also be returned during the truce but did not specify a number.
Israel is expected to submit a counter-offer, making it unlikely that a deal will be finalized before Eid, which begins Sunday or Monday, the official added.
Red Crescent: Israel obstructs search operations for missing members in Gaza
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Saturday that the fate of nine crew members in the Gaza Strip remains unknown nearly a week after Israeli forces had hit ambulances.
The gunfire in Rafah city’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood came just days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the southern area, close to the Egyptian border, after the military resumed its bombardments of Gaza on 18 March.
The Red Crescent in a statement accused Israeli authorities of refusing to allow search operations to locate the missing workers. “For the seventh consecutive day, the fate of nine Palestine Red Crescent EMTs remains unknown after they were besieged and targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah,” it said.
“We condemn Israel’s deliberate obstruction of search efforts and hold it fully responsible for the lives of our team members,” the statement added.
The emergency response service said that “initial reports from the crew at the time of the incident confirmed they came under heavy gunfire from Israeli forces, resulting in multiple injuries.”
Israeli settlers raid Masafer Yatta following days of increased attacks
The attack follows another major one on Friday, during which settlers beat Palestinians with iron bars, resulting in at least two major head injuries.
Israeli forces arrested 22 Palestinians – but no settlers (continue reading here).
Israel seized 12,800 acres of land in occupied West Bank Since Oct. 7: Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission on Saturday said that Israeli authorities have seized more than 52,000 dunams (12,800 acres) of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023.
In a statement marking the anniversary of Land Day, the commission reported that since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel has issued 13 military orders to establish buffer zones around illegal settlements and has created 60 new illegal settler outposts across the occupied West Bank.
Of the 52,000 dunams confiscated, 46,000 dunams (11,400 acres) were seized in 2024 alone under various pretexts, including the designation of land as nature reserves, state land, and military zones.
The statement also highlighted the Israeli demolition campaign targeting Palestinian buildings.
In 2023, Israeli authorities issued 939 demolition orders, with 60% of them concentrated in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. Additionally, there were 684 demolitions, mostly in Area C, which includes Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, and Jericho.
The Palestinian Commission reported that 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers now reside across 180 illegal settlements and 256 outposts in the occupied West Bank.
ICE Got Warrants Under “False Pretenses,” Claims Columbia Student Targeted Over Gaza Protests
Earlier this month, while hunting for Columbia University students to deport over their ties to Gaza protests, the Trump administration convinced a federal judge to sign off on search warrants for two students’ dorm rooms — then raided the residences with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
As details about the warrants have emerged, however, so have allegations that federal agents misled the court and secured the warrants under “false pretenses,” as one of the students whose room was searched, Yunseo Chung, claimed in a lawsuit challenging her deportation.
The warrants were predicated on probable cause that Columbia was “harboring” students who were in the country illegally, court filings indicate. Chung, however, is a lawful permanent resident, notwithstanding the Trump administration’s efforts to deport her based on her arrest and citation at a Gaza sit-in. She has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 years old.
“The idea that they went before a federal magistrate judge and said, ‘We have to search Ms. Chung’s residence for evidence of Columbia harboring her’ — that shows they’re willing to lie to a judge,” said Nathan Yaffe, an immigration attorney.
Most of the materials relating to the search warrants remain under seal in federal court, and Columbia declined to comment on them, citing student privacy protections. ICE did not respond to The Intercept’s questions about the warrants.
“If the government falsified information to get the warrant, that is its own bundle of serious problems,” said Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, an attorney at Human Rights First who also represents Chung. “But even if not, the basis for this entire operation is constitutionally invalid” (continue reading here).
RELATED: SCOOP: ICE Revoking Students’ Immigration Statuses Without Their or the University’s Knowledge
Academy apologizes for failure to back Palestinian Oscar winner over attack
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologized after criticism for its failure to support the detained Palestinian Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal.
Almost 700 voting members, including multiple A-list actors, signed a letter apologizing for not directly acknowledging Ballal and the film by name, after he was recently targeted for an attack by Israeli settlers.
The Academy initially responded to the incident on Wednesday, but it did not refer to Ballal directly. The open letter signed by actors, producers and documentary film-makers criticized the initial statement.
“We sincerely apologize to Mr Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world,” the fresh statement, released on Friday, read.
“We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances. It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its film-makers just a few weeks later.”
It also condemned the “brutal assault and unlawful detention” of the Oscar winner.
“The targeting of Ballal is not just an attack on one film-maker – it is an attack on all those who dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths.
“We will continue to watch over this film team. Winning an Oscar has put their lives in increasing danger, and we will not mince words when the safety of fellow artists is at stake.”
High-profile actors who signed the letter included Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman, Emma Thompson, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix and Penelope Cruz.
US launches 65 airstrikes across northern Yemen in 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, the United States launched a series of 65 airstrikes targeting several northern provinces in Yemen, including Sanaa, Saada, Al Hudaydah, Al-Jawf, Marib, and Amran.
According to Houthi-run media, one person was killed, and four others were injured in Saada, while communications were disrupted in several parts of Amran after bombing key infrastructure.
MORE NEWS:
Anadolu Agency: West Bank: Israel plans to dismantle refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem: Report
The New Arab: Racism in Israeli football did not kick off with Gaza genocide. It has always been in its initial formation
The Cradle: Israel issues evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburb
Anadolu Agency: US airstrikes destroy communication stations in Yemen’s Omran, Saada: Houthis
IMEMC Daily Reports
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MARCH 28, 2025:
- At least 51,198 Palestinians killed, 122,097 injured – including:
- at least 50,251 killed in Gaza (~15,500 children)
- at least 947 killed in the West Bank (~187 children)
- at least 114,025 injured in Gaza
- at least 8,072 injured in the West Bank
According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19- March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 150 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.
Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – March 28, 2025: ~1,592 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 407 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
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)
- Weaponizing starvation, Israel seeks full control over Gaza aid distribution
- Betar: The Far-Right Hate Group Helping Trump Deport Israel’s Critics
- Israel aims to kill a Palestinian football ‘revolution’ — along with its players
- Revealed: The Israel Lobbyists Writing America’s News
- Lives shattered in Tulkarem amid Israel’s escalating military assault in the West Bank
- Asbestos dust threat looms over much of Gaza
- Palestinian Oscar winner severely beaten by Israeli settlers
- Why Israel is waging war on Palestinian children
- ‘Everything Is Being Crushed’: Journalist Hossam Shabat’s Last Story Before He Was Killed by Israel
- 17-year-old Palestinian boy dies in Israeli prison in unclear circumstances
- The Last Chapter of the Genocide
- Netanyahu Demanded IDF Bomb Homes Without Intelligence
- Settlers Occupied a Palestinian House in Hebron
- Victims of UCLA Mob Attack Sue to “Hold the Aggressors Accountable”
- Google acquires Israeli company founded by Unit 8200 veterans
- Why did sharing an article trigger a probe by ‘free speech’ PEN?
- Israeli forces strip and arbitrarily detain two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank
- Is ‘October 8’ documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- Flashback: The Israeli oligarch behind world forum to battle “antisemitism”attended by kings & presidents
