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 815th day.)
Three Palestinians, including a child, were killed on Saturday by Israeli occupation forces across several areas of the Gaza Strip, according to medical and local media sources.
Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 420 Palestinians. At least 1,184 have been injured. Death toll figures are tentative.
Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 969 times in 86 days. More statistics below.
GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:
(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.)
Tents supplied to displaced Palestinians ‘inadequate for Gaza winter’
Thousands of tents supplied by China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to shelter displaced Palestinians in Gaza offer only limited protection against rain and wind, an assessment compiled by shelter specialists in the devastated territory has revealed.
The assessment will undermine claims that Palestinians in Gaza are being supplied with adequate shelter. Fierce storms in recent weeks blew down or damaged thousands of tents, affecting at least 235,000 people, according to UN estimates.
Since the ceasefire in October after two years of conflict, only 20,000 of the 90,000 tents that had entered Gaza were supplied by the UN or other major international NGOs, one aid official said (continue reading here).
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Severe weather in Gaza hits vulnerable and wounded most in Israel’s war
Nine-year-old Assad al-Madhna lost his left hand when Israeli fire hit a group of children playing in al-Zuwayda in central Gaza. The same attack also wounded him in the leg. Now, as winter envelops the besieged enclave, Assad’s pain increases as the metal rods and pins holding his leg in place stiffen in the cold, making every step slower and agonizing.
“I haven’t received any prosthetic, struggle to change my clothes, and going to the toilet in this cold is a real challenge,” he said, adding: “Without my parents, I can’t manage it. At night, the severe cold becomes unbearable” (continue reading here).
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Shadowy Israel-linked org is draining Gaza of medical personnel
The New Arab is reporting that an Israel-linked organization known as “Al-Majd Europe” has been selecting families and specific individuals to leave the territory. The organization appears to be run by Estonian Israelis, and its efforts may amount to “a fully fledged crime of forcible transfer under international law,” according to a Gaza government spokesperson.
One Palestinian who has been trying to leave Gaza explained that applicants work with intermediaries and must pass Israeli security screening, then pay around $2,500 upon approval. He noted that “elites and those with academic degrees” are consistently chosen.
A health ministry official said Gaza has lost around 600 medical staff, half of them doctors, to emigration schemes like this. “These are specialists in rare fields,” he said, warning that their departure has created a serious gap in healthcare, especially since Israeli authorities continue to refuse entry to foreign medical teams.
This short video offers some background:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0OW8MhrJR4
GAZA HEADLINES:
The ceasefire did what it was meant to do – make Gaza invisible
OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:
(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.)
In Area B, Settlers* Show No Mercy to the Sheep, Not Even the Lambs
Two newborn lambs. They came into the world prematurely after their pregnant mother was attacked by settlers: They slit her neck and bashed her head with clubs. The ewe somehow survived but miscarried, and now the shepherd, Mahmoud Daramin, is trying to save her offspring.
The walls of the pen are stained with now-blackening blood of sheep that were slaughtered here mercilessly by the settler scum who have shown up at the Daramin home twice in two months to attack its inhabitants. In both assaults they pepper-sprayed the family’s children, slit the necks and smashed the skulls of the sheep, broke windows in the house and wrecked a car (continue reading here).
*NOTE: In addition to daily small-scale attacks on Palestinians like the one above, Israeli settlers – many fueled by extremism – have carried out mass attacks (at times, the word “pogrom” has been used to describe the attacks). The perpetrators have generally been well-organized groups aiming to destroy the West Bank economy and/or drive out the indigenous Palestinians (including Palestinian Christians).
Such violent attacks have reached an all-time high (New York Times). Israeli daily Ha’aretz spells out the settlers’ impunity: “The IDF Can’t ‘Protect’ Palestinians From Settler Attacks. Settlers Are IDF Auxiliaries.” Drop Site News concurs: “Settler violence against Palestinians often appears sporadic, but it is an official government system with an organized structure operating as intended.”
Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law.
Israeli Soldiers Detain, Intimidate Palestinian Toddler during Curfew in Hebron
Video footage shared by Voice of Palestine Radio shows a two-and-a-half-year-old boy standing pressed against a wall beside a stairway leading to a residential building in the Makbarat Al-Ras neighborhood. The child appears visibly distressed as a male and a female Israeli soldier stand a short distance away in a firing stance, aiming their weapons in his direction.
Areej al-Jaabari, a Palestinian human rights activist who recorded the incident, told Anadolu news agency that the child was held in place for more than 15 minutes. According to al-Jaabari, the toddler had stepped out of his home to cross the street to a nearby shop, unaware that strict security measures were in force in the area.
Israeli occupation forces detained a child setting in front of his home in the south of Hebron, the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/omqbkTsCEB
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) January 3, 2026
WEST BANK HEADLINES:
Israeli Colonizers Shoot a Teen Near Bethlehem
Israeli Colonizers Attack Palestinians in Northern Plains
Occupation Forces Shoot Two Palestinians Near Jerusalem
Saturday: Invasions, Abductions, In West Bank
Israeli Forces Abduct Entire Family Near Bethlehem
ISRAEL 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 passes along only factual reporting.)
Israel’s opposition leader urges Iran to ‘pay close attention’ to Venezuela
Statement comes after US bombed oil-rich South American country and captured President Nicolas Maduro.
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How Israel is Manufacturing Civil Unrest in Iran as a Path to War – Analysis
Regardless of whether this fizzles out now or escalates and Israel begins launching assassination strikes alongside a US bombing campaign, it is clear that Tehran and Tel Aviv are on a war path as we enter the year 2026.
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UN Human Rights Head Urges Israel to Drop Death Penalty Bill
The legislation would introduce mandatory capital punishment applied exclusively to Palestinians, and violates int’l law.
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Israeli forces stage new raid in Syria’s* Quneitra countryside
Military forces advance into villages of Ain al-Qadi, Bariqa, says local media. (*NOTE: The Israeli army has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 cross-border raids on Syria since December 2024.)
HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:
(You can learn a lot about a country from its headlines. Get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions that receives $63 million a day from America.)
‘Pity the people of NY’: Ambassador Huckabee slams Mamdani for criticism of US strikes on Venezuela
Mamdani had earlier condemned the operation on X, saying that “unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law.”
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Last Israeli Hostage’s Mother: Trump Promised Not to Build Gaza Towers Over My Son
Talik Gvili, whose son Ran’s body remains in Gaza, said in an interview that Trump told her his team was committed to returning her son to Israel before proceeding to the next stage of the Gaza cease-fire.
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Pentagon audit finds US lost track of many sensitive weapons sent to Israel after Oct. 7
Audit found that from November 2024, the Pentagon maintained records for only 44%, down from 69% before the war began.
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In Netanyahu’s Folktale, Only 70 Young Men Are Responsible for All the West Bank Pogroms
The state is behind the pogroms. It is responsible for them – they serve the government’s interests. Its soldiers are always present, but not a single IDF commander has carried out what international law requires – protecting Palestinian residents.
OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:
Venezuelan VP: US attack capturing Maduro has ‘Zionist overtones’
RELATED: ‘Restoring freedom and justice’: Israeli government praises Maduro’s capture
ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:
2025: Illegal Israeli settlement expansion in occupied West Bank hits record high
Israel Accuses Zohran Mamdani of Antisemitism for Reversing Orders Adams Gave Under Indictment
(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JANUARY 3, 2026*:
- At least 72,489 Palestinians killed, 182,264 injured – including:
- At least 71,386 killed in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
- At least 1,103 killed in the West Bank (~229 children)
- At least 171,264 injured in Gaza
- About11,000 injured in the West Bank
*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 10,000 more are still buried under rubble. 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.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 3, 2026: ~1,661 – including ~1,139** on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 471 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, about 52 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 275 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 215 and 328 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
- Israel And Its Supporters Deliberately Foment Hate And Division In Our Society
- ADL’s J7: Biweekly Jewish Nationalism Think Tank
- Israel gives war profiteers sole control of life-saving Gaza aid: Report
- Once Again, the New York Times Sells Israel’s Genocide in Gaza as Law Enforcement
- Israel Accuses Zohran Mamdani of Antisemitism for Reversing Orders Adams Gave Under Indictment
- Controlled Dissent: The Hidden System That Broke Charlie Kirk
- Four major dynamics in Gaza War that will impact 2026
- Stunning Victories and Rising Repression: a look back at the global student movement for Palestine in 2025
- Ha’aretz: Israel Blocked 37 Aid Groups From Gaza – and Then Claimed Credit for Their Work
- In occupied West Bank, Israel is seizing Palestinian homes and transforming them into military outposts
- World Council of Churches calls for sanctions on Israel
- Tikvah Fund Secures $10.4M Grant From Trump, Pushes for Censorship to Advance Zionism
- Did Netanyahu just ask Trump for another war — and get it?
- Israel suspends operations of multiple humanitarian organizations in Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders
