Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, the West Bank/East Jerusalem, and Lebanon - September 5, 2026

‍Action Alert‍s 

‍Stop the merger of the US and Israeli military industries written into the National Defense Authorization Act (section 219). Write your Congresspeople here:

‍Demand the release of Sama Safi, US citizen and Birzeit University honors student, still held in Israeli prison (without charges) for over 3 months! Write your Congresspeople: here

If you live in California, call Gov. Newsom’s office (916-445-2841 to ask him to: Veto AB 2664, which criminalizes peaceful protests within 100 feet of religious institutions in violation of the first amendment; and Veto SB 1387, which reinforces the Zionist myth that Judaism is a single worldwide ethnicity. 

‍Not planning to go to the World Medical Association General Assembly in Rotterdam on 10/8-10? You can still join the over 5000 people who have signed and shared the petition to Suspend the Israeli Medical Association from the WMA: petition here. Stay in the loop on WMA events by clicking here: 

‍New film

‍We highly recommend the film American Doctor which follows 3 US physicians of diverse backgrounds who travel to Gaza to provide medical aid during the genocide. It premiered in the US Documentary Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and was released in US last month by Watermelon Pictures. The film includes a scene at a panel organized by the JVP Health Advisory Council at the National JVP meeting in Baltimore last year!

Webinars

‍JVP Health Advisory Council’s webinar: De-Healthification: Israel’s Engineered Collapse of Palestinian Life with Layth Malhis, Institute for Palestine Studies. 9/27, 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific. Register: here

‍Save the date: JVP Health Advisory Council webinar with Amy Hagopian and Mary Bassett discussing their struggles with and censorship by academic institutions will be on November 22. Stay tuned for details.

‍Did you miss our webinar: Palantir in Our Hospitals: How the company powering the Gaza genocide and ICE surveillance is expanding into healthcare, with AFSC, No Palantir in the NHS Campaign,  and National Nurses United? Watch the recording here. 

Reports & Journals

‍9/1,  Physicians for Human Rights Israel published a position paper by Dr. Merav Amir, Dr. Hagar Kotef, and Dr. Guy Shalev documenting ethical breaches and failures in the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli hospitals between 10/2023 and 9/2025.
Drawing on testimonies from physicians within Israel’s public health system and other verified sources, the report exposes a series of severe ethical violations, including denial of care, substandard medical treatment, treating patients while physically restrained, returning detainees to facilities where they may have faced torture, and failing to keep their families informed. PHR Israel

‍Uncivil Collective (this is an important report, as well as a significant resource)
Based on our analysis, the funders most deeply committed to “bridge-building,” “viewpoint diversity,” and “depolarization” projects are those that also hold a substantial stake in conservative and/or “pro-Israel” causes. We are a consortium of scholars and researchers. We join the many defenders of free inquiry, democratic access, and empirical standards for truth-seeking in higher education by offering evidence of the priorities behind the Civility Industrial Complex—that is, the private- and State-funded “civic thought” centers and the booming campus initiatives focused on "civil discourse," "depolarization," and "viewpoint diversity." Our consortium is mapping the donor networks, conceptual frameworks, and political goals that underwrite these efforts. Uncivil Collective

‍THE BMJ/Rapid Response
The doctors Gaza cannot afford to lose Re: Hussam Abu Safiya: The medical community cannot remain passive as a senior paediatrician is left to die in an Israeli prison Nick Maynard, et al. 394:doi 10.1136/bmj-2026-100423

‍Who Are The Sexual Perverts? Sana Seed substack - Colonial rule requires this degradation, it must continually produce the native as threatening enough to fear, backward enough to govern, violent enough to contain and, eventually, disposable enough to kill. Unproven but repeated allegations of 10/7 rapes of Israeli women by Palestinian resistance fighters became foundational to the rationale that the Israeli campaign of extermination of the Palestinians - backed militarily, institutionally and culturally by every Western state - had to continue. Sana Saeed substack

‍Statement on Genocidal Incitement by Israel’s Minister of National Security from the Lemkin Institute

Palantir

8/28, Registered nurses, patients, and community allies mobilized in eight cities across the country demanding hospitals and elected officials cut ties with the big tech firm Palantir. The nationwide demonstrations, organized by National Nurses United, represent the union’s largest coordinated action against the company to date. Protests took place in Palo Alto, Calif.; Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Maine; Asheville, N.C.; Austin, Texas; and New Orleans. People’s World

‍GAZA

Israeli Defense Minister Katz and National Security Minister Ben Gvir both announced plans to remove all Palestinians from Gaza as intensified Israeli airstrikes continue to slaughter civilians and destroy humanitarian structures and critical supplies. 58% of Gaza’s population faces severe deficiencies in shelter, access to services and non-food items, causing serious health, safety and dignity risks. Preparations for the rainy season are held back by Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies, access to land, and funding shortfalls.

‍·       The 2 weeks 8/10-8/23 saw 47 (4 children) Palestinians killed and 176 wounded.

‍·       Palestinian deaths 10/7/23-8/23/26: 73,438 killed and 174,447 injured. 

‍·       ‍As of 8/23,Palestinian deaths since the 10/11 “ceasefire:” 1,303 killed, 4,336 wounded ‍ ‍

·       For more info: OCHAOPT

·       8/23-24, Israeli airstrikes on UN and NGO warehouses in Deir al Balah destroyed nutrition supplies and damaged a guesthouse for NGO personnel, as well as a UNICEF-supported water well and desalination plant disrupting safe water access for 4,000+ people.

‍·       8/24, Israeli attacks killed 6 Palestinians (1 child). A person was killed and others wounded when Israeli forces struck a tent sheltering people near Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah. Israeli forces targeted a mosque and a water desalination plant in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan district. Israeli forces shot a 10-year-old girl in the back as she sat eating lunch inside her displaced family’s tent in western Khan Younis.

‍·       8/25, Israeli attacks killed 9 Palestinians (2 children) and 36 were injured. A drone strike on a tent near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital killed 2 brothers.

‍·       8/26, Israeli attacks killed 7 Palestinians and injured 10.

‍·       8/27, Israeli attacks killed 4 Palestinians and wounded others, including children. An Israeli strike on a tent near Gaza City killed 1. Another Israeli airstrike killed a bicyclist in Gaza City. Israeli forces shot and wounded a child in Qatar Camp.

‍·       8/29, Israeli forces fired on Al-Masdar village, killing a Palestinian man, and Israeli tank and artillery fire wounded 2 in Al-Mawasi. An Israeli quadcopter dropped bombs near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.

‍·       8/31, Israeli attacks killed 2 Palestinians and injured 10. 

‍·       8/31, Israeli airstrikes killed at least five Palestinians in Gaza City, including two people near a crowded public park and three traveling in a vehicle. "There is no cease-fire. There is not one good day in Gaza since 10/7," said Amjad Abu Abdo, a relative of one of the people who died in the strike. "I swear, we do not sleep from the sound ‌of ⁠drones. You sleep scared of being hit." Haaretz

‍·       9/1, Israeli attacks killed 6 Palestinians injured 13.

‍·       9/2, Israeli attacks killed 8 Palestinians injured 31. An Israeli attack in Gaza City killed 4 (2 children) wounded 8 as they gathered to collect water. “The water tanker came, and we started filling up water, us and our children. Then we heard gunfire coming from every direction. After that, the vehicles came, the Israelis started bombing, and the massacre happened.” The military claimed it was targeting the head of Hamas’s internal security apparatus in Gaza and strikes were carried out to “remove threats.”

‍·       9/2, A routine morning at a Gaza City nursery turned into chaos when an Israeli operation to detain a Hamas official unfolded around it, leaving nearly 200 children between the ages of 4 and 5 trapped between gunfire, airstrikes, and a staff trying to convince them it was fireworks. Doaa iQadeeh is head of the kindergarten department at Abdul Aziz Model School, in Gaza City’s western Katiba area, across from the American Hospital. Earlier on 9/2, she had gone live on video in the middle of an Israeli operation, pleading for the safety of the children in her care. Zeteo‍ ‍

‍·       9/3, Israeli forces killed 2 people (1 child)by gunfire in Beit Lahia.

‍·       9/3 Israeli military killed two Palestinians who crossed the “Yellow Line” into the Israeli-occupied side of the Gaza Strip. The land barrier that the Israeli military is building in Gaza has extended hundreds of meters beyond the official "Yellow Line" and into territory designated to be held by Hamas after the “ceasefire” announcement last year. Satellite images captured showed that in one area in the southern Gaza Strip, the land barrier extends nearly a mile beyond the Yellow Line. Haaretz

Aid & Incoming Supplies

·       86% of trucks were successfully offloaded at Kerem Shalom, the only operational crossing point for cargo. The Egyptian corridor continues to face the highest levels of truck returns and rejections, with an offloading rate of 76%. The Ashdod route was the most utilized, with 45% of all trucks entering Gaza. 

‍·       7/27-8/24, the de facto authorities searched 4 warehouses, disrupting operations and breaching the inviolability of UN premises. No contraband was found.

‍Food & Nutrition

‍·       Half of families in Gaza said they completely ran out of food at least once in the past month according to the World Food Program (WFP). About 1 in 5 families said they are eating only one meal a day. Three-quarters of surveyed households reported difficulties accessing food markets. Among them, 96% cited financial constraints related to cash liquidity shortages. Of those able to access money, 40% reported being unable to afford basic food items due to high prices. 46% of surveyed households reported going to bed hungry at least once during the 30 days preceding the survey. Similarly, 50% of households reported completely running out of food at least once during the same period. (Drop Site 8/28)

‍·       UNICEF survey found that acute malnutrition among Gaza’s children had fallen sharply following the late-2025 “ceasefire”, although many children continued to experience impaired growth, poor diets, diarrhea and other lasting health problems. UNICEF noted that improved conditions in 2026 do not disprove the earlier famine and warned that nutritional recovery remains fragile and could be reversed if food access, supplies or funding deteriorates. Haaretz

‍·       This latest report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s highest famine-monitoring body, predictably reveals that Israel's severe shut down of food aid, while slightly improved since the nonexistent ceasefire began, is causing rising numbers of severe malnutrition and preventing appropriate treatment.  Deaths from malnutrition have reached nearly 500 cases, including approximately 160 children. Where is the international outrage?  Mondoweiss

‍·       Women in Gaza are compelled to order their children to gather plastic bags, water hoses from the debris of destroyed homes, used food wrappers, fabrics, and shoes to burn as fuel to prepare food. There is a total lack of firewood because of its excessive consumption and high prices. In order to cook, women are then forced to sit directly under the scorching sun next to tents and breathe the rising toxic emissions of these materials, which has led to serious health, psychological, and respiratory issues. Their bodies are exposed to harm every day from the inhalation of toxins, amid severe psychological disorders resulting from the comparison between the pleasures of life before the war and the tragedy today. (Truthout 8/29)

‍·       8/1-23, 172,000 households (620,000 people) received their monthly general food assistance: 3 parcels and a 25-kilo flour bag, covering 100% of minimum caloric needs. 

‍·       24 partners prepared 712,000 meals/day in 95 kitchens, delivered to 1,097 locations. Meal production levels have remained largely stable since May.

‍·       26 bakeries produced 100,000 2-kilo bread bundles daily. 75% is sold through 150 contracted retailers at a subsidized price of 3 NIS (US$0.93) per bundle; the remaining 25% is distributed free of charge to 300 shelters and community sites. 10 private bakeries receive free fuel to power bread production for the community, now producing 48 metric tons of bread daily.

‍·       9/1, WHO warned  that the approaching rainy season could worsen Gaza’s public health crisis, with flooding threatening to spread sewage, waste, and contaminated water through overcrowded displacement camps. Microbiological contamination in tested water samples nearly tripled this year, while cases of acute watery diarrhea rose from about 27,000 in March to more than 48,000 in August. The organization called for the “unimpeded and expedited entry of humanitarian supplies” to prevent a further deterioration. (Drop Site 9/2)

‍Health & Hospitals

‍·       8/10-23, UNRWA operated 11 health centers and 24 medical points, delivering 72,000 health consults. 4 centers shut down for 4-5 days for lack of fuel; 10 vehicles remained out of service due to lack of oil. Other partners provided 611,000 health consults in 219 sites.

‍·       “Access to Oxygen Is Not a Medical Luxury”: With No Spare Parts Allowed In, Gaza’s Hospital Equipment Is Collapsing. Israel’s restrictions on medical supplies and equipment are still making health care in Gaza all but impossible. (DropSite 8/26, substack)

‍·       Gaza is facing a critical oxygen shortage. With oxygen stations operating at a fraction of their capacity, premature babies and ill patients face an increasingly desperate fight to survive. Aljazeera

‍·       Critical shortages of medicines, medical supplies and laboratory reagents severely strain the health system. The MoH reported that central stocks of IV solutions had been depleted. While diagnostic cardiac catheterization services have resumed, shortages of essential consumables continue to limit access to therapeutic procedures. Persistent shortages of medicines, dialysis supplies, laboratory reagents, oxygen equipment and other critical items, combined with restrictions and delays in the entry of health commodities, continue to undermine health care.

‍·       International Medical Corps (IMC) expanded mental health services at Sawida Hospital with inpatient psychiatric care, now treating 15 patients.

‍·       8/10-16, 5 partners in 15 health facilities provided 7,592 women and girls with reproductive health kits, pharmaceuticals and medical consumables.

‍·       At least 11,666 people were provided with mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), including: psychological first aid, individual and group counselling, mind-body interventions and stress-management activities; awareness of legal rights and sexual and reproductive health; legal aid and services related to housing, land and property rights; disability- and speech-related services; care-for-caregivers support and capacity-building; and referrals, family mediation, and follow-up.

‍·       Partners offered support to 197 returnees, including psychological first aid, emergency assistance and referrals. This brings the cumulative number of returnees assisted since the opening of the Rafah border to 5,506 people, of whom 1,913 are receiving follow-up protection services, including initial needs assessments and specialized psychosocial support.

·       At least 13,335 children and 4,900 caregivers received psychological 1st aid, individual and group counselling, play therapy, psychosocial and recreational activities, individual guidance, and other interventions. 416 child service points are operational. 59 unaccompanied and separated children were added to approximately 5,000 active cases receiving support. Cash assistance was provided to 435 children with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

‍·       Israeli prison guards repeatedly beat detained Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya with hands, feet and batons, according to a new message from his lawyer. Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, said guards deprive him of sleep with noise and loudspeakers and threaten him about revealing prison conditions. He was also assaulted after lawyers’ visits, retaliation for speaking out. He has injuries to his head, face, chest and left eye and is denied medical care. He called for urgent UN, Red Cross, and WHO intervention. (Palestine Chronicle 9/3, Drop Site 9/4)

·       Amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Palestinians with hearing impairments have been left particularly vulnerable, unable to hear incoming missiles or evacuation orders. Fadl Kuraz, a sign-language interpreter and trainer, is one of the few who have devoted their lives to helping them survive.  Mondoweiss

·       Israeli humanitarian organization Natan Worldwide Disaster Relief is opening a clinic in a displacement camp in the al-Qarara area of al-Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip. The clinic will serve children enrolled in the Gaza Children Village (GCV), an organization that provides educational programs and meals to thousands of children in Gaza. Natan will provide the clinic with equipment and remote consultations with Israeli doctors, while local medical staff have been recruited through GCV. Haaretz)

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

·       The sewage crisis in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels as the widespread collapse of wastewater infrastructure threatens public health, groundwater, and the Mediterranean Sea, according to Gaza’s Water Authority. Around 55,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage are discharged daily in Gaza, including 40,000 cubic meters pumped directly into the sea. Another 15,000 cubic meters seep into the surrounding environment through absorption pits and leaks in damaged sewage networks. (Palestine Chronicle 9/3)

‍·       8/16, the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility began desludging and cleaning a stormwater basin in Gaza City which has been receiving sewage since it was targeted by Israel at the beginning of the war. 

‍·       UNICEF brought pipes and fittings into Gaza in anticipation of repairs to the damaged Mekorot network, which supplies water from Israel.

·       Partners distributed: soap and cleaning supplies to 10,500 people; 1,000 latrine slabs; water & garbage containers to 5,000 people; and 20 low-water washing machines for communal use.

Shelter & Site Management

‍·       The Shelter Cluster reports that 1.98 million people (94% of the population) require shelter assistance and non-food items (NFIs). 58% face critical or catastrophic shelter needs. 84% of households experience severe living condition constraints, including inadequate protection from weather.

·       Stocks of shelter materials and NFIs are largely depleted, due to Israeli access restrictions and funding shortfalls. Shelter response is also limited because much of the land suitable for the establishment of safer displacement sites is off limits to most Palestinians, as Israel continues imposing restrictions on most of Gaza (south, east and north of the “Yellow Line” and beyond).

‍·       8/10-26, partners: supported 8,040 households with shelter and non-food items (NFIs), including tents, tarps, kitchen sets, solar lights, bedding, and clothing; distributed 1,157 toolkits for building repair; and distributed 72 Relief Housing Units.

‍·       20 Community-led processes identified priority concerns and implemented improvements, with technical guidance and monitoring from site management NGOs. 69 community members were trained on site management.

‍·       Partners cleaned sites, implemented pest and rodent control, provided solar lights, and improved wastewater drainage ahead of the rainy season; they also distributed 45,000 flour bags to fill with sand in advance of the rains.

Education

‍·       Grade 12 students began taking their final secondary school examinations for the first time since the conflict began.

WEST BANK, including EAST JERUSALEM

‍·       8/11-24, 100 Palestinians (11 children) and 1 off-duty Israeli soldier were injured. More than 2/3 of the injuries occurred during settler attacks.

·       So far in 2026, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 79 Palestinians (19 children) and injured 1,870 in the West Bank. Of these, 23 were killed and 1,040 injured during settler attacks. Settler violence has risen sharply, from an average of one Palestinian injured every 3 days in 2020, to 2 per day in 2025, to more than 3 per day in 2026.

‍·       For more information: OCHAOPT

‍·       For information on the impact of settler attacks, see West Bank – The Impact of Settler Attacks, January 2023 – April 2026.

‍·       8/25, Israeli forces stormed the compound with 4 armored vehicles and 50 soldiers and forcibly seized UNRWA’s Kalandia Training Centre in East Jerusalem. This is the 5th invasion by Israeli forces since May. Established in 1952, the KTC is UNRWA’s oldest vocational center, providing free skills training to hundreds of students annually. 40 employees and others were detained and questioned before being expelled.An UNRWA statement condemned the incursion, saying it violates the agency’s protection under international law. The same day, Israeli forces fired tear gas and live ammunition, injuring 9 in the adjacent community. The UN Secretary-General condemned the unlawful entry and continued presence, reiterating that UN premises are inviolable and immune from interference. UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim also condemned the unauthorized entry and unlawful seizure, warning that it deprives 340 West Bank refugee youth of their right to education. (OCHAOPT, Drop Site 8/31, UNRWA  )

‍·       8/23, Israeli forces entered a girls’ school in Jericho, damaging the building just weeks before the new school year begins. In Masafer Yatta, community began clearing rubble at a school partially demolished by the Israeli authorities on 8/4; the risk of further demolition looms.

·       The breakdown of the Mekorot-operated Beit Iba well on 7/24 disrupted water supply to northern West Bank communities. WASH partners have been trucking water to Tell, Qusin and Bizzariya (Nablus); to 10 communities in Masafer Yatta; to 1,500 people displaced from Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps; to 2,000 people at the Arab American University displacement site (Jenin); and to 15 additional locations, supporting people displaced by to settler violence.

‍·       8/10-22, partners provided shelter repairs, non-food items and cash assistance to 1,475 people from 348 households, primarily in Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron governorates. During the same period, partners addressing gender-based violence (GBV) maintained specialized services across 16 service delivery points and 40 safe spaces for women and girls, including psychosocial support, case management, emergency assistance and mobile outreach. Funding shortages have closed 2 Women and Girls Safe Spaces and constrained GBV services. 

‍Casualties and Settler Violence

‍·       Palestinian Information Center Ma’ati has documented 4,560 attacks carried out by illegal Israeli settlers across the  West Bank since the beginning of 2026, highlighting the scale of escalating settler violence against Palestinian communities. The tally encompasses attacks carried out in different areas amid a broader expansion of Israeli settlement activity and mounting pressure on Palestinian communities. Settler attacks have repeatedly included assaults on Palestinians, raids on villages and agricultural areas, destruction of property and crops, attacks on livestock and attempts to seize or prevent Palestinian access to land. (Palestine Chronicle 8/31)

‍·       8/11-24, Israeli forces shot and killed 3 Palestinians (2 boys) in 3 incidents in Jenin, Nablus and Hebron governorates. Two Palestinians (1 child) were killed during Israeli operations on 8/21 in Jenin and 8/23 in Askar Camp. 8/21, an Israeli settlement guard shot and killed a boy and critically injured another Palestinian during an attack by 50 Israeli settlers on Hamrush, near Sa'ir village (Hebron), where they also damaged 4 residential structures and set fire to another, destroying about 7 tons of fodder.

‍·       Recurrent settler attacks in and around Al Mughayyir (Ramallah) injured Palestinians, damaged vehicles and disrupted movement. 8/20, 11 were injured during an attack on the village. The same day, another 11 Palestinians were injured in a night-time attack on the Deir Shams community near Adh Dhahiriya (Hebron), when 240 sheep were stolen and homes, vehicles and shelters were damaged. 8/23, a child stabbed and injured an off-duty Israeli soldier traveling with his family near Al Auja (Jericho). In response, Israeli forces closed the village, raided several homes and a school, and detained a 16-year-old boy.

‍·       80 attacks by settlers resulted in Palestinian casualties, property damage or both. Recurrent attacks on communities have affected Palestinian access to homes, agricultural land and roads, as well as water and electricity infrastructure. Settler attacks displaced 3 households: a family of 6 (4 children), after settlers set fire to their home near Yatta (Hebron) on 8/20; and 2 families (9 people, 2 children), after settlers burned their residential and livelihood structures in Burqa (Ramallah) on 8/22.

‍·       8/28, a group of masked settlers armed with clubs beat a team of NBC correspondents and Aida Ahmed Abdullah, a 51-year-old Palestinian woman they were interviewing, in the occupied West Bank village of Jaldu, near Nablus. The attack left the woman unconscious.She had been describing to the network how settlers had recently forced her family out of their home. (Drop Site 8/31, Haaretz)

‍·       Within a single week, Israeli settlers raided the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir three times under Israeli military protection, each ending with soldiers opening fire on Palestinians. At least seven Palestinians were shot, two fatally, and residents reported assaults as well as the theft or killing of livestock and other property. The violence follows a similar pattern: settlers approach Palestinian homes with their flocks under military protection, claim their sheep were lost, stolen or poisoned, and then provoke confrontations that end with Israeli troops shooting Palestinians. Haaretz‍ ‍

‍Access Restrictions Linked to Settlement Expansion

‍·       The number of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank has reached 592, according to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. Some 780,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, while Israel controls 42% of the territory. Israeli control extends to 71% of Area C and 91% of the Palestinian Jordan Valley, according to the Commission. (Palestine Chronicle 8/23)

‍·       Peace Now has reported how settlers have established 26 outposts in Area B during the past 2½ years, most of them in recent months, using violence and threats to restrict Palestinian access to land and pressure them to leave their homes. They estimate that settlers have taken 100,000 dunams (24,710 acres) in Areas A and B, including 55,000 dunams (13,591 acres) in Area B. 

‍·       In Qusra (Nablus, in Area B), a new outpost established on 8/9 was followed by increased presence of Israeli forces and settlers, damage to water and electricity infrastructure, and restrictions on Palestinian movement and access. 8/15, after the municipality obtained Israeli approval to repair infrastructure damaged by settlers, settlers injured 2 members of the repair team and Israeli forces detained 4 electric workers. 8/23, municipal workers were finally able to deliver food to the 3 families under siege. As of 9/4, the 3 families remain subject to severe access and movement restrictions. One of the affected homes has been occupied by Israeli forces for about 10 days, and Israeli forces removed most of their belongings. Through ongoing negotiation with Israeli authorities, some essential food, water, medicines and other supplies have reached the affected families.

‍·       8/12, in Hebron governorate, a humanitarian assessment was conducted in Surif and Halhul following an increase in settler attacks and access restrictions in areas affected by the establishment and expansion of settlement outposts in Area C.

‍·       65 Palestinian families in Al Quraynat, Surif (Hebron, in Area C) have been attacked 16 times this year by settlers from 2 outposts (established in 2025 and mid-2026), while there had only been 8 attacks in the preceding 5 years. Since January 2025, one Palestinian has been killed and 20 injured by Israeli settlers or forces during settler attacks, compared with 7 injuries and no fatalities in the preceding 5 years. There have been shootings, physical assaults and intimidation by settlers, damage to homes, agricultural land and livelihood assets, and increasing restrictions on access to agricultural and grazing land.

‍·       In Halhul (Hebron), 7 new outposts have been established since May 2025 which have constrained Palestinian access to about 14,000 of 37,000 dunams (3,459 – 9,143 acres) of their productive agricultural land. Settler attacks and the designation of farmland as “military zones” have reduced their crops and income. They have also reduced access to services and protection. In Wadi Muhaisin, 7 families (90 people) face movement restrictions that disrupt access to schools, health care, and other essential services. For the past 8 months, Israeli forces have prevented residents from using a route near a closed road gate near the Karmi Tsur settlement, forcing schoolchildren and others to take a 4 km detour where settlers harass them, where the recurrent violence and intimidation cause psychosocial distress.

‍Operations by Israeli Forces and Access Disruptions

‍·       8/11-24, 22 raids and other operations by Israeli forces involved detentions, home evacuations and movement restrictions in Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm and Hebron governorates. 

‍·       8/13, as Israeli settlers returned to the Ganim settlement east of Jenin, which had been evacuated in 2005, Israeli forces established checkpoints and closed sections of Road 60, cutting off direct access to Jenin for about 10 villages (more than 20,000 people). 

‍·       8/17, Israeli forces evacuated 10 families for 7 hours from their homes in Jabal an Naser neighborhood, Tulkarm, due to military activities near the Nur Shams refugee camp. Military bulldozers excavated a road, damaging water and sewage networks, and damaged Palestinian land before withdrawing. Families then returned to their homes, and municipal crews repaired the infrastructure. A 10-hour operation in Qabatiya (Jenin) searched 100 homes and detained 60+ Palestinians. 8/19, Israeli forces imposed a 12-hour curfew, affecting 40,000 people in Adh Dhahiriya (Hebron). They detained and interrogated 40 Palestinians and used 7 homes as interrogation sites, confining the affected families to single rooms.

‍·       8/21, Israeli forces killed a prominent Palestinian father of two martyred resistance fighters.  Fathi Khazem, 58, also known as Abu Raad, was at home with his 12-year-old son, Adam, when Israeli soldiers raided his home in the al-Masarwa neighborhood of Jenin in the northern West Bank. The 12-year-old recounted how they ordered his father to raise his hands, remove his clothes, and kneel before them. Adam said that his father refused to comply with their orders or submit to their attempts to humiliate him, asking, “Who are you that I should kneel before you?” (Mondoweiss 8/22)

‍·       8/28, an Israeli drone struck a house under construction in Jenin, killing 3, as large numbers of Israeli forces entered the area. The first Israeli airstrike on the West Bank in around 10 months, the house was struck with two missiles and Israeli troops prevented ambulances from reaching the house and detained medical workers who arrived on the scene. (OCHAOPT, Drop Site 8/28)

‍·       9/2, Israeli forces demolished nearly every building and most of the infrastructure in Khirbet al-Tabban, a West Bank village of approximately 70 residents, including about 30 children. B’Tselem characterized the demolition as part of an accelerating effort to remove Palestinian communities and reported that 66 communities, comprising nearly 5,000 people, have been expelled since 10/2023. Haaretz‍ ‍

Demolitions and Forced Evictions

‍·       8/11-24, 79 Palestinian structures were demolished in 22 incidents across the West Bank. 5 had been provided as humanitarian assistance following previous demolitions. The demolitions displaced 16 households (73 people, 34 children) and affected more than 280 people (100 children). 3 structures were demolished in Kafr Sur (Tulkarm) near the Barrier and 76 were demolished for lack of impossible to acquire Israeli-issued building permits, 66 in Area C and 10 in East Jerusalem. Demolished structures included 15 homes and 64 work-related, agricultural, and water and sanitation structures.

‍·       45 Palestinians (22 children) were displaced in Beit Hanina, Jabal al Mukabbir and Silwan (Jerusalem), following demolitions of residential structures carried out by Israeli forces or by owners under orders. 8/12 & 14, in Jabal al Mukabbir, 22 people (13 children) were displaced in 2 incidents; 8/12 & 17, in Silwan, 13 people (5 children) were displaced in 2 incidents; and 8/19, in Beit Hanina, 3 refugee households (10 people, 4 children) were displaced when the Jerusalem Municipality, accompanied by Israeli forces, demolished a 2-story residential building. The families lost their belongings in the demolitions; in Beit Hanina, residents were prevented from retrieving most of their belongings before the building was demolished.

‍·       8/18, Israeli forces evicted 2 Palestinian households (8 people) from their 3-story residential building in the Batn al Hawa area of Silwan, East Jerusalem, in favor of the Israeli settler organization Ateret Cohanim. The families had built and inhabited the building prior to 1967. Following court proceedings over claims that parts of the building stand on land owned by Jews prior to 1948, settlers took over the 2nd-floor apartment and parts of the 3rd-floor apartment, rendering it uninhabitable, as well as the main entrance and part of a ground-floor apartment inhabited by 2 elderly women. The women were left without independent access to their home and now require coordination through the settler-controlled section to enter or receive visitors.

‍·       So far in 2026, 24 Palestinian households (93 people, 30 children) have been forced from their homes by Israeli court decisions, mostly in Silwan. 200 Palestinian households (900 people) in East Jerusalem remain at risk of forced displacement due to ongoing eviction cases, the majority initiated by Israeli settler organizations.

‍Healthcare

‍·       WHO documented 37 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank. For over 2 months, one of the most prominent Palestinian doctors in the West Bank has been languishing in Israeli prison. On6/21, Israeli soldiers arrested Dr. Mazen Rantisi, known as the “doctor of the poor” at his home in Ramallah. Rantisi is the chair of the board of the Health Work Committees (HWC), which makes his arrest and ongoing detention particularly significant. Founded in the 1980s, HWC emerged from a network of grassroots and popular committees that sought to provide basic services outside structures controlled by the Israeli occupation. The HWC model, a form of popular resistance, belonged to a broader movement aiming to build independent Palestinian institutions as a means of resisting colonial domination. (+972 8/30)

‍Aid

‍·       9/1, World Food Program said funding shortages are forcing it to halve food assistance in the West Bank from 400,000 to 200,000, even as Israeli military operations, settler violence, movement restrictions, demolitions, and displacement drive growing food insecurity. “At a time when WFP should be scaling up assistance to reach more people, we are being forced to make difficult decisions, prioritizing the most vulnerable while cutting assistance to others despite widespread needs,” WFP warned that funding shortages are also affecting assistance to 1.5 million people in Gaza and that further cuts will be unavoidable without additional funding. (Drop Site 9/1)

‍Education

‍·       Teachers at private and Christian schools in occupied East Jerusalem launched an open-ended strike as the academic year began, protesting Israel’s requirement that all new first and seventh-grade classes at Palestinian-majority municipal schools use the Israeli curriculum exclusively. The change will affect more than 45,000 students, or one in three Palestinian students in the city. Israel has also blocked entry permits for more than 70 West Bank teachers and staff without warning, according to the General Secretariat for Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem, which called the abrupt reversal “unprecedented.” (Drop Site 9/2)

‍LEBANON

‍·       Despite the “ceasefire,” Israel continues to use planes, artillery and drones to destroy housing, local government structures, and burn fields and orchards throughout southern Lebanon. (OCHAOPT, Drop Site 8/28)

‍·       ‍Lebanon’s MoH says Israeli attacks have killed 4,348+ and wounded 12,307 + since 3/2.

‍·       Israel has killed an average of seven children per day in Lebanon since March despite agreements aimed at ending the fighting, Save the Children said on 9/2.

‍·       Israeli attacks continue to displace Lebanese residents of the south. The UNHCR said “more than 350,000 people remain displaced across Lebanon while approximately 860,000 people have returned to their communities of origin or nearby areas although many continue to face significant challenges and these should not be considered durable returns.” Around 23,000 people remain in shelters.

‍·       8/24, Israeli bulldozers demolished a temporary school complex in the Marjayoun district while troops rigged and demolished several homes. In Khiam, forces blew up homes near Al-Mabarrat schools before setting fire to additional homes, properties and agricultural fields. An Israeli drone attack killed 2 17-year old boys on a motorcycle.

‍·       8/25, Israeli aircraft carried out 3 strikes on Tyre district alongside extensive demolition operations. An Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade near rescue crews in Dohat Kfar Roummane.

‍·       8/26, Israeli warplanes launched a wave of strikes on 6 towns across southern Lebanon. 11 towns and areas came under artillery fire, and home demolitions and machine-gun fire were widespread.

‍·       8/27, a newlywed was killed and others wounded when Israeli warplanes struckand destroyed her home in the Nabatieh district. Israeli warplanes struck the town again less than 10 minutes later. In Marjayoun, Israeli forces accompanied by tanks and military bulldozers advanced into the western outskirts of Mays Al-Jabal as artillery struck several homes. Israeli forces set homes on fire and bulldozed agricultural tents.

‍·       8/30, Israeli ground forces advanced toward Aita Al-Jabal, setting fires as they went. They carried out three airstrikes on Qantara in the Marjayoun district, while drones dropped explosives on homes in Mansouri. Israeli forces also fired white phosphorus near Kfar Roumanne, Kfar Tibnit, and Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

‍·       8/31, continuing to ignore the ceasefire, Israeli forces attacked 3 districts in southern Lebanon. In Marjayoun, Israeli explosions caused part of a mountain in Qantara to collapse. In Nabatieh, they carried out a large explosion in Arnoun, near Beaufort Castle. In Tyre, Israeli forces shelled Mansouri and Buyout Al-Sayyad overnight and into the early morning hours. They continued to use illegal white phosphorus munitions in attacks on villages in Nabatieh. 

‍ISRAEL

‍·       A growing number of former Israeli generals, intelligence officials and prime ministers are accusing settlers in the West Bank of committing ethnic cleansing with government support. “Once a society behaves this way,” one said, “that society is doomed.” (NYT 9/2)

·       Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel remains prepared to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza “by sea, by air, by every way possible,” describing the ethnic cleansing of the Strip as the “only solution.” Katz said Trump has not canceled the plan but “froze it” after pressure from Arab governments, while countries willing to receive Palestinians want US backing. He added Israel expects a future “green light” to advance militarily and territorially if Hamas is deemed to have violated its commitments. Jared Kushner, made a similar threat after meeting Netanyahu last month, saying that if Hamas failed to decommission its weapons, the U.S. would back Israel resuming the war to “finish the job.” (Drop Site 9/3, (The Guardian)

‍·       National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released footage of a new facility being built to carry out executions of Palestinians convicted under Israel’s military court system. Ben-Gvir said the facility would include viewing rooms allowing victims’ families to witness executions, citing the US as a model. He presented the facility as the fulfillment of one of several pledges he had made concerning Palestinian prisoners. “I promised to end the leniency in the prison service; this was fulfilled in full, …I promised to legislate the death penalty for terrorists; this was done. I promised to establish a facility; this is being carried out.” (Palestine Chronicle 8/21)

‍·       New details have emerged about the mechanisms of political persecution inside Israel’s Education Ministry. Officials in at least two different departments of the ministry have been secretly monitoring and investigating teachers — searching not only for expressions that could constitute “incitement to terrorism,” but any political statements opposing the Israeli government. Those primarily targeted are Arab teachers. In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Education Ministry acknowledged that between 2023 and 2025, 157 teachers were examined. Of those, 118 were Arab — meaning three out of every four. +972

·       Israel has refused to open criminal investigations into two attacks by its military that killed four Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff and injured six more. The first incident occurred in 11/2023, when attacks carried out on an MSF convoy in Gaza City killed two people, and the second in 2/2024 when an MSF shelter in Khan Younis was hit, killing two and injuring six. Since 10/ 2023 Israeli forces have killed 15 MSF staff members in Gaza. According to the UN, more than 560 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank in the past three years. (BMJ 8/28) 

‍·       Israeli commander Nochi Mendel said he is “not sorry” for ordering the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza in April 2024. Mendel claimed WCK had “ties to Hamas” and was “not really… innocent,” although he acknowledged he did not know of those alleged links when he ordered the attack. Mendel was removed from his post over serious failures and breaches of procedure, but Israel declined to pursue a criminal investigation against the commander. (Drop Site 8/28)

‍·       Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz renewed his threat to target any Palestinians seen flying balloons or kites over Gaza, declaring “any launch is a terrorist act.” His threats have forced parents to enforce a ban on kite flying. “They have been deprived of education, which is the most essential pillar for children and for human beings. Should they even be deprived of this simple toy? The simplest toy that we can provide for them at the lowest cost, the Israeli enemy has banned them from using.” "I don't know what we can do that won't anger Israel," says Muhammad Owais, 13. (Drop Site 8/28, Mondoweiss 8/29)

‍·       In February, the Israeli military detained Mohammed Sliman, a healthy Palestinian 16-year-old for allegedly 'throwing objects.' Now he has gone through two open-heart surgeries and the partial amputation of one of his legs – all because he was denied proper medical treatment in prison where he contracted scabies. Because the horrific skin disease wasn't treated properly at the time, the infection spread to Mohammed's entire body, initially attacking the urinary system and then his heart, leg and apparently also his brain. He dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, was fond of horseback riding and loved animals. Haaretz

‍·       After being arrested at her home in Ramallah, Dr. Dima Amin, a 55-year-old gynecologist, suffered a cardiac event and underwent cardiac catheterization while in Israeli military custody. According to her attorney, she suffered a cardiac event after soldiers forcefully tightened her handcuffs, leaving marks on her wrists that remained visible days later. Dr. Amin is still being held in a Jerusalem detention facility and questioned on “suspicion of incitement through social media posts.” MSF International stated that “Dr. Dima is the latest victim in Israel's systematic campaign of hunting down and detaining Palestinian medics.” Haaretz

‍UNITED STATES

‍·       Trump administration has imposed “terrorism” sanctions on the British group Palestine Action. 8/26, US Treasury Department sanctioned the group under an executive order issued after the 9/11/01 attacks. It also sanctioned Autistici Inventati, an Italy-based group that provides digital services to left-wing organizations, including Palestine solidarity groups, and the international pro-Palestinian organization Masar Badil. The sanctions freeze any assets the groups may have under US jurisdiction and generally bar Americans from providing them with funds, goods or services. (Electronic Intifada 8/29)

‍·       9/3, HR 4795, the anti-boycott bill that could cut off federal funds to universities that don’t do business with Israeli settlements, passed the House with 237 in favor and 169 against. Thirty-three Democrats joined House Republicans in voting for the bill, including pro-Israel AIPAC-backed stalwarts Jared Moskowitz, Jake Auchincloss, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “Under this bill, US universities MUST work with Israel/settlements or they will be punished for boycotting, even if they do not have a policy of boycotting,” Foundation for Middle East Peace president Lara Friedman wrote. (Palestine Chronicle 9/3, Mondoweiss)

‍Universities

‍·       Haley Van Erem worked for nearly a decade in the US Justice Department before she and other career attorneys were involuntarily assigned to the Department of Health and Human Services in 3/2025 to investigate alleged anti-Semitism at university medical schools. Van Erem left the government two months later, after refusing “further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law,” according to the disclosure. The 25-page disclosure submitted to Congress on Van Erem’s behalf by the Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based nonprofit, states that officials pursued outcomes “predetermined, without regard to the evidence.” (Electronic Intifada 8/24, Democracy Now) ‍ ‍

·       District Judge Noël Wise ruled that the Trump administration could not use immigration powers to punish international students for pro-Palestinian speech and criticism of Israel. The case was brought by The Stanford Daily, which said foreign students had censored their journalism and political expression because they feared deportation. Wise warned that allowing the policy to continue could ultimately threaten “anyone in the United States” expressing views disliked by the government. (Palestine Chronicle 8/30)

‍·       Robot cockroaches, “terror-network” mapping, and rapid missile guidance are just three examples of at least 70 research projects US universities have conducted on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Over a thousand pages of internal university and US/Israeli military documents reveal a sweeping, decades-long program to sponsor military research collaborations with at least 30 US universities, from Cornell to the University of California at San Diego, since at least 2009. (Truthout 9/3, Drop Site )

‍·       Three-quarters of US college students agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a new survey from Brandeis University. Even among students the researchers classified as “Israel Supporters,” one in four agreed. It is the headline finding of “American Undergraduates and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” a report by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. The survey’s results are fundamentally unfavorable to Israel but the authors devote much of the report attempting to diminish its significance. (Electronic Intifada 9/3)

·       Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, health workers have been among the loudest voices exposing Israel’s attacks on healthcare. Nurses, doctors, and other medics warned relentlessly that the systematic destruction of health and life in Palestine is a blueprint for what could follow if occupation authorities are not stopped. They helped mobilize millions around the world – yet they also faced censorship and attempts to discredit them inside their own professional spaces. Recent experiences by health professionals suggest these are not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated strategy to delegitimize medical expertise when it counters Israel’s claims about attacks on Palestinian, Lebanese, and other patients, medics, and infrastructure. Breakthrough News

‍·       City University of New York (CUNY) has agreed to disclose all its stock and bond holdings following a Freedom of Information Law lawsuit filed by CUNY Law student Sarah Southey on behalf of CUNY Law SJP and CUNY for Palestine. Under the settlement, CUNY will provide records identifying holdings registered in its name for every fiscal year since 2020, including contracts with 30 companies—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Caterpillar, Chevron, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and others complicit in Israeli settler colonialism. The university also dropped its appeal and will pay $20,000 in legal fees to the NYCLU. The full settlement agreement can be read at tinyurl.com/CUNYSettlement. This victory is only the beginning; information about the exact amount CUNY invests in companies complicit in genocide will be used to intensify the divestment campaign.

‍Harvard, Columbia, Brown

‍·       An explosive whistleblower disclosure by a former US Department of Justice civil rights lawyer reveals how the Trump administration rigged federal anti-Semitism investigations of Harvard, Columbia and Brown universities to reach politically predetermined conclusions and intimidate Muslim professors. The administration also used billions of dollars in federal funding to blackmail the institutions. Congressman Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, called the investigations “fake, a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature.” He is asking an administration official to appear before his committee and demanding government records. But even as the disclosure exposes abuses and possible illegality, the whistleblower’s lawyers at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and Raskin are downplaying a central fact: The government specifically sought to punish and silence advocacy for Palestinian rights, opposition to Zionism and criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Electronic Intifada,AP News

INTERNATIONAL

‍UK

‍·       A jury at Kingston Crown Court  unanimously found Tony Greenstein not guilty of inviting support for a proscribed organization under Britain’s Terrorism Act 2000. Prosecutors argued that Greenstein’s 10/7/23 posts supporting the “Gaza ghetto uprising” amounted to an invitation to support Hamas. Greenstein maintained that supporting Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation was distinct from supporting Hamas as an organization, telling the court: “When a colonial power holds another people down, they have the right to resist.” (Palestine Chronicle 8/23)

·       Seven Palestine Action activists who spray-painted messages and damaged Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland during a 3/2025 protest have been charged with malicious damage “having a terrorist connection.” The activists sprayed red paint on the clubhouse, damaged turf and sprinklers, applied weedkiller to greens, and painted “Gaza is not 4 sale” on the property in protest of Trump’s stance on Gaza. The case comes days after the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Palestine Action and the pro-Palestine group Masar Badil, along with financial penalties on the Italian digital services group Autistici Inventati. (Drop Site 8/28)

·       UK Jewish establishment has gone ‘crazy’ over a possible plan from Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to sanction illegal Israeli settlements. But polling shows they do not represent UK Jewish opinion. (Zeteo UK, 9/2)

Canada

·       8/31, Montreal City Council was set to debate a controversial motion calling on the city to suspend all institutional ties with the Israeli government. Avi Lewis, a leading Jewish Canadian politician and head of the progressive New Democratic Party, says it’s a reflection of widespread outrage among Canadians over Israel’s actions across the Middle East. Pro-Israel forces “are on the defensive now,” says Lewis. “They still capture most of the political class and the mainstream media, but among the majority of people, we want to see our government step up and take a clear moral position against apartheid, against genocide and against the killing of civilians.” (Democracy Now 8/24)

South Africa

·       South Africa has officially submitted a substantial dossier to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), detailing Israel’s continued non-compliance with legally binding provisional measures. The submission, formally handed over on 8/25, serves to assist an ICJ committee of judges tasked with monitoring the implementation of the court’s orders in Gaza. Israel’s non-compliance directly undermines the protective functions of international justice. Hence, the submission is a vital milestone in the struggle for global accountability. (Palestine Chronicle 8/30)

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, Dropsite, Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss, +972, Electronic Intifada, Democracy, Now, BMJ, Truthout, Zeteo, Electronic Intifada, New York Times, Haaretz, The Guardian, AP News, Breakthrough News, Aljazeera

Ed note: my access to Electronic Intifada was blocked because EI is “a dangerous website”!!!!

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