Israel demolishes high rises in Gaza City, Trump delivers “last warning” to Hamas, UK police arrest nearly 900 pro-Palestine protesters, Russia bombards Ukraine

Drop Site Daily: September 8, 2025

At least 40 Palestinians have been killed since dawn across north, south, and central Gaza. Israel plans to squeeze one million Palestinians into an even smaller “humanitarian zone.” Exclusive from Drop Site: Text of President Donald Trump’s 100-word Gaza ceasefire outline to Hamas. “It looks like it was written by the Israelis,” a senior Hamas official told Drop Site. Russia launches its largest aerial assault on Ukraine to date. Eric Adams pledges to stay in the New York City mayoral race, despite reports of a Trump intervention to have him step aside. Nearly 900 arrested in London at a pro-Palestine protest. ICE conducts largest raid yet under Trump’s second term at a Hyundai site in Georgia, detaining hundreds.

Ryan Grim and Krystal Ball sat down for an hourlong interview with Gaza Humanitarian Foundation spokesman Chapin Fay, airing later today on Breaking Points.

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

Pro-Palestinian supporter carrying a placards in support of proscribed group Palestine Action is arrested in London and forcibly moved by police officers towards police vans. September 6, 2025. (Photo by Lab Ky Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Genocide in Gaza

• At least 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since dawn Sunday, including at least 25 people in northern Gaza, 14 in southern Gaza, and one in central Gaza. Among those killed was Palestinian photojournalist Osama Balousha in an airstrike that targeted his home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

• Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports at least 67 Palestinians killed and 320 injured in the past 24 hours. Fourteen Palestinians were killed and 85 injured while seeking aid. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 64,522 killed, with 163,096 injured.

• Six more deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total since the start of the war to 393, including 140 children.

• Israel’s newly designated “humanitarian zone” for the nearly one million Palestinians it plans to forcibly displace from Gaza City is just 43 square kilometers (16 square miles), in Muwasi, Khan Younis, near the Egyptian border—outside the “vast open spaces” the IDF recently touted as suitable for tents.

• Israel demolished the Al-Rouya residential tower in Tel al-Hawa, southwest Gaza City, on Sunday, bringing the total number of buildings completely destroyed over the past several days to at least 50. On Monday, the Israeli military published another map with a highlighted building—a 17-story commercial tower—and a nearby tent encampment in the heart of western Gaza City, saying it would soon be targeted.

• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday said that Israel would escalate airstrikes on Gaza even further. "A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake. This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons - or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated," Katz wrote on X.

• Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday when an explosive device detonated under a tank in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

• Since Gaza’s famine declaration on Aug. 22, only about 12 food trucks a day have reached their intended destinations—less than 2% of the 600 trucks needed daily. UN data shows most aid is intercepted before reaching warehouses or bakeries, with over 80% lost to desperate civilians or armed groups. In the past month, fewer than 600 trucks arrived in total, roughly what Gaza requires in a single day.

• A Gaza City medical student told U.S. medic Dr. Mimi Syed that there is nowhere safe to go as Israel orders over a million Palestinians to evacuate the city, warning, “We will not survive this time.” The student described the fear and destruction around her, saying, “I’m so scared… I’m sorry.”

• In a rare ruling, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the state is depriving Palestinian prisoners of food, ordering authorities to improve nutrition after finding “real doubts” detainees were receiving enough food to ensure basic subsistence. The case, brought by rights groups after a 17-year-old detainee died of starvation, directly challenges National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s policy of cutting conditions to the “bare minimum,” which critics say has turned prisons into “torture camps.”

• UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that Israel’s latest displacement orders in Gaza City, coming two weeks after famine was declared, are closing the narrow window to prevent famine spreading to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. He called for unimpeded humanitarian aid, protection of civilians, implementation of International Court of Justice measures, release of hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and an immediate ceasefire.

• The head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned Israel for its assault on Gaza in his opening address to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday. However, Turk stopped short of explicitly describing it as an unfolding genocide, as over 500 employees had called on him to do last month. “Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza; its infliction of indescribable suffering and wholesale destruction; its hindering of sufficient lifesaving aid and the ensuing starvation of civilians; its killing of journalists; and its commission of war crime upon war crime, are shocking the conscience of the world,” Turk said.

Ceasefire Negotiations and Israeli News

• Exclusive: Drop Site News obtained the five-point summary outlining President Trump’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire that was delivered to Hamas by mediators over the weekend. Trump has characterized the ultimatum as the final offer to the Palestinian resistance movement before Israel accelerates its campaign to enact the total destruction of the Gaza Strip. “It looks like it was written by the Israelis,” a senior Hamas official told Drop Site. Read the article by Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad.

West Bank and Jerusalem

• Six people were killed and 12 wounded after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday. The two gunmen were shot and killed on site. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the scene after the incident, which delayed a session of his ongoing corruption trial. The Israeli military said it is encircling Palestinian villages on the outskirts of Ramallah in response. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X: "The Palestinian Authority must disappear from the map, and the villages from which the terrorists came should look like Rafah and Beit Hanoon," he said, referring to cities in the Gaza Strip that Israel has systematically razed to the ground.

• Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participated in the storming of the Palestinian-majority city of Umm al-Fahm in Israel on Sunday alongside Israeli police and border guard forces. Ben-Gvir urged authorities to step up demolitions of homes and facilities owned by residents. The raid came a day after a demonstration in Umm Al-Fahm calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

• Footage shows Israeli settlers attacking a Bedouin family near Taybeh, east of Ramallah, following the establishment of a new illegal outpost. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned that Israeli home demolitions, the displacement of 120,000 Palestinians, and efforts to separate Hebron together signal an intensifying annexation drive. Leaked reports suggest Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich views Palestinians with Jordanian IDs as “illegal residents,” hinting at plans to deport up to one million people to Jordan.

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Washington will not oppose Israel “applying sovereignty,” effectively supporting West Bank annexation. He stated that the U.S. respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not dictate its actions, echoing Secretary Rubio’s recent remarks.

U.S. News

• New York Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference on Friday at Gracie Mansion, where he vowed to stay in the mayoral race for a second term. He brushed off the report of a possible Saudi ambassadorship offer from Trump and said he plans to defeat “spoiled brats” Cuomo and Mamdani. An aide told CBS News he could still bow out within a week.

• Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York and Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey are pushing to fold the “IGO Anti-Boycott Act” into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment would punish Americans with up to 20 years in prison or $1 million fines for boycotts of Israel and its settlements.

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty as tensions escalate following a U.S. strike in the Caribbean that killed 11 people, which Washington said targeted a Venezuelan gang boat. Speaking at a military base in Caracas, Maduro called for dialogue with President Trump but ordered the mobilization of civilian militias, warning of an “armed struggle” if Venezuela is attacked. He denounced the U.S. naval buildup as a threat of invasion and accused Washington of fabricating drug-trafficking claims to justify regime change.

• House Speaker Mike Johnson walked back his claim that Donald Trump acted as an FBI informant in the Jeffrey Epstein case, instead saying Trump “was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein.” The clarification comes amid bipartisan calls for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would compel the release of additional documents on Epstein and his trafficking network. Victims and advocates stress that Trump’s past cooperation in 2009 does not erase the ongoing demand for accountability and transparency.

• Law enforcement officials in Washington DC on Sunday removed a peace vigil that had stood outside the White House for more than 40 years after President Trump ordered for it to be taken down. The vigil—started in 1981 to advocate for nuclear disarmament—is believed to be the longest continuous anti-war protest in U.S. history. The White House told the AP in a statement that the vigil was a “hazard to those visiting the White House and the surrounding areas.”

• On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security raided a Hyundai battery plant construction site in Georgia, in what Migrant Insider said was the “largest single-site immigration enforcement operation of Trump’s second term.” Over 450 workers, many of them South Korean, were detained.

International News

• Russia launched its largest drone assault of the war to date, launching an estimated 805 Iranian-designed Shahed drones against targets across Ukraine in an attack that lasted from Saturday night into Sunday morning. The drone assault hit a highly secure district of the capital of Kyiv home to government buildings, striking a building where the Cabinet of Ministers convenes. At least five people were killed in the attacks, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called, “a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war.”

• Israeli warplanes struck a truck in Al-Maaliya, southern Lebanon, amid near-daily airstrikes hitting homes, vehicles, farmland, and infrastructure across the region. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Cabinet reviewed a U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah and consolidate weapons under state control, but Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzeddine rejected it as “reckless, misguided, and dangerous,” insisting the group “will never give up its weapons, under any circumstances.” The Israelis also struck a large truck used to carry debris for reconstruction in southern Lebanon yesterday.

• A drone strike from Yemen breached Israel’s defenses and slammed into Ramon International Airport in southern Negev on Sunday, wounding one person and briefly shutting down commercial airspace. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack.

• Multiple subsea fiber-optic cables in the Red Sea were cut on September 6, disrupting internet and cloud services, with Microsoft Azure reporting service degradation and higher latency, especially between Asia and Europe. NetBlocks confirmed outages on the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, affecting countries including Pakistan and India, while repairs are expected to take time due to the region’s security risks. The Red Sea carries about 17% of global internet traffic, highlighting the vulnerability of cloud infrastructure; previous cable damage in 2024 also caused months-long outages amid Houthi attacks.

• After Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned over a stamp-duty underpayment, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer began a wide-ranging reshuffle of top government positions. David Lammy is promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Secretary, and Lord Chancellor, despite criticism over his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza. Yvette Cooper moves from Home Secretary to Foreign Secretary, while Shabana Mahmood becomes Home Secretary, making her one of the first Muslim women to hold such senior justice and home affairs roles in UK history.

• Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in The Guardian that Tehran remains open to a monitored nuclear bargain but blasted the E3 for triggering UN “snapback” sanctions, calling the move illegal and a gift to Washington. He warned Europe risks isolation and irrelevance, noting its failure to uphold trade promises under the 2015 deal, and cautioned that continued alignment with the U.S. and Israel could trigger “destructive” consequences for the region and beyond.

• Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s docudrama, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” won the Silver Lion at Venice for its portrayal of 5-year-old Hind, killed alongside her family under Israeli fire, premiering to a 24-minute standing ovation. Meanwhile, Hind’s mother, Wissam Hamada, remains trapped in Gaza City with her surviving 5-year-old son as Israeli tanks encircle their neighborhood, issuing a “last cry for help” and appealing for urgent rescue and financial support—pleas largely absent from international coverage of the film’s success.

• At Mexico City’s Zócalo, Puerto Rican rapper Residente—the most awarded artist in Latin Grammy history—turned his free, city-sponsored concert into a platform of solidarity with Palestine. Before a crowd of 180,000, he brought the Abed family, refugees from Gaza, on stage as chants of “Palestina Libre” (“Free Palestine!”) thundered across one of the world’s largest public squares.

• Authorities in Istanbul have imposed a three-day ban on public gatherings and blockaded the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) provincial headquarters after protests over the court-ordered suspension of the party’s provincial leadership. CHP leaders denounced the suspension as a politically motivated attempt by the ruling AKP government to further marginalize its opposition, and urged supporters to rally, prompting riot police to surround the headquarters and restrict access.

• Over 150 current and former elected officials worldwide have signed a statement demanding immediate humanitarian access to Gaza and an end to the genocide of Palestinians. The letter calls for a humanitarian corridor, protection of the Global Sumud Flotilla, and urgent international action to uphold international law. Notably, no American officials are among the signatories.

• Police arrested nearly 900 people at a pro-Palestine demonstration in London on Saturday. The vast majority of the arrests were for people showing support for Palestine Action, which was recently banned by British authorities as a "terrorist" organization. Births Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood bragged about the arrests saying on X: "An honour to visit Sir Mark and @metpoliceuk to see them at work policing protests yesterday."

More from Drop Site

• Sumud flotilla update: Drop Site’s Alex Colston reports that the Ship Sirius has docked at Tunis alongside many other ships sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Over the three-day journey from Menorca, the crew focused on repairs, non-violence training, and essential logistical and administrative tasks. In Tunis, the flotilla will be joined by dozens of additional ships and hundreds of participants, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and French actress Adèle Haenel. Meanwhile, an independent Libyan sailing effort led by former Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi will set off separately around the same time, and storm warnings over the Mediterranean may complicate the flotilla’s journey to Gaza.

• In a new article from Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain and Sami Vanderlip: American charities like AFJS and Israel Friends are raising tax-deductible donations to supply drones, helmets, and other military equipment directly to the Israeli military, including units active in Gaza and Lebanon. AFJS has close ties to far-right settler groups and openly promotes West Bank annexation, while videos show donated equipment being deployed by IDF forces. These efforts reveal how U.S. nonprofits are funding military operations under the guise of charitable or educational activity.

• New from Drop Site’s Ryan Grim: “Israel Is Considered a ‘Genocidal, Apartheid Country’ Abroad, According to Israel’s Own Research.” A leaked report commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reveals just how deeply negative global perceptions have become, particularly in Europe, where survey respondents and focus groups overwhelmingly agreed with the description of Israel as genocidal and apartheid. The research, carried out by U.S. consulting giant Stagwell Global, details Israel’s attempts to test propaganda strategies that might reverse its collapsing reputation amid the Gaza genocide.

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