Drop Site Daily: September 29, 2025
Fifty Palestinians killed in Gaza over the past 24 hours as confirmed death toll tops 66,000. Israel continues its destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure, with doctors warning of “wholesale extermination” amid growing famine and health care collapse. The Knesset advances a bill that would allow the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in cases that constitute “racist or hate-motivated crimes.” Trump will meet with Netanyahu in the White House to discuss the 21-point ceasefire plan for Gaza; Hamas has not yet been presented with the plan. Eric Adams drops out of the New York mayoral race. Trump signs a directive vastly expanding federal powers to target those expressing anti-capitalist views or anti-Christian views, Ken Klippenstein reports. Hundreds of drones are launched into Ukraine by Russia overnight. Snapback sanctions hit Iran. The U.S. contemplates further military incursions into the Caribbean.
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The Genocide in Gaza
- At least 33 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Friday, including 24 in Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera. Over the past 24 hours, 50 bodies and 184 injured arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza’s health ministry. Five Palestinians were killed and 48 injured while seeking aid. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 66,055 killed, with 168,346 injured.
- Israeli forces carried out nighttime “fire belt” attacks across Gaza on Sunday, killing more than 40 Palestinians. Israeli tanks approached Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City, which was hit twice, leaving 91 people—including 12 infants—besieged inside the facility, meanwhile a number of patients were evacuated from Healing Hospital to Baptist Hospital. Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis also reported an infant death from malnutrition and lack of treatment.
- Israel struck a crowded market near Abu Dalal mall in Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens, many critically, according to eyewitnesses and footage from Drop Site’s Abdel Qader Sabbah. Overall, at least 91 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.
- The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Monday that 361 medical workers are being held in Israeli detention centers, with their whereabouts and conditions hidden from human rights groups. The ministry said reports indicate the detainees face catastrophic health conditions and abuse. It urged international organizations to press Israel for their immediate release.
- Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, told Seraj TV that Gaza City is facing “wholesale extermination” under relentless Israeli bombardment, with several hospitals out of service and tanks just a few hundred meters from Al-Shifa. Roughly 50 people killed daily and dozens critically injured, he said, while desalination plants have largely stopped functioning—limiting the availability of clean water—and international organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, are no longer operating. Dr. Abu Salmiya added that children are being starved and killed, the occupation is blocking food and medicine deliveries, and famine is worsening.
- After branding UNRWA a terrorist organization and dismantling its operations, Israel is reportedly applying similar tactics to other humanitarian groups in Gaza, +972 reports. A new “re-registration” process requires NGOs to submit full staff lists, and any employee linked to boycott calls in the past seven years risks losing authorization. Aid has increasingly been funneled through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which now operates just four sites, with none in northern Gaza. NGOs resisting the scheme face reprisals, including permit revocations and visa denials, leaving aid workers warning that Israel is using humanitarian aid to further ethnic cleansing while isolating or co-opting organizations.
- Saudi outlet Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza City families after elders from the Bakr and Doghmush clans refused to collaborate with Shin Bet’s plan to replace Hamas with clan-based governing bodies. At least 36 people were killed, and relatives were evacuated in anticipation of reprisals, with the Bakr elder stressing the refusal was a patriotic stance rather than loyalty to Hamas. Israel has increasingly relied on such militias across Gaza, and Hamas has repeatedly ambushed, arrested, and executed collaborators.
- Dr. Muhammad Mustafa, a Palestinian-British ER doctor treating children in Gaza, told Breaking Points that the humanitarian situation is catastrophic: “A million children are being starved to death… a quarter of the population is in Stage 5 famine, where four of every 10,000 children die each day.” He described performing chest drains on children without sedation, calling it “like being a butcher.” Mustafa warned that without doctors, medicine, and functioning infrastructure, people die even if food is available, and he’s urging governments in Ireland, Australia, and the UK to provide urgent medical relief.
West Bank and Israel
- Israel forces arrested at least 15 Palestinians in early morning raids in towns and villages across the occupied West Bank on Monday, including in the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and el-Bireh.
- Israel’s Knesset National Security Committee advanced a bill that would allow the death penalty for Palestinian captives convicted of killing Israelis in cases Israel defines as “racist or hate-motivated crimes,” according to the committee vote led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Human rights groups warned that, given the military courts’ 99.4% conviction rate for Palestinians, the law would effectively authorize near-automatic executions. The draft passed its first reading 4-1 but must clear two more readings in the full Knesset before becoming law.
- Palestinian leader Ahmed Sa’adat, 72, is reportedly facing worsening abuse in Israel’s Megiddo Prison, where he is held in solitary confinement. Prisoner groups say he suffers from starvation, beatings, and medical neglect in what they describe as a systematic effort to break his resolve. Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has spent nearly two decades in Israeli prisons and remains a central figure in Palestinian resistance, with both the PFLP and the Prisoners’ Media Office calling for international intervention to secure his release.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Friday with American social media influencers and called TikTok the “most important” “weapon” for shoring up support for Israel’s right-wing base. He emphasized that modern “weapons” are digital, quizzed the group on which platform is most influential, and confirmed it is TikTok, with X as another key tool—stressing Elon Musk “is not an enemy” and should be engaged. Netanyahu urged the influencers to actively help build political support for the Israeli state.
Ceasefire Negotiations
- President Donald Trump said on Sunday that negotiations over his 21-point Gaza plan are “at their final stages,” Axios reports. The Israeli government has not officially commented ahead of Trump’s Monday White House meeting with Netanyahu, while special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Netanyahu met in New York on Sunday to try to “bridge remaining gaps.” Axios highlighted two sticking points: Israel wants a tougher, binding clause on disarming Hamas, and Netanyahu insists the Palestinian Authority play no role in Gaza—a “red line” he reiterated on Fox News. The plan reportedly calls for “a process of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, which includes destroying all remaining heavy weapons and tunnels,” though the Washington Post described it as involving the “destruction of all of Hamas’ offensive weaponry.” Drafted by Witkoff and Kushner with input from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the plan draws on ideas from previous U.S., Israeli, and regional talks.
- Ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump on Monday, Axios’s Barak Ravid is reporting “exasperation” with the Israeli leader inside the White House. “If Netanyahu says no this time, some of Trump’s aides think he might turn on the prime minister,” Ravid reported. Ravid has repeatedly pushed a narrative of rifts between Netanyahu and both Biden and Trump, which have repeatedly been followed by continued or increased U.S. support for Israel’s wars or sabotaging of negotiations.
- Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, joined by Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the UAE, have submitted amendments to the U.S. 21-point Gaza ceasefire plan, according to Ultra Palestine and Alaraby TV. The Arab states’ changes call for a two-phase Israeli withdrawal, limit international forces to border duties only, and propose that Hamas voluntarily lay down weapons rather than be disarmed militarily. Governance would shift to a fully Palestinian technocratic administration under international supervision, with the Palestinian Authority taking a post-war role, while Hamas has not yet been formally approached.
- Hamas political bureau member Husam Badran said Hamas’s red lines in negotiations reflect broader Palestinian demands: an unambiguous end to the war, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and Palestinian rights to relief, reconstruction, and self-governance. He defended armed resistance as a legitimate right under international law, stressing that Gaza’s weapons are basic personal arms of fighters, not Hamas property, and that surrendering them would mean giving up self-defense while Israel continues attacks in the West Bank. Badran also said Hamas formally invited Fatah to bilateral dialogue earlier this month.
- In the same interview, Badran told Al Jazeera Mubasher that the group has not received any official details of the 21-point ceasefire proposal that Donald Trump claimed Hamas were “fully aware” of. He said all information has come through leaks and media chatter, with no formal proposal conveyed through traditional mediators such as Egypt or Qatar. Badran emphasized that while the U.S. and Israel often float ideas publicly, a complete, official proposal has yet to reach Hamas.
U.S. News
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams has withdrawn his independent re-election bid, citing media speculation and the campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars as obstacles to fundraising. Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who will face former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the general election, said Adams’ withdrawal does not change the race, noting continued efforts by Trump donors to influence the election.
- A former U.S. marine attacked a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan on Sunday, killing four and injuring eight before setting the building on fire. The shooter, Thomas Jacob Sanford, was killed in a shoot-out with police.
- Trump has signed NSPM-7, a national security directive vastly expanding federal powers against “domestic terrorism,” allowing agencies including the Department of Justice, FBI, Treasury, IRS, and Department of Homeland Security to act against individuals or groups before any violence occurs. The order retools the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces to include “civil disorder,” lets the attorney general designate domestic groups as terrorists, and targets funding and tax status of organizations deemed supportive. Extremism indicators now include anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, and “hostility” toward “traditional” family values, effectively criminalizing protest and dissent, according to reporting by Ken Klippenstein.
- Trump ordered U.S. troops to Portland, Oregon, and federal immigration facilities nationwide, claiming the deployment is needed to protect against “domestic terrorists,” Al Jazeera reports. Trump said on Truth Social that soldiers would be authorized to use “full force, if necessary,” a move quickly condemned by Portland’s mayor and other Democratic leaders, who noted that the National Guard is typically deployed only at a governor’s request. The announcement follows a deadly shooting at a Texas ICE facility and ongoing protests against U.S. immigration policies. Critics, including Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, warned Trump may be repeating tactics from 2020, while city data show violent crime in Portland has dropped 17% compared with the same period last year.
- Trump announced a 100% tariff on imported branded pharmaceutical products starting October 1, alongside tariffs on furniture, cabinets, and heavy trucks. The move, which exempts companies building U.S. plants, caused global pharma stocks to fall and could raise U.S. drug prices. Experts warn it may disrupt supply chains and slow innovation, though Indian generic producers are largely unaffected.
- At least 300 Northwestern University students have been blocked from registering for classes after refusing to complete a mandatory antisemitism training video produced by the pro-Israel Jewish United Fund, according to the Guardian. Students say the program equates criticism of Israel with hate speech and contains factual errors, with noncompliance threatening their jobs, visas, health insurance, and stipends. The requirement stems from Trump’s funding threats to universities deemed lax on antisemitism; $790 million in federal research money has already been cut from Northwestern.
- Trump publicly called on Microsoft to fire Lisa Monaco, the company’s new President of Global Affairs, after Laura Loomer publicized Monaco’s roles in the Biden and Obama administrations. Monaco, who had previously slowed antitrust actions against companies like those overseen by Biden FTC Commissioner Lina Khan, is now being targeted not for her corporate leniency but for political reasons.
- The Associated Press reported on Friday that the FBI fired about 20 agents who were photographed kneeling in apparent solidarity with 2020 racial justice protests following George Floyd’s killing. The agents were initially reassigned but later dismissed in a broader purge under Director Kash Patel.
- Trump welcomed Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir to the White House this week, touting a “massive oil deal” and promising access to Pakistan’s reserves. Experts, however, told The Guardian there is no evidence of such reserves, noting that Pakistan still imports over 80% of its oil and past exploration yielded only modest output. Former Pakistani energy officials called Trump’s claims a political gimmick, with Moin Raza Khan of Pakistan Petroleum Limited saying the assertions “have nothing to do with reality.”
International News
- On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck southern Lebanon, hitting the town of Jarmaq in the Jezzine district three times at the same location, while a separate strike reportedly launched by a drone hit Houmine al-Fawqa in the Nabatieh district. The strikes continue Israel’s near-daily cross-border operations, with repeated bombardments of towns and villages in southern Lebanon. Video shows smoke rising over Jarmaq after the attacks.
- Russia launched hundreds of drones and over 40 missiles at Ukraine on Sunday night, killing at least four people in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old girl, and wounding others across the country, France 24 reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes on Telegram, calling for the world to apply “the harshest pressure” on Moscow. The attacks followed Russian warnings at the UN General Assembly that NATO would face a “decisive response” if it acted against Russian airspace, prompting neighboring Poland to scramble jets and place air defenses on high alert. Kyiv also reported it received a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system from Israel that is now operational, with two more expected this autumn.
- The United Nations reinstated an arms embargo and other sanctions on Iran on Sunday after European powers accused Tehran of violating its 2015 nuclear deal, a move Iran has warned it will respond to harshly. Britain, France, and Germany pushed the sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, while the European Union said it would implement all nuclear-related measures without delay. Israel hailed the action as “a major development,” and the Iranian government recalled its ambassadors to Europe in protest, though President Masoud Pezeshkian affirmed Iran will remain in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The renewed sanctions include restrictions on uranium enrichment, ballistic missile activity, arms exports, and asset freezes, coming as Iran’s rial fell to a record low. Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Tom Balmforth, with additional coverage by Andrew Gray and Hatem Maher for the Associated Press.
- U.S. military officials are reportedly preparing options to strike drug traffickers inside Venezuela, with operations potentially beginning in the coming weeks, NBC News reports. The plans focus on drone strikes “targeting traffickers’ leadership and drug labs,” though Trump has not yet approved action. The escalation follows recent U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats allegedly carrying narcotics and a deployment of thousands of U.S. personnel and aircraft to the Caribbean.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday in New York that he planned to introduce a “Uniting for Peace” resolution at the UN General Assembly to authorize an “international army to liberate Palestine.” Petro argued that a two-thirds vote could create an “army of humanity” stronger than U.S. and Israeli power, compelling negotiations through sanctions and further Assembly measures. In response, the U.S. State Department said it would revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s diplomatic visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian protest outside the UN in New York. At Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Petro urged U.S. soldiers to “redirect weapons toward tyrants and fascists, not civilians,” prompting Washington to accuse him of “inciting violence” through “reckless and incendiary actions.”
Global Sumud Flotilla
- German activist and Global Sumud Flotilla steering committee member Yasemin Acar said the flotilla is “on the final leg of its mission,” approaching the area where the previous Freedom Flotilla’s Madleen ship was intercepted by Israeli forces. The mission is currently accompanied by an Italian navy vessel, with a Spanish ship expected to join soon, and additional volunteer vessels—including The Conscience, the largest ship from the earlier Freedom Flotilla—are set to reinforce the flotilla before reaching Gaza.
- Italian dockworker Romeo Pelliccaria told Drop Site News on Sunday that Genoa workers are now coordinating with dockworkers across Europe to mount a full-scale blockade of arms shipments to Israel. Pelliccaria recalled that in the 1970s, his father joined a humanitarian flotilla to Vietnam to challenge the U.S. blockade.
More From Drop Site
- DROP SITE EXCLUSIVE: Hacked emails from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reveal that Jeffrey Epstein used his political and financial networks to help broker a security agreement between Israel and Mongolia, according to reporting by Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain and Ryan Grim. The correspondence, released by pro-Palestinian hacking group Handala, shows Epstein coordinating meetings, advising on Israeli tech and defense exports, and facilitating Barak’s consulting and investment ventures— a largely overlooked aspect of Epstein’s operations. While Barak denies any knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking, the emails paint a detailed picture of Epstein’s influence in shaping Israel’s foreign security and intelligence relationships. This article is the first in a series exploring Epstein’s covert role in state military and technology interests abroad. Read it here.
- Pakistan election theft cover-up: The Commonwealth Observer Group delayed release of its 2024 Pakistan election report for over a year, reportedly bowing to pressure from Pakistani officials and former Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, despite widespread evidence of rigging that favored Shahbaz Sharif’s government. Sources say the suppression violated Commonwealth guidelines requiring transparency to governments, political parties, and member states, prompting internal discord and frustration from staff. The leaked report, obtained and published by Drop Site News, details violence, detentions, internet disruptions, and vote manipulation targeting supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Read the newest reporting by Murtaza Hussain, Ryan Grim, and Waqas Ahmed here.
- At a Columbia Journalism School panel, Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous said Western media enable Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists by amplifying its framing. He noted that Israel shifted from calling journalist deaths “mistakes,” to fabricating ties with resistance forces, to openly targeting reporters, while outlets like Reuters continue to prioritize Israeli claims. Abdel Kouddous also recounted his experience working with Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat, who was placed on an Israeli hit list and assassinated in northern Gaza in March. He shared Shabat’s final message: “Don’t let the world look away. Keep fighting until Palestine is free.”
- Drop Site’s Ryan Grim explains that President Donald Trump’s $20 billion bailout for Argentina is enabling China to buy discounted Argentine soybeans, while U.S. farmers face unsold crops due to Chinese tariffs. Watch Grim’s short video here.
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