Israel and Hamas begin indirect ceasefire talks in Egypt; U.S. strikes another Venezuelan boat; ICE raids intensify in Chicago

Drop Site Daily: October 6, 2025

Israel has dropped 200,000 tons of explosives on Gaza over the last two years, Gaza’s government media office reports. Technical negotiations begin in Egypt over Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza. Strikes hit Gaza City over the weekend, despite President Donald Trump’s boasts about a cessation. The U.S. strikes yet another Venezuelan boat, the fourth in weeks, and hints at its plans for a ground invasion. ICE raids in Chicago intensify with helicopter raids and tear gas near schools. A federal judge blocks the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland. Iran’s foreign minister says cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog is “no longer relevant” in the wake of last week’s snapback sanctions. Russia launches hundreds of missiles into Ukraine overnight, killing 5. Palestinian solidarity protests overtake major cities in Western Europe. Detained Global Sumud Flotilla participants launch a hunger strike in Israeli prison, while an additional 170 participants are deported to Europe. Take action to demand the release of participants including Drop Site’s journalist Alex Colston here.

This is Drop Site Daily, our new, free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent prepares to release a tear gas canister as demonstrators protest along Kedzie Avenue in the Brighton Park Neighborhood as Federal Agents were investigating a shooting on October 4, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Genocide in Gaza

• Over the past 24 hours, 21 dead and 96 injured Palestinians arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while 2 Palestinians were killed and 19 injured while seeking aid. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 67,160 killed, with 169,679 injured.

• Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israel has dropped more than 200,000 tons of explosives on the territory over two years—13 times the force of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan—obliterating homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, and farmland. The office reports over 76,000 Palestinians killed or missing, including 20,000 children and 12,500 women, with entire families erased, while starvation, mass displacement, and the collapse of health and education systems deepen the crisis.

• Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes hit Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood on Sunday morning, including a single strike which killed 18 Palestinians in a single home, seven of them children aged two months to eight years.

• Dozens of Egyptian vehicles reportedly entered Gaza on Saturday and began establishing temporary displacement camps near Al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the enclave, according to a report in Al-Arabiya. Bulldozers are also helping to clear rubble and facilitate movement along roads.

• Physiotherapist Abdelhameed Qaradaya, who served at the MSF field hospital in Deir al-Balah, died on Sunday from injuries sustained three days earlier in an Israeli drone strike. The attack targeted a group of MSF healthcare workers, all wearing clearly marked vests, while they waited for their shuttle, according to Healthcare Workers Watch.

• Living in the Remnants of Gaza City: “While the world’s eyes turn toward Trump’s proposal, we here live through what feels like the erasure of Gaza itself.” For Drop Site, Huda Skaik describes life inside a shattered Gaza City—where leaflets meant to force displacement are burned for cooking fuel, food and medicine are nearly impossible to find, and nights are consumed by shelling, drones, and the advance of tanks. As global headlines focus on ceasefire negotiations, those who remain in the city face daily survival under relentless bombardment. Read the full article here.

Ceasefire Negotiations

• Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh today on President Trump’s ceasefire plan. Hamas’s delegation, headed by Khalil al-Hayyah, arrived Sunday in Egypt, the group said. The Israeli delegation is headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top adviser Ron Dermer. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is heading up the U.S. team, which is brokering the talks, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to attend.

• Hamas’s Strategic Gamble: Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill speaks with senior Palestinian officials to detail Hamas’s delicate maneuvering in response to President Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan: signaling cooperation while preserving Palestinian rights and resisting total surrender to Israeli demands. Read the full report by Jeremy Scahill on Drop Site News for an in-depth breakdown of the negotiations and their implications.

• On Saturday, Hamas negotiator Khalil al‑Hayya made his first public appearance since surviving last month’s Israeli assassination attempt in Doha, Qatar, mourning “thousands of our people — women, children, the elderly, and fighters” and saying Gaza now “stands in for the entire nation with its struggle, patience, and sacrifices.” He urged that the blood of the slain become “a path to victory, a path to Jerusalem, and a path to the humiliation of this occupation.”

• Israel plans to occupy three areas in Gaza “for years to come,” according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan. These include the buffer zone inside the enclave, the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border, and the 70-meter-high “Hill of 70” in Shuja’iya, which offers fire control and surveillance over northern Gaza neighborhoods and nearby Israeli settlements.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told bereaved families of Israeli soldiers on Sunday that Israel will personally oversee Gaza’s demilitarization and Hamas’ disarmament. He said he will not move forward on any part of Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan until “the last of the hostages, all of them, living and dead, has been transferred to Israeli territory.” He also stated that no representatives from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority will govern Gaza even though Trump’s plan references the potential future involvement of the Palestinian Authority, but offers no timeline.

• Palestinian-American Bishara Bahbah, who is an informal envoy for the Trump administration, said Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately trying to provoke Hamas into rejecting U.S. proposals, stressing that only Palestinians should govern Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. He revealed that Israel deleted a clause from ceasefire drafts requiring withdrawal within 24 months, prompting Hamas to demand a timetable for a full pullout.

• Trump said on Sunday morning that ceasefire negotiations “are going on right now” and predicted they “will probably go on a couple of days,” adding that “we don’t need flexibility because everyone has pretty much agreed… There will always be some changes.” He added, “A lot of the countries surrounding Israel — frankly, Muslim, Arab, many others — have had great meetings with Hamas, and it looks like it’s working. We’ll wait for a little while and see how it all turns out.”

Global Sumud Flotilla

• An additional 171 participants from the Global Sumud Flotilla were deported on Monday, according to the Israeli foreign ministry, including citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia, and the United States. Around 138 of the original 449 remain in Israeli custody. Lawyers report detainees face overcrowding, denial of life-saving medication, scarce food and water, beatings, blindfolding, and restricted religious practice, conditions that the legal group Adalah links to Interior Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s approval of treating flotilla participants “as terrorists.” Drop Site has not yet confirmed whether our journalist, Alex Colston, is on the plane to Athens, Greece. Take action to pressure the U.S., Israel, and global leaders here.

• 42 volunteers from the Global Sumud Flotilla launched a collective hunger strike inside Israeli prisons, refusing food from the authorities responsible for what organizers call a “genocidal starvation campaign” against Palestinians in Gaza. The confirmed list of hunger strikers includes participants from over a dozen countries.

• Senator Chris Van Hollen says the U.S. Embassy has offered “no real response” concerning Americans in Israeli detention. When contacted by Drop Site News about the continued detention of the participants, including Colston, who was on the boat as a journalist, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said: “The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens. We are coordinating directly and closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are actively coordinating with the Israeli government for the expeditious departure of all U.S. citizens involved. The Embassy is providing full consular services to all U.S. citizens, and we have been assured that they are receiving food, water, and medical treatment. Our last consular visit was on Sunday, October 5.”

• Journalist Noa Avishag Schnall reports for Drop Site from the Conscience, one of 11 boats in the Freedom Flotilla / Thousand Madleens currently making its way to Gaza. The vessel carries over 90 people, mostly medics and journalists, and is currently sailing north of Egypt. A low-flying military aircraft, likely Israeli or Turkish, circled the ship earlier today, Schnall reports.

West Bank and Israel

• The Israeli military arrested 19 Palestinians after a settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man in the village of Zuweidin, South Hebron Hills, in the illegally occupied West Bank. No settlers were reported detained following the attack.

• Israeli occupation forces assaulted a Palestinian youth working at a bakery in Dura city, southern Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, a video shows.

• Dozens of Palestinians marched in Sakhnin, in the occupied West Bank on Friday, demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza and calling for an end to Israel’s war against the enclave.

U.S. News

• U.S. forces struck another vessel it claimed was carrying drugs off Venezuela’s coast. On Sunday, President Trump praised the U.S. navy’s efforts against what he called “cartel terrorists” and warned that land operations could follow. The Pentagon has reported at least four such strikes in recent weeks, killing more than 20 people, though claims of cartel links have not been independently verified and U.S. provided no evidence. Russia condemned the attacks and voiced full support for Venezuela, while legal experts call out the lack of due process.

• Federal immigration agents in Chicago are drawing outrage over increasingly militarized tactics, including helicopter raids, tear gas near schools, and the handcuffing of a city council member. On the South Side, immigration agents tried to abduct a man before residents intervened to stop it. DHS agents shot a woman in her car after an alleged vehicle ramming. More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since the crackdown began, and U.S. citizens and children have also been swept up in the operations, prompting investigations ordered by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker while local leaders and activists accuse the Trump administration of turning neighborhoods into “war zones.”

• A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deploying any state’s National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, citing likely constitutional overreach and the nonviolent nature of recent protests. Governors from Oregon, California, and Illinois criticized the administration’s recent militarization as unlawful and unnecessary.

• Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked over reopening the federal government, with Trump claiming layoffs are already occurring and blaming Democrats for the shutdown, now entering its sixth day. Democrats insist on renewing health insurance subsidies for millions, while Republicans aim to preserve current spending levels, and both sides show little sign of meaningful negotiations despite public pressure.

• Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman detained in Texas since March under the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, remains the only activist from the wave of arrests still in custody. Kordia, who came to the U.S. in 2016 and has lived in New Jersey, joined protests to support relatives in Gaza, sending small payments to family members—transactions the government has cited as evidence of terrorist ties, despite immigration judges twice ordering her release on bond. Read her most recent comments to the Associated Press here.

• The Trump administration is considering a plan to make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability benefits by eliminating age as a factor in determining work capacity, the Washington Post reports. Critics warn this could cut benefits for hundreds of thousands, forcing older disabled workers into early retirement with lower payments, while updates to occupational data could further restrict eligibility.

• Cori Bush—a former member of the Squad who lost her 2024 primary in Missouri to prosecutor Wesley Bell amid heavy spending by pro-Israel groups—announced Friday she is running to reclaim her St. Louis-based House seat. Bush, known for her outspoken criticism of Israel’s genocide and calls for a Gaza ceasefire, framed her comeback as a fight for “leadership that doesn’t wait for permission.”

International News

• Iran’s foreign minister said cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog is “no longer relevant” after Britain, France, and Germany reinstated sanctions, claiming Tehran violated its commitments. Abbas Araghchi accused the European powers of diminishing their role in any future negotiations and criticized the IAEA for failing to condemn Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. While Tehran insists its nuclear program is civilian, it has left the door open for diplomacy under unspecified conditions.

• At least two people were killed and one wounded after an Israeli drone attack on a vehicle traveling to the southern Lebanese town of Zebdine on Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

• Five people were killed in Ukraine overnight as Russia launched hundreds of missiles and drones targeting civilian infrastructure, including homes and energy facilities, across multiple regions. Lviv experienced its heaviest attack of the war, leaving dozens of homes uninhabitable and the city without power, while Poland scrambled jets to monitor potential spillover into NATO airspace. Ukrainian officials condemned the strikes as deliberate attacks on civilians, framing them as part of Russia’s ongoing strategy of destruction.

• European cities protest in solidarity with Gaza:

  • Saturday, October 4, saw mass protests across Europe in solidarity with Gaza: Barcelona drew 300,000, Madrid 92,000, and Lisbon and London also saw large turnouts, with London police arresting over 440 people. The demonstrations, which took place in nearly every major Spanish city as well, were sparked by Israel’s interception earlier this week of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

  • Rome saw its fourth consecutive day of Gaza protests on Sunday, October 5, with organizers reporting around one million participants marching from Porta San Paolo by the Pyramid of Cestius to Piazza San Giovanni. La Repubblica described it as a “human tide,” stretching past the Colosseum long after the front reached the square. Students, workers, unions, families, and children joined one of Europe’s largest demonstrations for Palestine in decades.

  • Nearly 30% of Amsterdam’s population—around 250,000 people—took to the streets wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine.

• UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC, “Just because you have a freedom doesn’t mean you have to use it at every moment of every day,” defending new powers allowing police to shut down or relocate protests deemed “too frequent.” The measures target mass pro-Palestine marches, which have filled UK streets for nearly two years in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Mahmood was once a vocal supporter of Palestine, having participated in anti-occupation actions as far back as 2014.

• The Trump administration is pressuring U.N. member states to oppose a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, citing Cuba’s alleged support for Russia in Ukraine, including sending up to 5,000 fighters. The move follows years of failed efforts to sway the annual non-binding vote, with the administration framing Cuba as a human rights violator and a threat to regional security. Cuba denies the claims, blaming U.S. sanctions for its economic crisis and calling Washington’s military actions in the Caribbean a pretext for aggression.

• Supporters and opponents of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa held rival demonstrations in Quito on Sunday. The anti-government protests—led by the country’s largest Indigenous organization—began two weeks ago in response to the government’s elimination of a fuel subsidy, which increased diesel prices from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon. In response to the protests, which have included clashes between police and Indigenous activists that left at least one person dead and several injured, Noboa has declared a state of emergency in ten provinces, citing “serious internal unrest.”

• Pakistani authorities reached a peace agreement with the Awami Action Committee on Saturday, ending violent protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that left at least ten people dead. The government agreed to continue subsidizing wheat and electricity and to address over three dozen other demands, including reforms in health, education, and public services.

• Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez warned that local right-wing extremists are allegedly planning a false-flag attack involving explosives against the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. In a message posted to his Telegram channel late Sunday, Rodríguez said the Venezuelan government had alerted Washington through three channels and also notified a European embassy to convey the seriousness of the threat to U.S. diplomats. He added that Venezuela has reinforced security around the embassy, emphasizing that the government “respects and protects” all diplomatic missions. The warning comes amid escalating tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. including attacks on small ships near the country by U.S. drones.

• Syria held its first parliamentary elections following the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. The election was not by popular vote but organized with two-thirds of the 210-member assembly seats to be elected through province-based electoral colleges, with seats distributed by population, while one-third to be appointed directly by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The new parliament will serve a 30-month term while preparing for future elections. Elections were postponed indefinitely in Sweida province and in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces due to tensions between local authorities and Damascus.

• Over 1,000 artists and labels—including Massive Attack, Lorde, Björk, Paramore, IDLES, King Krule, Young Fathers, Arca, Kelela, and Fontaines D.C.—have joined a global cultural boycott of Israel, geo-blocking their music from streaming platforms there. Launched in September, the campaign cites Israel’s genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, apartheid in ’48 territory, and the music industry’s ties to weapons manufacturers, drawing inspiration from the cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa.

More From Drop Site

• Early Friday, pro-Palestine activists in New Jersey attempted to block a key roadway at the Port of Elizabeth, where Maersk and ZIM ships carry weapons to Israel. “We are here to enforce the U.S. War Crimes Act… and slow down the [flow] of weapons,” one protester said. Video report by Jeremy Loffredo for Drop Site.

• Smear. Kill. Repeat: Drop Site’s MENA editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous joins Wael Dahdouh of Al Jazeera, Jodie Ginsberg of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and journalist Rachel Shabi in an episode of the Listening Post on Al Jazeera English on the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza during two years of Israeli genocide.

• 📺 Watch here:

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