Israel’s Genocidal Violence in Gaza Kills 1,000 More Palestinians | Palestine Policy Roundup 6.24.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 1,027 killed since the beginning of Trump's Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); at least 3,338 Israeli violations of Trump's Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 73,035 killed during Israel's genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 3,468 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)
🇱🇧 LEBANON: 4,175 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 13 servicemembers killed (US Military)
🏛️ LEG UPDATES
In June, five new House Members cosponsored the Block the Bombs Act. Thank you to Reps. Christian Menefee, Thomas Massie, Jahana Hayes, LaMonica McIver, and Stephen Lynch.
💣 ISRAEL KILLS 1,000 PALESTINIANS SINCE GAZA PLAN START
Israel has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2025, when Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of President Trump's plan for the area. Israel has repeatedly violated the Trump plan, including by continuing to attack and kill Palestinians.
STILL KILLING PALESTINIANS: Last Saturday, Israel continued its attacks on media workers and killed Ahmed Wishah, a cameraman for Al Jazeera in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 260 journalists in Gaza according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Two others were also killed in the attack.
Also on Saturday, an Israeli strike on an apartment building in Gaza City killed two sisters: four-year-old Zina and 14-year-old Lana al-Safadi.
Mohammed Safadi, a cousin of Lana and Zina, said: "I was sitting at home. The rocket fell on us without a warning. This ceasefire the occupation and the negotiation team speak of ... is this really a ceasefire? We are civilians. I never held a weapon."
Israeli soldiers also shot and killed three-year-old Rayan Abu al-Ajeen as his family attempted to access their farmland near the Israeli redeployment line, also known as the yellow line.
US WEAPONS USED: Israel has used US-provided weapons to violate the Trump plan and kill Palestinians in Gaza. Just a few weeks ago on Eid al-Adha, an Israeli strike used a US-provided GBU-39 small diameter bomb in an attack on a residential building in Gaza City. This attack killed 10 Palestinians, including four children.
On January 15, parts of a US-provided GBU-39 small diameter bomb were identified in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on two houses in Deir al-Balah. These strikes killed at least six Palestinians, including a child.
SQUEEZING PALESTINIANS OUT: One-third of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Trump plan were killed in areas near the yellow line, according to a report published by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights last month.
Palestinians reported last week that Israel is expanding the area under its military occupation and moving the yellow line to the east.
Palestinians who find themselves behind the yellow line following an Israeli expansion report being forcibly displaced from their homes under attack by Israeli drones and tanks.
More than 60% of Gaza is under Israel's military occupation, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered the Israeli military to expand the area under its occupation to 70% of Gaza.
💥 IRAN NEGOTIATIONS DERAILED BY ISRAEL'S LEBANON ATTACKS
Israel's continued assault on Lebanon threatened to derail negotiations between the US and Iran before they even began this week. As the two countries negotiate over outstanding issues, including nuclear issues and sanctions relief, Israeli attacks on Lebanon remain a key sticking point.
ISRAELI MOU VIOLATION: Iran delayed the beginning of negotiations and closed the Strait of Hormuz following Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Iranian officials warned that the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran was jeopardized by the attacks.
The first point of the US-Iran MOU explicitly includes Lebanon under the ceasefire and safeguards the "territorial integrity" of the country. Israel's continued attacks were in clear violation of the MOU.
ISRAEL'S ATTACKS: Israel killed 83 people across Lebanon before the ceasefire with Hezbollah was announced. Israel likely carried out these attacks in anticipation of a deal being reached, as it has done several times before in both Lebanon and Gaza.
Despite agreeing to the ceasefire, Israel killed nearly 40 more people in attacks across Lebanon on Saturday. Israel reportedly launched 70 airstrikes on Lebanon from midnight to 3pm.
SPOILING THE CEASEFIRE? Israel's ceasefire violations in Lebanon came as The Washington Post reported that the US intelligence community warned the Trump administration that Israel is likely to undermine its efforts to reach peace with Iran.
The intelligence report also noted Israel's intent to escalate its attacks on Lebanon and to maintain its occupation of Lebanese territory.
Israeli Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have lived up to this assessment: both immediately attacked the Iran MOU and suggested that Israel would continue to attack both Lebanon and Iran.
MAINTAINING OCCUPATION: Several Israeli ministers have vowed to maintain Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon up to its yellow line there, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Before Israel launched its deadly attacks over the weekend, it announced an expanded zone of occupation in the country. The map reflects areas that the Israeli military occupies north of the Litani River, such as the areas around Beaufort Castle.
🩺 PALESTINIAN DOCTOR REMAINS IMPRISONED WITHOUT CHARGE BY ISRAELI COURT
Last Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court denied an appeal for release made by Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor who was abducted by the Israeli military in December 2024. Dr. Abu Safiya has been held in Israeli detention for 17 months without charge.
WHO IS DR. ABU SAFIYA? Dr. Hussam Abu Saifya is a prominent Palestinian pediatrician who served as the acting director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza when the Israeli military sieged and invaded the facility in December 2024.
Kamal Adwan Hospital, like other hospitals in northern Gaza, was targeted by the Israeli military during a broader Israeli siege on northern Gaza in late 2024. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in the area at the time.
Dr. Abu Safiya refused to abandon his patients as the Israeli military threatened him and issued forced displacement orders for the hospital
TORTURE AND SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: Dr. Abu Saifya was placed in solitary confinement earlier this month. He reportedly is being held in a three-foot by three-foot cell in Israel's Ramon prison.
Dr. Abu Safiya is also being tortured and abused in Israeli detention. According to his son, Elyas Abu Safiya, Dr. Abu Safiya has not received adequate medical treatment for skin diseases he contracted while in detention. He has also not received adequate medical care for his chronic illness.
Palestinians who were formally held with Dr. Abu Safiya also recounted the abuse to which Israeli soldiers subjected him: soldiers allegedly publicly humiliated him, dragged him along the ground, attacked him with dogs, and used stun grenades on him while he was in his cell.
TARGETING MEDICAL WORKERS: Dr. Abu Safiya is not alone in this treatment. Just this week, the Israeli military abducted and detained Dr. Mazen Al Rantisi during an attack on his home in the West Bank.
The Israeli military continues to hold dozens of Palestinian medical workers in detention. Many of these medical workers were abducted from Gaza in service of Israel's genocide of Palestinians there.
Several reports, including those published by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, have documented Israel's arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinian medical workers.
Israel's practice of arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinian prisoners, including medical workers, violates not only international law but also US law—specifically the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the transfer of weapons and other support to countries that practice torture and detention without charge.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders, in response to Itamar Ben-Gvir calling for continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon: "This is not a normal statement from a normal cabinet member of a major nation. This statement from Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir is the statement of a war criminal. The racist, extremist Israeli government does not deserve one nickel of U.S. support."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: "Leqaa Kordia was locked up by ICE for 368 days for exercising her constitutional right to speak out against genocide. For over a year, she was separated from her family while her health deteriorated. We must continue fighting for justice for every person trapped in ICE detention."
Rep. Gwen Moore on the release of Salah Sarsour: "Over the course of two visits, I observed troubling signs of declining health and raised serious concerns about the conditions of his confinement. No person in ICE custody should be denied adequate nutrition, medical attention, or humane treatment. The court's ruling affirms what many of us have been saying for months: Mr. Sarsour's continued detention was unjustifiable. Thank you to the legal advocates, community leaders, and family members who fought tirelessly for Mr. Sarsour's release."
Rep. Summer Lee: "Relieved to hear Salah Sarsour has been reunited with his loved ones after being wrongfully targeted and detained by ICE. No one should face retaliation for free speech or for advocating for Palestinian human rights. If his free speech isn't protected, neither is yours."
Rep. Delia Ramirez: "Israeli Ministers are being explicit: they will expand their genocidal campaign to Lebanon using U.S. supplied weapons and resources. We must pass a Lebanon War Powers Resolution, bring my Block the Bombs Act to a vote, and end all aid being used by the Israeli government to violate U.S. and international law. Not one more dollar; not one more bomb; not one more excuse."
Photo: Ran Zisovitch, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2426591937