Drop Site Daily: December 2, 2025
Israeli military kills Palestinian photojournalist in Gaza; as Israeli forces also kill two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank. 200 trucks enter Gaza daily (far below the number required by the ceasefire agreement), while 6,600 trucks wait. More reports emerge of drugs being smuggled into Gaza by Israel-supported gangs. Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks with President Trump again and receives another invitation to the White House. Saudi Arabia sends the Palestinian Authority $90 million. Northwestern University surrenders to Trump and accepts additional federal government control over campus policies, admissions, and more. The Trump administration now admits it struck a “drug smuggling” boat in the Caribbean twice in a September operation. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wants an even wider travel ban, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says that the U.S. takes in “essentially…zero” refugees. Starbucks is ordered to pay up for labor law violations in New York. “Operation Midway Blitz” is suffocating the economy of the city’s most prominent Latino neighborhood. The U.S. wants to increase uranium mining, even if it means spiking cancer rates for the communities that do the work and for those who live nearby. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces takes a critical transportation hub in the South, where another attack leaves 40 dead. Gang operations overrun central Haiti. The Nigerian government grants asylum to the leader of Guinea-Bissau’s opposition.
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The Genocide in Gaza
- Israeli kills Palestinian photojournalist: The Israeli military killed Palestinian photojournalist Mahmoud Wadi in a drone strike in Khan Younis on Tuesday. Videos posted online show mourners gathering around Wadi’s body with his press vest laid on top of him. Wadi used to publish drone footage on social media depicting the vast destruction in Gaza as well as the tent encampments sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians. The Israeli military has killed over 260 journalists and media workers in Gaza over the past two years in what is the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history. The Israeli military killed another Palestinian near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to AP.
- The Red Cross’s findings on Israeli captives: Israel is preparing to receive “findings” from the Red Cross that could belong to the two remaining Israeli captives thought to be in Gaza, according to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Conditions remain dire in Gaza, the UN says: Conditions in Gaza remain “extremely dire,” with UN Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov warning after a four-day visit that winter storms are hitting people already living in “appalling” conditions. Alakbarov urged Israel to grant unfettered access to aid groups. 234 health service points are functioning, compared to 197 before the October ceasefire, but the system remains incapacitated by destruction, shortages, and Israeli obstruction, with major roads remain closed to aid trucks, forcing convoys onto overcrowded coastal and border routes. 1.5 million people urgently need shelter, with only 160 new tents available. Aid groups reached just 4,300 households. 18 damaged learning spaces have reopened for just 8,000 children, while basic education supplies remain blocked. Cash transfers have reached 123,000 families since the ceasefire, slightly exceeding initial targets.
- Ceasefire violation in Al-Tuffah, artillery shelling in Khan Younis, and attacks on Bureij: A Palestinian woman was injured Monday evening when Israeli drones opened fire on Al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, marking a fresh ceasefire violation, Al Araby reported. In the southern city of Khan Younis, Israeli artillery fire reportedly hit the city’s eastern areas Monday evening, alongside attacks on the Bureij refugee camp.
- Only 220 trucks enter the Strip daily, while 6,000 wait: No more than 220 trucks are entering Gaza each day, according to the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, an independent body of traders and importers. UNRWA says Israel is holding roughly 6,000 aid trucks containing enough food and relief supplies to sustain Gaza for three months.
- IDF repeats its “immediate threat” excuse: Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in northern Gaza, according to a statement on Monday by Israeli military Defence Forces, which claimed they crossed the “yellow line” into an Israeli-controlled area.
- Palestinian clans accuse Israel of smuggling drugs into Gaza: Israel is allowing “large quantities of narcotics” to be smuggled into Gaza through Israeli-backed militias while simultaneously blocking adequate humanitarian aid, the Palestinian Tribal and Clan Council said in a statement Monday. The council described the drug influx as part of a “systematic war targeting Palestinian youth,” and warned that these operations aim to erode Gaza’s social fabric and starve the population. While calling unified action against narcotics a “national and moral obligation,” the statement accused anyone involved in smuggling or distribution of committing “a national betrayal.”
West Bank and Israel
- Israeli forces kill two teenagers: The Israeli military killed two Palestinian teenagers in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Monday. In Hebron, Israeli troops shot and killed 17-year-old Muhannad al-Zughair, accusing him of carrying out a car-ramming attack that injured an Israeli soldier. 18-year-old Raslan Asmar was shot by Israeli troops during a raid on his village near Ramallah. Asmar was left to bleed on the ground for hours and his body was seized by the Israeli military, according to Al Jazeera.
- Israeli demolitions: Israeli forces demolished the family home in Nablus of Abdul Karim Sanoubar, a Palestinian currently in detention, on Tuesday. The Israeli military accused Sanoubar without evidence of planting bombs on buses in February. Israeli troops also demolished two apartments in al-Walaja village, near Bethlehem, according to Al Jazeera.
- Israeli seizure: Israeli troops raided and sealed the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Al-Bireh and its office in Hebron on Monday. Several staff members were arrested and office equipment was confiscated. The military posted a military order prohibiting the organization’s work and engagement with its activities. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the closure as “part of a systematic policy aimed at undermining civil and developmental work.”
- Netanyahu talks with Trump: Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, with the two leaders stressing their “commitment to disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip,” according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.
- Saudi Arabia funds the PA: Saudi Arabia has injected $90 million into the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, according to reports from The Times of Israel. The infusion gives Ramallah a brief lifeline, while Israel withholds an estimated $3 billion in tax and customs revenues, according to a September estimate from Reuters. The funds were delivered to acting Finance Minister Estephan Salameh by the Saudi envoy, with Riyadh framing the grant as support for basic governance during one of the PA’s worst fiscal crises in years.
U.S. News
- Northwestern caves to Trump: Northwestern University agreed to an unprecedented settlement with the Trump administration to regain nearly $790 million in frozen research funds, according to reporting from Reuters and AP. Northwestern accepted a $75 million penalty and agreed to federal control over campus policies, student agreements, Title IX rules, and admissions practices. Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticized the deal as the university “throwing its students under the bus.”
- Whitehouse says second strike on “drug boat” was deliberate: The White House confirmed that the U.S. military carried out a second, deliberate strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat during Operation Southern Spear on September 2, 2025, after the initial strike left survivors clinging to the wreckage. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Admiral Frank M. Bradley’s order, saying he acted “well within his authority and the law… to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States was eliminated.”
- David Gentil’s commutation: President Trump commuted the sentence of former investment manager David Gentile, just days into his seven-year prison sentence for fraud. The former chief executive and founder of GPB Capital, Gentile was convicted last year on charges of securities and wire fraud where he was accused of defrauding more than 10,000 investors of around $1.6 billion.
- Noem seeks a wider travel ban; Trump signals his interest: Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem urged President Donald Trump to impose “a full travel ban on every… country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” as the administration escalates its crackdown on immigration following last week’s fatal shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national. Trump reposted her call, while his administration has already paused asylum claims and reviewed green cards for people from 19 countries, while barring new Afghan arrivals.
- Leavitt boasts that the U.S. admits “essentially…zero” refugees: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a White House Press Conference Monday that U.S. refugee admissions are now “essentially at zero,” noting that the only significant exception is white Afrikaners fleeing “persecution” in South Africa. The Trump administration has cut the annual refugee ceiling to 7,500—the lowest in modern U.S. history, following four years in which the Biden administration kept it at 125,000.
- Starbucks ordered to pay millions for labor law violations: Starbucks has been ordered to pay more than $38.9 million for widespread violations of New York City’s Fair Workweek Law, including $35.5 million in direct payments to over 15,000 workers and a $3.3 million civil penalty. Investigators found that the company denied its employees stable schedules, cut hours unlawfully, and retaliated against employees who refused last-minute changes. Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking workers as the settlement was announced.
- Immigration raids destroy a Chicago neighborhood’s economy: Chicago’s Little Village business district, normally a $900 million-a-year commercial engine, has seen sales plunge 20–70% since the launch of “Operation Midway Blitz,” according to analysis from the neighborhood’s Chamber of Commerce, as relayed in a new report from The Washington Post. These raids have led to more than 3,000 arrests in the region—mostly of people without criminal histories. Latino-owned businesses nationwide, a sector contributing over $800 billion annually to the U.S. economy, report similar disruptions as fears of the ongoing raids empty stores, slash foot traffic, and force owners to cut staff and hours.
- Crippling after-effects of work in uranium mines: Four decades after working in unprotected uranium mines on Navajo land, Leslie Begay is one of countless former miners now battling cancers and lung disease linked to abandoned, unreclaimed sites. The industry has left entire communities poisoned, and despite the well-documented risks to workers and the areas in which the mining is done, the Trump administration has expanded the U.S. nuclear weapons program and sought to restart uranium mining in New Mexico. Begay’s survival, after a double lung transplant, underscores a broader legacy of government-driven extraction, corporate neglect, and still-unfulfilled cleanup commitments. His story and others can be read here, in the latest from In These Times.
- A close special election contest in Tennessee’s 7th District: Tennessee voters headed to the polls Tuesday in a closely watched race between Republican Matt Van Epps and Democrat Aftyn Behn. The special congressional election in Middle Tennessee, where President Donald Trump and other GOP candidates have historically won with about 60% of the vote, has drawn national attention and massive campaign contributions to the respective candidates. President Trump has endorsed Van Epps, saying “Remember, the world is watching this one.” He added, “I need somebody like Matt Van Epps. He is going to be one of our best congressmen.” Meanwhile, some Tennessee Democrats described Behn as “our very own AOC of TN,” in reference to New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who attended a virtual rally hosted by Behn.
International News
- Sudan’s RSF claims it took control of a transport hub in the country’s south, where another attack saw 40 dead: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said Monday that they had seized full control of Babanusa, a key transport hub in oil-producing South Kordofan, according to Reuters. The RSF said they repelled a “surprise attack” from the Sudanese army they claimed violated the truce. In another clash in the country’s south, at least 40 people were killed. Witnesses and rights monitors say the army struck a nursing school in the village of Komo, though the military denied targeting civilians. Fighting has generally been most intense in Kordofan and Darfur, where anti-government forces now hold roughly a third of the country.
- Sudan’s army offers Russia its first African naval base, the WSJ reports: Sudan’s military rulers have offered Russia a 25-year deal for what would be Moscow’s first naval base in Africa, granting up to 300 troops and four warships—potentially including nuclear-powered vessels—and access to Port Sudan in exchange for discounted weapons, according to the Wall Street Journal. U.S. officials reportedly worry that the base would give Russia a major strategic foothold in the Red Sea and new leverage over global trade routes.
- Humanitarian crisis deepening in Sudan, UN warns: Sudan’s crisis is growing more severe, the UN warned, as fighting spreads and displacement surges. UN envoy Ramtane Lamamra pressed Army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on civilian protection during talks in Port Sudan before traveling to Addis Ababa for consultations with the African Union and Ethiopian leaders. Humanitarian agencies say that they still cannot reach civilians trapped in El Fasher—where more than 106,000 people have fled since late October—and they report that new displacement from Darfur and Kordofan is overwhelming northern states. The UN also noted funding shortages and renewed its call for safe humanitarian access and protection for civilians and aid workers.
- Tajikistan alleges 5 killed in cross-border attacks: Five people have been killed and five injured in two attacks in Tajikistan launched from Afghanistan over the past week, Reuters reports. These include a drone strike that left three Chinese citizens dead, which has intensified the strain between Dushanbe and the Taliban authorities. President Emomali Rahmon condemned the “illegal and provocative actions” and ordered security chiefs to reinforce the border, while Afghanistan’s government has yet to respond.
- Gangs overtake central Haiti: Heavily armed gangs overran parts of Haiti’s central Artibonite region over the weekend, according to the AP. The attackers killed civilians, torched homes, and forced the region’s residents to flee. Haitian police warned that half the department had fallen under gang control amid a near-total absence of security forces. Survivors who escaped to Saint-Marc demanded weapons and vowed to take justice into their own hands, as the Gran Grif gang—blamed for past massacres—streamed its attacks online, while the UN reported a dramatic surge in killings across the country.
- Flood and landslide casualties climb: The number of people killed by floods and landslides in Indonesia climbed to 708 on Tuesday, according to authorities, with 504 people still missing. The announcement marked a significant increase from the 604 reported dead by the government officials on Monday. More than 1,300 people have been killed in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand after heavy rains and tropical cyclones hit the region.
- Nigeria grants asylum to Guinea-Bissau’s Opposition Leader: Nigeria has granted asylum to Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa, a foreign affairs official said Monday, AFP reported. Costa ran against incumbent President Umaro Sissoco in last week’s elections, before Sissoco was ousted in a coup by his country’s military. Abuja framed the move as part of Nigeria’s “sovereign responsibility” and longstanding commitment to regional peace, stability, and democratic governance.
- Trump disinvites South Africa from the G20: President Donald Trump said the United States will bar South Africa from participating in next year’s G20 events in Miami and will “immediately” halt all payments to the country, calling it “not worthy of membership anywhere”—an unprecedented exclusion in the forum’s two-decade history. Pretoria condemned the remarks as “regrettable” and affirmed South Africa’s sovereignty, while the administration signaled plans to elevate Poland’s role at the 2026 summit as U.S.–South Africa relations continue to spiral.
More From Drop Site
- Trump, Gaza, and Oslo déjà vu: The UN’s plan for Gaza, including President Trump’s controversial “Board of Peace,” aims to turn Gaza into a demilitarized investment zone under foreign control, which would grant Israel sweeping authority and kneecap Palestinian self-determination. According to a report from Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad, a broad array of Palestinian factions reject the scheme as a form of colonial guardianship. Human rights lawyer Diana Buttu calls it “an Israeli plan that has been rebranded as a Trump plan,” and notes that “all of the control rests in the hands of Israel.” Abbas and his Palestinian Authority see it as an opportunity to permanently sideline their rivals and to assert their political authority, in a situation reminiscent of the failed Oslo accords. Read the full piece from Scahill and Ahmad here.
- Drop Site exclusive reporting on the National Guard shooting: Rahmanullah Lakanwal—the former CIA-backed Zero Unit member now charged with killing a National Guard soldier in Washington, D.C.—was briefly jailed in Afghanistan after his unit killed Afghan police officers, but faced no real consequences because the CIA shielded his militia and continued paying him during his detention, a new report from Drop Site contributors Emran Feroz and Abdul Rahman Lakanwal uncovers. His trajectory highlights the impunity long afforded to Zero Unit fighters accused of torture, disappearances, and civilian massacres, whose effects may now be surfacing in domestic attacks like these. Read the full reporting here.
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