Drop Site Daily: December 9, 2025
Civil Defense teams recover 98 additional bodies of people trapped under the rubble of Al-Shifa hospital. A new report estimates the Gaza genocide has produced over 60 million tons of rubble in Gaza. Tony Blair appears to be out as the prospective head of Trump’s “Board of Peace.” The Israeli government to allocate an additional $843 million to West Bank settlements. Israeli warplanes strike southern Lebanon. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other party members wear a noose on their lapels to signal support for legislation that would allow for lynching Palestinian prisoners. Chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance David Ellison launches a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery backed by Jared Kushner. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would force the U.S. to make up for any deficits in weapons sales caused by boycotts of Israel, Zeteo reports. The Supreme Court seems ready to green-light Trump’s firing of independent bureaucrats. President Donald Trump says the U.S. will place five percent tariffs on Mexico to rectify a water dispute. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces seizes an oil field in west Kordofan. Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council claims control over south Yemen. Honduras AG issues a warrant for the arrest of a former President pardoned by Trump. A government airstrike in Myanmar kills 18. Fighting breaks out between former allies in eastern Congo.
This is Drop Site Daily, our new, free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday.
Tune into Drop Site’s Tuesday livestream at 9:30AM Eastern Time: Ryan Grim will be speaking with Erik Sperling of Just Foreign Policy on the NDAA and war with Venezuela, Murtaza Hussain on Epstein, and Asem Alnabih from Northern Gaza on the conditions there.
The Genocide in Gaza
- Casualty counts in the last 24 hours: Over the past 24 hours, the body of one Palestinian arrived at hospital, while six Palestinians have been injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 70,366 killed, with 171,064 injured.
- Total casualty counts since ceasefire: Since October 11, the first full day of the ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 377 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 987, while 626 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health.
- Israeli strikes kill a man in Deir al-Balah: A Palestinian man was killed and several others were injured Monday evening when Israeli aircraft struck the Al-Jarou family home in Deir al-Balah. Israeli forces simultaneously carried out artillery shelling, demolitions, and heavy helicopter fire across eastern Gaza, Rafah, and Khan Younis, the Palestine Information Center reported. Local sources said multiple homes were damaged and residential blocks demolished northwest of Rafah.
- Tony Blair no longer expected to head Trump’s “Board of Peace”: Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov is poised to head a new executive committee under President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” plan, sources told the Financial Times on Monday. Tony Blair is no longer expected to join the leadership board after objections from Arab and Muslim states, though allies say he may still serve on the committee with former Senior Advisor to the U.S. President Jared Kushner and Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The board is expected to combine a governing council of world leaders with a technocratic Palestinian-led administration.
- Civil Defense teams recover bodies under the rubble of Al-Shifa Hospital: Civil Defense teams in Gaza said that they recovered the bodies of 98 Palestinians from Al-Shifa Hospital on Monday, including 55 unidentified victims who had been buried on the hospital grounds during the height of the Israeli occupation’s genocide. The remains have been transferred to forensic authorities and relevant parties for formal burial, local officials reported. Dozens more bodies are still estimated to be inside the complex.
- The Gaza genocide has created over 60 million tons of rubble: Gaza’s Environmental Quality Authority told an emergency government meeting this week that Israel’s assault has produced more than 60 million tons of rubble—including 4 million tons of hazardous waste, 50,000 tons of asbestos, and roughly 100,000 tons of explosives and unexploded ordnance—producing long-term environmental and public health risks, Al Araby reported. Israel’s destruction of 80 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure, the collapse of formal landfill and medical waste systems, and mass displacement of people have spread contamination across the enclave, officials added, leaving at least 700,000 tons of uncollected waste and causing widespread chemical leakage into Gaza’s soil and groundwater.
- More heavy rains expected this week: Winter storm Byron is expected to hit Gaza on Wednesday after battering Greece and Cyprus with heavy rains, lightning, and strong winds. Gaza’s Government Media Office issued a statement saying the storm “carries real dangers, including the flooding of tents, the inundation of displaced encampments by rainwater, and the renewal of the tragedy endured by more than 1.5 million displaced people who have been living in dilapidated tents for over a year without any real solutions or alternatives.” The media office added: “We hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for exposing displaced persons to the dangers of the climate, given its closure of crossings and its prevention of the entry of relief and shelter materials, including the prevention of the entry of 300,000 tents and mobile homes, in addition to the absence of alternative shelters.”
West Bank and Israel
- $843M allocated to West Bank settlements: Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has allocated 2.7 billion shekels ($843 million) over five years to dramatically expand settlements across the occupied West Bank. This allocation will fund 17 new settlements, legalize existing outposts, deploy “absorption cluster” mobile homes that seek to become the nuclei of new settlements, relocate three army bases into Palestinian areas, and result in the building of new roads and structures within the region, Anadolu and the Palestine Information Center reported. Israeli media have described the package as “de facto annexation.”
- Ben-Gvir and an associate wear noose-pins to signal support for executions: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, and other members of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party wore gold noose pins—a symbol widely associated with racial terror and lynching—during a meeting of the National Security Committee to discuss a bill to that would allow Israel to execute Palestinian detainees. During the hearing, Ben Gvir said that the noose is just “one of the options through which we will implement the death penalty law for terrorists…there is the option of the gallows, the electric chair, and also the option of euthanasia.” It is worth noting in this context that Israeli military courts convict more than 99% of Palestinian defendants.
- Hamas condemns Israeli expansion in Marda: Hamas warned Monday that Israel’s bulldozing of 61 dunams of land in the village of Marda, north of Salfit, is a “dangerous escalation in settlement expansion.” Hamas official Abdul Rahman Shadid said the land is a vital source of livelihood for hundreds of families, and he warned of the environmental and economic destruction wrought by settlements, while urging Palestinians and the international community to intervene to stop Israel’s plans of annexation.
- Israel holding 32 Gazans with expired sentences: Israel is still holding 32 detainees from Gaza whose sentences have fully expired—in some cases, for months or years—without judicial oversight or access to family visits or medical information, the Asra Media Office (AMO) said Monday, calling the practice a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. AMO warned that Israel continues to withhold the bodies of prisoners who died under torture, including Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, as Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that more than 300 bodies returned since the truce show signs of severe abuse and mutilation, with autopsies indicating organ removal and what officials describe as “systematic” violations that require urgent international investigation.
- Netanyahu to meet Trump in Mar-a-Lago: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump in the United States on December 29, according to Agence France Press. It will be Netanyahu’s fifth visit to meet Trump in the U.S. this year. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu would visit Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and that the two leaders were expected to meet twice during Netanyahu’s eight-day visit to the U.S.
U.S. News
- David Ellison’s Paramount initiates a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discover: Paramount Skydance launched a $108 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery— a move backed by Jared Kushner’s private-equity firm, Affinity Partners, and potentially by several Gulf State sovereign wealth funds—after Paramount executives reportedly told shareholders that Kushner’s involvement could ease regulatory approval under a Trump administration. The bid bypasses the company’s board and goes straight to investors, and would consolidate HBO, Warner Bros. Studios, Paramount, Max, Paramount+, CNN, CBS, and a few other major cable networks under one conglomerate.
- NDAA obligates Washington to arm Israel whenever others refuse: A new draft of the National Defense Authorization Act would require ongoing U.S. assessments of any foreign arms embargoes on Israel and authorize Washington to fill resulting “defense capability gaps,” Zeteo reported on Monday. In effect, the act would obligate the U.S. to supply weapons whenever other governments suspend weapons exports in response to Israel’s conduct—a step Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada have already taken.
- SC looks ready to support Trump’s firing of independent bureaucrats: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled Monday that it is prepared to overturn “Humphrey’s Executor,” the 90-year-old precedent that limits a president’s ability to fire members of independent federal agencies, lending support to President Donald Trump’s removal of multiple board officials. Justice Elena Kagan warned that dismantling these protections would hand the White House “massive unchecked” power and allow presidents to purge experts across agencies that regulate everything from nuclear safety to labor relations.
- Trump announces tariff relief for farmers: President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled an $11 billion relief package for farmers to counter the steep losses caused by his own tariff policies, which have depressed crop prices and wiped out U.S. soybean sales to China—a critical market that previously accounted for about half of all American exports. While Republican lawmakers and major farm groups praised the aid as an overdue lifeline, Democrats argued that the administration is papering over a self-inflicted crisis, warning that one-off payments cannot fix the long-term damage from Trump’s tariffs or restore the global markets farmers lost.
- Trump raises tariffs on Mexico: President Donald Trump announced a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports late Monday evening, accusing Mexico of violating the 1944 Water Treaty while demanding the release of 200,000 acres of water by December 31. The 1944 Water Treaty regulates how the U.S. and Mexico share the Rio Grande and Colorado River systems, requiring each country to deliver set amounts of water from the rivers that flow across the border. Severe drought has left Mexico unable to meet domestic needs, making its treaty deliveries increasingly difficult and fueling pressure from Texas farmers for Washington to intervene.
- Three-year-old forced to defend herself in immigration court: In a Tucson immigration courtroom, unaccompanied children as young as three are being forced to appear before a judge and defend themselves against deportation, often without lawyers, after the Trump administration cut most federal funding to the nonprofit providing their legal aid. Some teenagers opt for “voluntary departure” to escape long, isolating stints in shelters, while others try to seek asylum. With no right to appointed counsel and few resources to hire an attorney, many face life-altering decisions effectively alone against the full power of the U.S. government. Read the full investigation from The Copper Courier here.
- Neglect and abuse in Texas long-term care: In Texas, disabled and elderly residents, like Angelique Estes and Steven “Kelly” Pankratz, were allegedly neglected, abused, financially exploited, and in some cases killed in unlicensed boarding homes run by operator Regla Becquer. Criminal investigations into Becquer exposed at least 20 deaths and a near-total lack of oversight in her facilities. Reporters and experts warn that this is not an isolated scandal but the extreme edge of a broader national crisis: as Medicaid and nursing home capacity are cut, more low-income and undocumented people are being funneled into poorly regulated boarding homes that fill gaps in long-term care, while leaving residents highly vulnerable to isolation, violence, and exploitation. Read the full report from In These Times here.
International News
- Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon: Israeli warplanes struck multiple areas in southern Lebanon on Monday—including a valley between Izze and Romin, as well as Jbaa, Zefta, and Mount Safi—damaging several homes in Jbaa, though casualty figures are not yet known, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
- RSF seizes an oil field in West Kordofan: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the Heglig oil field in West Kordofan, forcing a shutdown of production and an evacuation of staff, an engineer told AFP. This move is poised to threaten nearly all of South Sudan’s government revenue, given the key role Heglig plays in that country’s energy infrastructure. The takeover comes as RSF advances through Kordofan, while both RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces reposition troops and armor for a major battle over El Obeid, a strategic city that controls vital supply corridors linking Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum.
- Separatists claim control of south Yemen: Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) said Monday that it effectively took control of all southern governorates—including Aden, long the base of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government—after launching a military operation called “Promising Future.” The STC—a southern separatist group trained and financed by the UAE—has moved in the space of a week into key provinces like Hadramout and Al-Mahra, with limited and ineffective resistance from the government. Yemen’s airspace was briefly closed on Monday as tensions escalated, with the Associated Press reporting that the Saudi-led coalition had withheld permission for flights, including those to and from the southern city of Aden—the seat of the internationally recognized government. A Yemeni government described the move as a “Saudi message” to the separatists, according to AP.
- Honduras AG issues arrest warrant for former President pardoned by Trump: Honduras Attorney General Johel Antonio Zelaya announced Monday that he has issued an international arrest warrant for former president Juan Orlando Hernández—recently pardoned by President Donald Trump—on charges of money laundering and fraud tied to the Pandora II case. Issuing the warrant on the International Day Against Corruption, Zelaya said Honduras had been “lacerated” by entrenched criminal networks and urged national security agencies and INTERPOL to enforce the warrant.
- Military airstrike kills 18 in Myanmar: A Myanmar military airstrike on a tea shop in Sagaing province on Friday killed at least 18 civilians, including a five-year-old child and two teachers, and wounded about 20 others, the AP reported. Residents were gathered to watch a football match, according to witnesses and independent media. The attack, which struck an area with no recent fighting, is part of an intensified campaign of military airstrikes against anti-junta forces ahead of the country’s December 28 elections.
- Clashes continue in eastern Congo: More than 30 people were killed and 20 wounded in South Kivu on Sunday when a bomb exploded during clashes between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Wazalendo militia, which has been helping the army combat M23 insurgents, the AP reported. This violence erupted just days after the signing of a U.S.-brokered peace deal meant to halt the war between the Congolese government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group. The clashes may stem from disputes over who controls the region’s mineral-rich resources, according to the AP.
- Two police officers killed by the ELN in Colombia: Two police officers were killed Sunday in Cúcuta in what authorities described as retaliatory attacks by the National Liberation Army (ELN), which also wounded two soldiers in a nearby neighborhood. President Gustavo Petro condemned the violence and pledged to increase troop deployments along the Venezuelan border. The killings come amid collapsing peace talks with the ELN, intensifying clashes between armed groups in the Norte de Santander and Cauca provinces, and what the Red Cross calls a sharp deterioration in Colombia’s humanitarian situation.
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