Texas National Guard troops arrive in Chicago; Sudanese army repels RSF assault on Al-Fashir; Top officials join Gaza ceasefire talks

Drop Site Daily: October 8, 2025

Israel has killed 10 Palestinians over the past 24 hours as ceasefire talks are underway in Egypt. Senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk tells Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill the group wants a deal to end the war but will not “raise the white flag.” President Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to arrive in Sharm El-Sheikh today along with Qatar’s prime minister. Texas National Guard troops arrive in Chicago as Trump escalates a crackdown on the city; Trump has threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act to bypass restrictions on domestic military use. Attorney General Pam Bondi clashes with lawmakers over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and other political cases. Pfizer is being sued by women alleging it failed to disclose a link between a birth control injection and certain brain cancers. The Sudanese army repels a major assault by the Rapid Support Forces, while Myanmar’s junta continues its attacks on its rebels. Meanwhile, insurgent jihadists’ blockade and attacks in Bamako, Mali, are deepening the city’s fuel and humanitarian crisis.

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

Corrected link: Yesterday’s newsletter contained a bad link to Ryan Grim’s story on Rep. Wesley Bell using campaign cash to buy his associate’s Dodge Durango. That story is actually here.

Members of the Texas National Guard carry rifles and riot shields at an army reserve training facility on October 7, 2025 in Elwood, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.)

The Genocide in Gaza

• Over the past 24 hours, 10 dead and 61 injured Palestinians arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while 11 Palestinians were injured while seeking aid. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 67,183 killed, with 169,841 injured.

• To mark two years of Israel’s genocidal war, the health ministry on Tuesday released an infographic with details on Palestinians killed and wounded in Gaza, including:

  • 20,179 children killed (30% of the total)

  • 44,143 children wounded (26% of the total)

  • 4,900 children with amputations or disabilities (22.5% of the total)

  • 51,196 children under five years old suffering from malnutrition

  • The document includes additional data on maternal mortality rates, Israel’s destruction of the healthcare system, famine and malnutrition, and more.

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said an interview with state television company RAI on Tuesday that she was accused of “complicity in genocide” in a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court last week over Italy’s military support for Israel. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani are also named, Meloni said, as well as Roberto Cingolani, the head of Italian weapons and aerospace company Leonardo. The complaint, dated October 1, was signed by around 50 people, including law professors, lawyers, and several public figures, who accused Meloni and others of complicity by supplying arms to Israel.

Ceasefire Negotiations

• In an exclusive interview with Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said Hamas wants a deal to end the war but will not “raise the white flag,” insisting any ceasefire must include a full Israeli withdrawal and guarantees from Trump and Arab states. He rejected calls for unilateral disarmament as a surrender, demanded top Palestinian leaders be included in any prisoner-exchange, and stressed Hamas cannot decide the larger question of Palestinian self-determination alone. Abu Marzouk warned that Hamas is now a broad political force and said its red lines are clear: a permanent ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, and unrestricted aid to Gaza. Read or watch the full interview here.

• The chief political negotiator for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is officially joining the Gaza negotiations in Egypt, according to Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill. PIJ’s armed wing Saraya al Quds is the second largest armed faction in Gaza & also holds Israeli captives.

• Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nounou told Reuters on Wednesday that Hamas and Israel have exchanged lists of captives who would be released should a deal be reached.

• Qatar says ongoing ceasefire talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, must include guarantees preventing Israel from restarting the war, while ensuring maximum aid delivery to Gaza. Spokesperson Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari emphasized key issues under discussion, including Israeli withdrawal, prisoner exchanges, an international presence, and Palestinian-led post-war governance. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected to arrive in Egypt today to take part in the talks.

• The Al-Quds Brigades in Gaza says it will only free Israeli captives as part of a prisoner exchange in which Israel agrees to end the war in Gaza. The group vowed that all Palestinian factions will work to stop the fighting and relieve Palestinian suffering, and insisted resistance weapons will remain until the land is liberated and the war ends.

• President Trump met Tuesday with his national security team ahead of envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s departure to Sharm el-Sheikh for the Gaza ceasefire talks, Axios reports. Sources say Trump pushed for a deal within days to free captives and end the two-year war, while Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others were briefed on messages from Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators. U.S. officials signaled they will not leave Egypt without an agreement, and Trump sent a letter to Israeli hostage families pledging he is “personally committed” to ending the war.

• At a press conference, President Donald Trump was asked how the U.S. could ensure Israel would not resume its war on Gaza after releasing captives. He pledged that the U.S. would use “everything possible” to make sure all parties adhere to the deal, but stopped short of explicitly guaranteeing that Israel could be barred from restarting military operations.

• Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın will lead a delegation to Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday for Gaza ceasefire talks, focusing on ending the fighting, arranging prisoner exchanges, and delivering humanitarian aid, Anadolu Agency reports. Kalın held consultations with U.S., Egyptian, Qatari, and Hamas officials ahead of the visit, following last week’s Doha, Qatar, discussions that set the stage for Türkiye’s active role in the indirect negotiations in Egypt.

• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting in Paris on Thursday with European and Arab states to discuss Gaza’s postwar transition, according to Reuters.

West Bank and Israel

• Twenty-two-year-old Ahmad Khdeirat, detained without charge since May 2024, died in Israeli custody—the 78th Palestinian to die in prison since October 7. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said Khdeirat, who had diabetes, was denied medical care and endured extreme hunger and infection in Israel’s Negev camp, losing 40 kilograms before his death. He was one of more than 3,500 Palestinians held indefinitely under administrative detention.

• Israeli army and settlers attacked the home of Issa Amro, the prominent Palestinian human rights defender in Hebron.

U.S. News

• Hundreds of ​​Texas National Guard troops arrived Tuesday at an Army Reserve center in Elwood, Illinois, as President Trump escalates a crackdown on Chicago despite opposition from Democratic leaders and a pending lawsuit challenging the move. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker criticized the deployment as “political,” noting he had received no advance notice, while Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson barred federal agents from using city property for enforcement operations.

• Trump is threatening to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act to federalize troops and National Guard units for operations in Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Portland. The law allows the president to deploy military forces domestically during rebellion, widespread unrest, or when states cannot enforce federal law, making it one of the few exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, which otherwise bars domestic military policing.

• Since October 7, 2023, the U.S. has spent $31–34 billion on Israel’s war in Gaza and related regional operations, with $21.7 billion in direct military aid to Israel and $9.6–12 billion funding U.S. actions in Yemen, Iran, and elsewhere, according to a new report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University. Tens of billions more in pending arms deals highlight Washington’s central role in sustaining the conflict, which has displaced over 5.27 million people across Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Iran, and left more than 236,000 Palestinians in Gaza alone killed or injured, alongside thousands dead or wounded in Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria.

• For two years of Israel’s U.S.-backed war on Gaza, the flagship Sunday shows on NBC, ABC, and CNN have not hosted a single Palestinian guest, according to an investigation by In These Times. From October 2023 through October 2025, the programs aired dozens of segments discussing Gaza over 315 episodes, which included “55 appearances by U.S government officials and 16 Israeli officials or spokespeople for Israeli captives, including a total of four interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the article said.

• Body-camera footage reportedly shows a Border Patrol agent taunting Marimar Martinez before shooting her five times during a confrontation in Chicago’s Brighton Park on October 4, contradicting government claims that she drove toward officers. Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz were charged with assaulting federal officers but released pending trial; her attorney says the video shows agents instigating the collision and shooting. The incident, part of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” has sparked protests and renewed scrutiny of federal operations in the city.

• President Trump signaled Monday that he’s open to negotiating a compromise on Affordable Care Act subsidies to end the government shutdown, but conservatives and antiabortion groups remain poised to block any deal. Democrats insist the subsidies — expanded during the pandemic to cap premiums — must continue or millions of Americans will face doubled costs, while Republicans debate limiting eligibility, phasing out “zero-premium” plans, or imposing new income caps. Lawmakers say pressure will rise as Americans receive notices of higher premiums, and Trump allies warn of political backlash if the program ends.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi clashed sharply with Democrats in a Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday, defending her record while repeatedly dodging questions on politically sensitive matters, including the prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey, oversight of Jeffrey Epstein’s case files, and Trump’s deployment of federal forces to Democratic-led cities. Bondi framed her actions as refocusing the DOJ on immigration and violent crime, whileDemocrats warned her tenure reflects a dangerous erosion of the department’s independence.

• The Trump administration has furloughed the entire Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention Oversight amid the government shutdown, even as ICE continues its deportation operations and expands detention capacity, reports The Washington Post. The office, which inspects immigrant detention centers to ensure safe and humane conditions, has been sidelined despite a record detainee population of 61,000 and lawsuits alleging overcrowding and inadequate medical care. Former ICE officials warn that the pause leaves conditions “unchecked” while contractors continue operating largely without federal oversight.

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced undercover operations targeting what he describes as “leftist terror cells” in the state, citing the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and recent attacks on ICE facilities in Alvarado and Dallas. He linked these incidents to groups associated with Antifa and the “transgender movement,” promising his office will identify, investigate, and infiltrate such organizations, declaring, “justice is coming.” The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and his national security directive NSPM-7, which expands the federal government’s ability to surveil and criminalize protests.

• Kim Franzi and other women who used an injectable birth control, Depo-Provera, are suing Pfizer, alleging the company failed to warn about the drug’s link to meningiomas, a type of brain tumor. Pfizer is seeking to dismiss the suit, arguing that FDA approval of Depo-Provera’s labeling blocks stronger state warnings, though the plaintiffs’ attorneys say the evidence linking Depo-Provera to brain tumors is strong, according to The Lever.

International News

• The Israeli military intercepted a nine-boat flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza on Wednesday and detained some 150 participants on board. The vessels were intercepted by Israel about 220 kilometers (136 miles) off the Gaza coast. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition & Thousand Madleens to Gaza, included activists, doctors, journalists, and European parliamentarians; participants are now being held “in unknown conditions.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X: “Another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone ended in nothing. The vessels and the passengers are transferred to an Israeli port. All the passengers are safe and in good health. The passengers are expected to be deported promptly.” Journalist Noa Avishag Schnall reported for Drop Site from aboard one of the boats on the flotilla, the Conscience. Watch her video report here.

• More details emerged on Syria’s ceasefire: The agreement, reached in Damascus between government forces and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), covers all fronts in northern and northeastern Syria and is set to take effect immediately. The violence erupted amid heightened conflict over the stalled March agreement to integrate SDF forces into the new Syrian army, with both sides blaming each other for attacks that caused civilian casualties and property damage. The ceasefire coincides with discussions between interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and U.S. envoy Tom Barrack.

• The Sudanese army repelled a major assault by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Al-Fashir on Monday after intense fighting, local media reported. Thirteen people were killed and 19 wounded in RSF shelling, with bodies and survivors reportedly trapped due to ongoing bombardment. The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), has repeatedly targeted civilians and humanitarian routes since May 2024, contributing to a siege that has displaced at least 470,000 people, including 130,000 children. Aid groups warn the humanitarian situation is catastrophic.

• ​​A Myanmar military strike on a festival in Chaung U township killed at least 40 people, including children, and wounded around 80, witnesses told AFP Tuesday. The attack occurred Monday evening during the Thadingyut full moon festival and an anti-junta demonstration, when motorized paragliders reportedly dropped bombs on the crowd. Survivors described gruesome scenes, with body parts scattered on the ground, and attended funerals for victims the following day. Amnesty International condemned the strike as part of an intensifying military campaign against resistance pockets, while a UN expert dismissed upcoming elections as a “fraud” intended to mask continued military rule.

• In Mali’s capital Bamako, lines are growing longer at gas stations as a fuel import blockade imposed by the al-Qaida-affiliated militant group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) continues. Militants have attacked fuel tankers from Senegal and Ivory Coast, burning over 100 trucks and killing some drivers, forcing importers to adopt risky alternative delivery methods to protect staff. Analysts say JNIM is using the blockade to undermine the military junta, which has struggled to control security since seizing power in 2021.

• Ethiopia accused neighboring Eritrea of collaborating with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to prepare a new military offensive, raising fears of renewed conflict in the country’s north. In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos alleged clear “collusion” between Eritrea’s government and the TPLF—the former ruling party that fought a devastating two-year war against Addis Ababa before a 2022 peace deal. The letter, cited by AFP and Ethiopian media, claims that Eritrea and a hardline TPLF faction are “actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia” and accuses both of funding and directing armed groups in the Amhara region, where federal forces continue to face insurgent resistance.

• Russia declared Wednesday that the momentum for a Ukraine peace deal born from the August summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska has now run out. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters that the “powerful impetus” from the Anchorage talks had been “largely exhausted” by what he called European supporters of continuing the war and those opposed to compromise. His remarks reflect growing pessimism after weeks of stalled diplomatic contacts and renewed fighting along the front lines. Trump, who once praised the talks, has begun calling Russia a “paper tiger” and floated sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

More From Drop Site

• New from Murtaza Hussain and Ryan Grim: Leaked emails from former Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor reveal that David Frum and Douglas Murray secretly drafted speeches for him during Israel’s 2014 military campaign in Gaza, while a CNN producer, Pamela Gross, coordinated private fundraising for Israel’s Iron Dome. Frum, then a senior editor at The Atlantic, and Murray, a Spectator contributor, offered speechwriting and strategic guidance to bolster Israel’s international messaging. Gross repeatedly sought Prosor’s help to raise funds for the missile defense system, framing her efforts as vital to the safety of Israeli citizens. The emails, published by Distributed Denial of Secrets, expose the deep behind-the-scenes collaboration between journalists and Israeli officials at a time of intense global scrutiny. Read the full report here.

• New from Drop Site Livestream: “I remember covering the Second Intifada — you couldn’t even say ‘Palestine’ without being attacked,” journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous said in our latest Drop Site livestream in discussion withPalestinian-American human rights attorney and legal scholar Noura Erakat. As Gaza’s genocide enters its third year, Erakat, who addressed the UN Security Council on Monday, spoke about despair, collective action, and ancestral strength: “We are the most hopeful when we’re doing the most work together… It is our duty to have hope. It is our duty to resist. It is our duty to fight. There is no alternative.” Watch the full conversation here.

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