Drop Site Daily: October 14, 2025
Israel kills at least five Palestinians in Gaza and announces it will not abide by the humanitarian terms of the ceasefire agreement. Aid is entering Gaza at an insufficient pace, with authorities warning it represents “a drop in the ocean” of Gaza’s needs. The United Nations Development Program says that $70 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza. President Donald Trump continues his “victory tour” of the Levant, taking credit for the ceasefire in speeches at the Knesset and at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt, where he signed the deal presided over by the heads of state of Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, and Indonesia, while the leadership of the Palestinian resistance did not attend. A live microphone records Trump agreeing to arrange a meeting between his son and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, saying “I’ll have Eric call. Should I do that? He’s such a good boy.” The U.S. plans to commit half a billion dollars to anti-drone defense in anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. ICE continues to harass residents in Chicago and Portland. China threatens retaliatory tariffs after Trump signaled plans to impose “100 percent tariffs” on Chinese goods. Washington reaffirms its readiness to defend its ally in the Philippines if hostilities in the South China Sea escalate further. Floods ravage Mexico’s east coast. Madagascar’s president flees the country amid ongoing “Gen Z” protests.
Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim appeared on the most recent episode of Chapo Trap House.
This is Drop Site Daily, our new, free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday.
The Genocide in Gaza
- The Israeli military killed five Palestinians in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday. A number of outlets report that the five were going to check on their houses in the eastern Gaza City suburb. The Israeli military admitted to killing the group, claiming they approached its soldiers. There are also reports of the Israeli military killing one Palestinian in Khan Younis. In response, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese said on X: “Ceasefire according to Israel=‘you cease, I fire.’ Calling it ‘peace’ is both an insult and a distraction.”
- Israel on Tuesday announced it will not abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreement related to humanitarian aid, claiming that Hamas violated the deal regarding the release of the bodies of dead Israeli captives. As part of the deal, Hamas released all 20 living Israeli captives held in Gaza on Monday. The bodies of the remaining 28 dead captives are also expected to be handed over as part of the deal, although the exact timing remained unclear. Hamas did release the bodies of four dead Israeli captives on Monday. In a statement, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the branch of the Israeli military that oversees the West Bank and Gaza, said “Hamas violated the agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. As a result, the political leadership has decided to impose a number of sanctions related to the humanitarian agreement that was reached. Starting tomorrow, only half of the agreed number of trucks—300 trucks—will be allowed to enter, and all of them will belong to the UN and humanitarian NGOs, with no private sector involvement. No fuel or gas will be allowed into the Strip, except for specific needs related to humanitarian infrastructure.”
- Separately, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acknowledged that it will take time to hand over the remains of Israeli captives in Gaza. “That’s an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released. That’s a massive challenge,” the ICRC’s spokesperson Christian Cardon told Reuters. “I think that there is clearly a risk that that will take much more time.” Cardon added that it could take days or weeks and that there was a possibility they were never found.
- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said on Tuesday that the latest joint estimate from the U.N., the European Union, and the World Bank is that $70 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza. The figure was tallied in September and has risen from the $53 billion estimated in February. UNDP Special Representative Jaco Cillers said $20 billion would be needed in the next three years, and the rest would be needed over a longer period. Cillers told a press briefing that the amount of rubble in Gaza would stack 12 meters high in all of Central Park in New York City or be enough to build 13 giant pyramids in Giza in Egypt.
- Only 173 aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, October 12, according to the Gaza Government Media Office. The limited convoy included just three trucks of cooking gas and six of solar fuel for bakeries, hospitals, and generators, far below what officials called necessary to address catastrophic shortages. Authorities warned the deliveries were “a drop in the ocean” for more than 2 million residents facing mass hunger and deprivation after months of blockade and destruction. The UN says at least 600 trucks a day are needed to fulfill the basic needs of Gaza’s population.
- The Interior Ministry in Gaza said in a statement that it is taking measures to “restore security and stability.” The ministry said that “criminal gangs took advantage of the chaos during the war and committed illegal acts aimed at undermining civil peace, by attacking citizens’ property and stealing humanitarian aid.” The ministry added that it would grant amnesty to anyone involved with the gangs “whose hands were not stained with blood and who did not participate in the killing or crimes against their own people.” The amnesty window for people to turn themselves in ends on October 19, the ministry said. “Anyone who refuses to surrender or insists on continuing to violate the law that the competent authorities will take firm action against them in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
- Analyst Muhammad Shehada reported that the largest assembly of Palestinian clans in Gaza, the Palestinian Tribal Committee, has expressed “full support for Hamas’s crackdown on collaborators and criminals.” Shehada wrote on X: “The committee’s chair, Abu Salman Al-Mughani, says the individuals Hamas is pursuing are responsible for murdering children, looting aid, starving Gaza, collaborating with Israel, robbing homes.” Meanwhile, a video circulating online appears to show resistance fighters executing several collaborators in a public square as a crowd looks on.
- Instagram has deleted the verified account of Gaza journalist Saleh al-Jafarawi, who had 4.5 million followers, while archived versions of his page on the Wayback Machine also appear to have disappeared. Writer Susan Abulhawa said the removals raise alarm about a possible digital erasure of Palestinian reporting and evidence of Israeli war crimes. Al-Jafarawi, whose coverage of the Gaza genocide drew a massive following despite repeated censorship, was killed in Gaza City on Sunday by an armed group reportedly collaborating with Israel.
Ceasefire Updates
- Palestinian Anan al-Shalabi, seen with visible bruises, was among those freed in yesterday’s prisoner exchange. Several returning captives told Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum that they were tortured “more than once a day,” electrocuted, and shot with rubber-coated bullets. One described their detention as being held in “a slaughterhouse.”
- “I swear, brothers and sisters, prison can never be described… a prison too horrible to be described in words,” said Naji al-Jaafarawi—the brother of Palestinian journalist Saleh al-Jaafrawi—after his release from Israeli detention. He described 100 days of being handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten. He spoke a day after his brother was killed by armed men, who are widely suspected of collaborating with Israeli forces—a development that has provoked local outrage and calls for an investigation.
- Fifty-five healthcare workers from Gaza were released in yesterday’s exchange, including 24 nurses, seven doctors, and two paramedics, most of whom had been held for up to 22 months, according to Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW). At least 115 medical staff, including 20 doctors and 15 senior specialists, remain detained. HWW described Israel’s systematic abduction of healthcare workers as a war crime that has severely reduced Gaza’s hospital workforce.
- A group of 154 freed Palestinians were deported to Cairo as part of the prisoner exchange deal, where leaders of major resistance factions were present to receive them. Those in attendance included Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ); PIJ Deputy Mohammed al-Hindi; Jamil Mazhar, Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and Zaher Jabarin, head of Hamas’s Office of Martyrs, Wounded, and Prisoners.
- Journalist Islam Ahmed was released today from Israeli custody. Ahmed had documented the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the work of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh until his forcible disappearance by Israeli forces in December 2024, alongside hospital staff and patients. He remained embedded at the hospital to bear witness to northern Gaza during Israel’s “Generals’ Plan” phase of ethnic cleansing, leaving behind his wife and infant child.
- Israel supporters reacted angrily after CNN’s Christiane Amanpour noted that Israeli captives “probably have been treated better than the average Gazan.” Footage from Gaza shows some of the 1,700 Palestinian prisoners released Monday, none of whom were charged with any crime.
- Video: A Palestinian mother waited at Nasser Hospital for the arrival of her sons released from Israeli prisons—sons she believed had been killed until ten days ago.
- In Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, President Donald Trump told world leaders and officials “I’ve known so many of you for so long. You’re friends of mine… I have a couple I don’t like in particular. But I won’t tell you who.” He added with a grin, “You’ll never find out who they are. Well, maybe you will, come to think of it.”
- In both of his speeches today, Trump attempted to discredit Hamas as a political entity, arguing that aid to Gaza should focus on helping its people, while avoiding funding linked to “bloodshed, hatred, and terror.” He added that reconstruction must include demilitarization and the establishment of an “honest civilian police force” to ensure safety for residents.
- President Trump delivered opening remarks at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit and signed a document he described as outlining “rules and regulations” for the Gaza ceasefire. He was joined by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. President Trump told reporters, “It’s going to hold up,” though Hamas Political Bureau member Mohammed Nazzal emphasized the signing was largely ceremonial, noting that Hamas and mediators had already signed the ceasefire on behalf of all Palestinian factions days earlier.
- Speaking in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, Trump said the second phase of ceasefire negotiations “has started,” telling reporters the stages are “a little bit mixed in with each other.” In a joint meeting with Egyptian President el-Sisi, Trump praised Egypt’s “very important role” in brokering the deal and reaffirmed that “the United States is with him all the way.” Trump also lauded Egypt’s justice system, saying that “If he has crime, he puts it out very quickly… We’re very proud of him.” Under el-Sisi, Egyptian courts have imprisoned thousands of political opponents, journalists, and activists in mass trials often with death sentences—proceedings condemned by human rights groups as unjust. Trump, who once called el-Sisi “my favorite dictator,” has repeatedly praised Egypt’s authoritarian governance.
- President Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shared a cordial handshake onstage during the ceasefire signing ceremony in Egypt—a striking reversal from Washington’s decision last month to deny Abbas a visa to attend the UN General Assembly, the first such restriction by the U.S. since Yasser Arafat was barred in 1988.
- Via Reuters: A live microphone captured Indonesian President Prabowo asking Donald Trump if he could meet his son Eric, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization. “I’ll have Eric call. Should I do that? He’s such a good boy,” Trump said.
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK could assist in monitoring the Gaza ceasefire and dismantling Hamas’s weapons capabilities, citing Britain’s experience in Northern Ireland as a model.
U.S. News
- Chuck Schumer successfully recruited Maine Gov. Janet Mills to launch a Senate campaign against Republican Susan Collins in one of the few flippable states. That comes despite the fact that Mills would be the oldest freshman senator in the upper chamber, and despite the blowout campaign of oysterman and antiwar candidate Graham Platner, who has already raised $4 million from grassroots donors while calling out the genocide in Gaza. Responding to Mills’s announcement, a coalition of youth groups, including the College Democrats of American and David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, all endorsed Platner. If Democrats lose Maine this cycle, they have little chance of regaining the Senate any time this decade.
- The White House plans a $500 million program to help state and local authorities counter drone threats at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the United States’s 250th anniversary, and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Funds drawn from the Department of Homeland Security budget will support the detection, jamming, and interception of unauthorized drones, particularly at the 104 matches hosted in U.S. stadiums. Officials say drones pose risks ranging from terrorism to accidental interference, and current federal law limits takedown authority to DHS and Justice Department officials. The initiative will strengthen coordination with co-hosts Canada and Mexico and incentivize local agencies to develop anti-drone protocols, while linking security efforts to broader industrial and defense priorities.
- By Tuesday’s deadline, leading U.S. media organizations—including The Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Reuters, and The Guardian—declined to sign the Pentagon’s restrictive new press rules, citing First Amendment concerns. War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policy would bar reporters from soliciting information not explicitly authorized by the Department, threatening revocation of media credentials for those who refused. Editors emphasized that the policy “undercuts First Amendment protections” and constrains reporting on a military funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars. Only the right-wing outlet, One America News, said it would sign. The conservative Newsmax, Washington Examiner, and Washington Times have all refused to sign, choosing defense of the First Amendment over political affinity. The Pentagon Press Association has retained legal counsel, and the standoff could trigger lawsuits, while Hegseth dismissed criticism on X with a hand-waving emoji.
- A private investment fund run by prominent Trump supporters marketed a conference to companies as the “Inaugural U.S. Treasury A.I. Summit,” claiming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would unveil the government’s AI strategy, though the Treasury later said it had not approved the materials, per the Wall Street Journal. Sponsors were offered VIP perks and branding opportunities, raising ethics concerns about using the appearance of a government event for private gain. The conference, now renamed “AI Summit on American Prosperity,” will still feature Bessent and other senior officials, with some corporate sponsors hoping to influence the administration’s AI policy.
- Under “Operation Midway Blitz,” ICE has sharply increased arrests and citations in Chicago, including targeting legally registered immigrants who fail to carry proof of status. Rueben Antonio Cruz, a 60-year-old permanent resident with heart problems, was briefly detained and issued a $130 ticket for not having his papers, while a friend of his without legal status was taken into custody. Critics say the campaign spreads fear among immigrants and violates civil rights, with local residents and advocacy groups organizing protests in response.
- Late on October 5, an ambulance transporting a patient from the South Portland ICE facility to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center was blocked by federal agents for several minutes, with some officers reportedly threatening the driver with arrest or shooting, according to confidential incident reports obtained by Willamette Week. The crew documented repeated obstructions, aggressive behavior, and threats from officers before finally being allowed to depart.
International News
- Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina has fled the country following “Gen Z” protests that erupted last month over water and power shortages, government corruption, and lack of services. His ouster came after units of the army defected and joined the protesters in recent days.
- “Do you wanna say what you said to me the other day?” Trump asked the Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, inviting him to speak in front of 27 world leaders at the Sharm el-Sheikh “Peace Summit”’ on the occasion of the ceasefire in Gaza. The Pakistani prime minister declared that Trump is a masterful president who has stopped seven or eight wars, saved millions of lives, and should be given a Nobel peace prize. “He is the most genuine and most wonderful candidate for [the] peace prize,” he said as Trump hovered next to him.
- As Prime Minister Sharif was celebrating peace abroad, his security services were slaughtering demonstrators at home. In Pakistan, thousands of protesters from a religiously conservative political party, the Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were marching in solidarity with Gaza when police started shooting directly at the protesters. There are unverified reports of hundreds of protesters killed by police fire within the span of a few hours. While the death count is unclear, the extent of the violence is revealed in grisly videos of dead bodies lying on the roads of Muridke in Pakistan. There are reports that protesters tried to flee from the police using side streets and were chased, hunted, and left to die on the streets, as documented by videos and photos. Pakistani media is completely under the military’s control, and did not show any of those images. The coverage of this massacre is almost non-existent in Pakistani or global media.
- China warned on Monday that it will take “resolute retaliatory measures” if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose 100 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods, after Beijing tightened export controls on critical raw materials used in semiconductors and defense technologies. September data showed China’s exports to the U.S. fell 27 percent year-on-year, though overall exports grew 8 percent thanks to shipments via transshipment hubs like Vietnam. Chinese officials criticized the U.S. for applying a “double standard,” noting that Washington has similarly restricted advanced semiconductor exports while denouncing China’s supply-chain protections. Trump initially threatened the tariffs for Nov. 1 or sooner, though he later softened his tone, calling Xi Jinping “highly respected” and suggesting the situation would stabilize before their upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. Analysts warn both sides may dig in, raising the risk of a renewed trade standoff.
- Russian forces struck Kharkiv with guided bombs on Monday, damaging a hospital and cutting power to roughly 30,000 residents across three districts, local officials said. Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported four injuries, mostly from flying glass, and said the attack targeted energy infrastructure as part of a broader campaign to cripple Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter. Separately, Russian drones killed two people in Ukraine’s Kostiantynivka, while Moscow claimed new territorial gains in Donetsk and near Kupiansk that Kyiv said its forces were resisting.
- The U.S. reaffirmed its defense commitments to the Philippines on Monday after Chinese and Filipino vessels collided near Sandy Cay in the Spratly Islands, escalating hostilities in the disputed South China Sea. State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott condemned China’s “ramming and water cannoning” of a Philippine vessel and said Washington “stands with its ally” under Article IV of their 1951 mutual defense treaty, which covers armed attacks on Philippine forces or public vessels anywhere in the South China Sea. Beijing’s Foreign Ministry accused the Philippine government of “violations and provocations” and warned it not to challenge China’s efforts to “safeguard its territorial sovereignty.”
- Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on Oct. 9 that the kingdom now has $3.4 billion in financed water security projects underway, following new deals with Germany and the Netherlands totaling $170 million. The centerpiece of Amman’s long-term strategy remains the $5 billion National Water Carrier:a Red Sea desalination and pipeline network that could eventually supply 40 percent of Jordan’s drinking water but which has struggled with delays, cost overruns, and shifting foreign aid commitments. Jordan, among the world’s most water-stressed nations, hopes to finalize project financing by year’s end, after earlier disruptions when the Trump administration briefly froze U.S. funding. The ceasefire in Gaza may also revive debate over cross-border cooperation with Israel, whose suspended water-for-energy deal once promised to supply 20 percent of Jordan’s water needs.
- At least 64 people have been killed and 65 remain missing after torrential rains and flooding swept across Mexico’s Gulf Coast and central states last week, according to government officials on Monday. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the scale of the rainfall “was not expected to be of such magnitude,” as the late-season tropical depression triggered landslides and river overflows that damaged around 100,000 homes. Civil Protection Chief Laura Velázquez said Veracruz and Hidalgo were the worst hit, with a combined 50 deaths and 61 missing. Thousands of emergency workers have been deployed to restore power, clear debris, and prevent outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease in flood-stricken areas.
- Iranian oil tankers have begun reactivating their identification transponders after years of operating “dark.” The move comes shortly after several European countries and the U.S. announced their intention to reimpose UN Security Council sanctions on Iran that were lifted following its 2015 nuclear agreement. The sanctions would reimpose restrictions on Iran’s ability to sell its oil globally and the move to turn on their transponders after years of operating clandestinely, or by using spoofed identification, has been seen by some analysts as a response to the threatened sanctions measures intended to challenge their ability to be enforced.
- Adding a new layer to the long-standing and recently rekindled U.S.–Cuba conflict, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer García was released from prison and flown to the U.S. on Monday at Washington’s request, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry confirmed. 54-year old Ferrer and his family accepted the offer of exile after years of imprisonment and harassment by Cuban authorities. The founder of the National Patriotic Union (UNPACU) and a prominent critic of Havana’s government, Ferrer had been repeatedly jailed since 2011. His release followed months of pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who in July demanded proof that Ferrer was alive and accused Cuba of torturing political prisoners.
More From Drop Site
- In his exposé on Bari Weiss’s appointment as CBS News editor-in-chief, John Oliver cited The Free Press’s Gaza famine report as an example of agenda-driven journalism, noting its claim that starvation was a “myth.” This dovetails with the newest from Maha Hussaini in Gaza and Ryan Grim for Drop Site News, which draws on family interviews and medical records to show that the children featured by Weiss’s outlet were, in fact, starving. Read the full investigation: “The Free Press Called Out ‘Incomplete’ Reporting on Gaza’s Starving Children. Here’s the Complete Story.”
- Yemeni-Jewish journalist Noa Avishag Schnall described being beaten, shackled, and detained by Israeli forces after the Freedom Flotilla vessel The Conscience was attacked in international waters en route to Gaza. In a video dispatch for Drop Site hours after her release, she condemned ongoing systemic oppression, saying the ceasefire will not end occupation or the existence of prisons used to torture Palestinians, and called for continued public resistance. Watch here.
- Hundreds of Freed Palestinian Captives Return to Khan Younis: Hundreds of Palestinians released under the Gaza ceasefire agreement arrived to cheering crowds at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, part of a deal that freed nearly 2,000 Palestinians from Israeli detention in exchange for all 20 living Israeli captives. Many of the freed detainees, including doctors, journalists, and rescue workers, described months of torture, starvation, and isolation in Israeli prisons. The exchange coincided with Donald Trump’s arrival in Israel and Egypt, where he hailed the ceasefire as a “victory” and signed the first phase of the truce deal, though mediators warn the agreement’s next steps remain uncertain. Journalist Abdel Qader Sabbah reports for Drop Site from the ground. Read his article and watch the full video here.
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