Israel declares Egypt border area a closed military zone; Mass graves in El-Fasher; Pelosi retires; Senate to vote on Venezuela war

Drop Site Daily: November 6, 2025

Israel designates the border area between Israel and Egypt a “closed military zone.” The U.S. proposes its resolution for an “international stabilization force” before the UN Security Council. Hamas hands over another body. Israeli forces kill a 15-year-old Palestinian near Jenin in the occupied West Bank. A senate vote is to be held this evening on a war powers resolution that would block an attack on Venezuela. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani taps Lina Khan of the FTC and other local notables to chair his transition team. President Trump cribs Mamdani’s focus on “affordability.” The Federal Aviation Administration cuts flight traffic by 10 percent in 40 major air markets. Israel continues launching air strikes in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah asserts its right to resist such attacks. Ukraine’s Pokrovsk is now the site of house-to-house fighting, Mexico’s President files a police report against a man who groped her in the capital. A video appears to show Pakistani police secretly disposing of bodies. The U.S. wants a military base in Damascus. Nancy Pelosi announces she won’t seek re-election, creating an open race for her Bay Area Senate seat.

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

New from Drop Site: “Morocco Is Profiling and Imprisoning Young People to Crush Gen Z Protests.” Mass demonstrations in Morocco—led by young Moroccans demanding improvements in the country’s underfunded healthcare and education infrastructure and reductions in government corruption—have been met with a severe crackdown since they began in September of this year. Since September 27, authorities have arrested around 2,000 people, 330 of whom are minors. Imane Bellamine reports for Drop Site that Moroccan police are profiling young people and arresting them based on their appearance or perceived association in an effort to crush the mass mobilizations. You can read more here.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced her plans to retire after the end of this congressional term. (Photo by Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

The Genocide in Gaza

• Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, has ordered the military to designate the Egyptian border area a “closed military zone” and has given the Israeli military permission to strike any unauthorized party that enters the area. The pretense for this move is alleged drone smuggling of weapons in the area, but critics have noted the potential for this to be yet another “buffer zone” occupied by the Israeli military in Gaza.

• Civil defense workers in Gaza have been dispatched to a building that collapsed in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood where people are trapped under the rubble, according to Al Jazeera. UNRWA estimated yesterday that 81 percent of all structures in Gaza have been damaged. The UN has warned that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to find shelter in unsafe and damaged buildings.

• Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Thursday that only 4,453 trucks out of the required 15,600 trucks—just 28%—have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began. “The average number of trucks entering Gaza daily since the ceasefire began is only 171, out of the 600 trucks that are supposed to enter daily according to the humanitarian protocol,” the office said. It added that Israel is preventing the entry of staple items and nutritious foods, including eggs, red meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, and dairy products while allowing in “nutritionally worthless” items such as processed meals, candy bars, chips, and sodas.

• Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, formally proposed a resolution involving the “international stabilization force” before the UN’s Security Council yesterday which involves two years of a foreign military presence and the disarmament of Hamas before some contingent of Palestinians might be permitted to take over. U.S. diplomats staged a rare meeting with Palestinian diplomats at the UN concerning Washington’s intended “international stabilization force,” Axios reported. U.S. Ambassador Waltz met with two representatives from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in New York on Tuesday in the first direct engagement between the PA and the U.S. concerning Gaza’s post-war governance. The PA welcomed the U.S.-proposed framework, in which the PA would possibly be permitted to lead Gaza’s governance after the two year “stabilization” process, but urged a more immediate role for itself. This plan also has support from many Arab and European governments.

• The U.S. has also spearheaded a plan to end a standoff in Rafah, where some 150 Hamas fighters are trapped in a tunnel, according to reports by Ultra Palestine and Israeli outlet N12. The fighters would release their weapons to a third party—either Qatar, Egypt, or Turkey—and would be granted clemency. Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın is mediating the talks between Israel and the resistance, reportedly at the insistence of Washington. Israel has claimed that some of the resistance fighters are “murderers” who must be killed, not pardoned. Israel has reportedly refrained from bombing the Rafah tunnel and killing everyone only, because it believes the fighters trapped inside know the location of the body of a deceased Israeli soldier who has been missing since 2014.

• Qassam Brigades handed over the body of another Israeli captive, the 22nd of 28 that Hamas agreed to return under the ceasefire agreement. His body was transferred to the Israelis in a coffin, and its reception was confirmed by the Prime Minister’s office late Wednesday evening.

West Bank and Israel

• Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old boy during a raid on the town of Al-Yamoun near Jenin in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

• Israeli settlers have fenced off 500 acres of Palestinian agricultural land in the Khirbet Samra area of the West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, which said this likely precedes a complete seizure of land previously used for feeding livestock.

U.S. News

• The Senate votes Thursday at 5 p.m. ET on a War Powers Resolution to block an attack on Venezuela with a real chance of passage. Of the 47 Democrats in the Senate caucus, 46 are expected to vote yes (minus John Fetterman). Two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul, will vote yes, giving supporters 48 votes, three short of the number needed for the resolution to pass. One of those could be Susan Collins, facing re-election. “I need to read the legal opinion that the Office of Legal Counsel did,” she told reporters. “I’ve gone to the classified briefing, as I said, but I’d like to read that opinion.” Her potential opponent Graham Platner has spoken out against the strikes on Venezuela, putting pressure on her vote. Beyond Collins, four Republicans previously voted for a War Powers Resolution (on Yemen) during the first Trump term and haven’t yet said they are a firm “yes” on the war: Todd Young, Jerry Moran, Mike Lee, and Steve Daines. Supporters also think they have a chance at Mike Rounds, James Lankford, and even Senate Leader John Thune.

• A new survey shows that 74% of Americans oppose the use of force overseas without congressional approval.

• Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani unveiled his transition team, co-chaired by a number of local officials as well as former FTC Chair Lina Khan, whose work on antitrust was a signature success of the Biden administration. The team will oversee the staffing of city agencies and the development of policy priorities in anticipation of Mamdani’s January inauguration.

• MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough confronted Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who used his appearance on “Morning Joe” to announce his intention to “hold mayor-elect Mamdani accountable,” as well as to insinuate that Mamdani’s electoral victory somehow threatened the same Jewish New Yorkers with whom he promised in his election speech to stand side-by-side. While announcing a so-called “Mamdani monitor,” and a supposedly apolitical anti-semitism tracker in the city, Greenblatt appeared to imply that Mamdani is tied to violent attacks on yarmulke-wearing Jews in NYC; the firebombing of Governor Josh Shapiro’s house; the shooting of Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C.; and the use of Molotov cocktails against an 82-year-old Jewish woman in Boulder. Scarborough pushed back, asking “But you’re not suggesting that he supports the firebombing in Colorado?” to which Greenblatt replied, “Joe, I never said that.”

• Zohran directly addressed Greenblatt’s criticism of his campaign’s outreach to Jews earlier today by saying he has “some doubts about Greenblatt’s ability honestly, given that he previously said I had not visited any synagogues—only to have to correct himself.” Greenblatt had claimed Zohran refused to meet with “the right Jews.” Zohran also said he had yet to hear from President Trump, but that he is “interested in having a conversation with President Trump on the ways in which we can work together to serve New Yorkers”. President Trump—who has glommed onto Zohran’s use of the word affordability—issued an at-first incomprehensible response to Zohran’s victory from Miami, where he claimed that Zohran “thinks it’s wonderful to have men in women’s sports,” but then concluded with a concessive statement, saying “We want New York to be successful. We’ll help them a little bit, maybe.” Former President Biden also reached out to Mamdani to congratulate him, as well as victorious Democratic governor-elects Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill.

• Ahead of a 5 p.m. vote to check the war powers assigned to the President in light of escalating hostilities against Venezuela, a number of Republican Senators are expressing some doubts about the legality of the actions undertaken, according to reports from Politico. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services panels, said he wanted to “make sure we are doing are due diligence”; Todd Young of Indiana said he was “still looking at everything”; Susan Collins said she “need[ed] to read the legal opinion that the Office of Legal Counsel did”; and Jerry Moran of Kansas said he required clarity about what the Constitution says with regards to military authorization. It appears that the bill could pass both the House and the Senate, which would significantly hamper the ability of Trump and Rubio to carry out any of the proposals for direct military intervention that have been reported first by us and then by The New York Times.

• Omar Fateh, the progressive candidate for Mayor of Minneapolis, conceded the election to three-term incumbent Jacob Frey earlier today. In the final round of Minneapolis’ ranked choice tabulation, Fateh lost by a little over 8,000 first-place votes.

• State Assemblyman Michael Blake officially announced his congressional campaign for the seat for New York’s 15th district, challenging incumbent Representative Richie Torres in the Bronx. In his announcement video, Blake made note of the controversy surrounding Torres’ indefatigable advocacy for Israel. At the same time, his district, the poorest in the country, is filled with people far more concerned with their access to basics like housing, food, and education, saying “Torres cares more about Bibi than the Bronx.”

• The Supreme Court held hearings Wednesday on President Trump’s legal authority to impose tariffs on a wide range of goods and on a number of countries. Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the legality of the administration imposing unilateral tariffs, according to the Washington Post. This is the first of three major cases on the Supreme Court’s docket that might check President Trump’s expanding sense of the Executive Branch’s power: one on the insulation of independent agencies from executive interference, and another on whether the President can fire a member of the Federal Reserve.

• Armed ICE officers arrested a teacher after chasing her into the lobby of a private preschool in Chicago, according to NBC News. The arrest took place as parents were dropping off their children at a Spanish language preschool, Rayito del Sol, in the city’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, and involved armed officers in black vests dragging the woman outside as she yelled “I have papers” in Spanish. This appears to be the first immigration arrest inside a school during the Trump administration. The woman arrested was detained even as she showed employment documents, including a work permit, and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) has called for surveillance footage of the arrest to be released.

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a 10 percent reduction in flight traffic in 40 “high traffic” markets across the U.S. as a response to the ongoing government shutdown and its effects on air travel, according to the New York Times. The reductions are scheduled to go into effect Friday, and represent an unprecedented move on the part of the air travel bureaucracy that can affect both commercial travel and cargo operations. Among the 700,000 unpaid federal employees, air traffic controllers have been under intense pressure during the two month government shutdown, and the government shutdown has led to flight disruptions tied to staffing shortages.

• Somerville, Massachusetts, adopted a resolution calling for divestment from Israel, according to reporting from The Times of Israel, becoming the first U.S. municipality to adopt divestment policies. More than 55% of voters backed Question 3, which directs the mayor to “cease engaging in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.” Somerville was the home of Rümeysa Öztürk, a student at Tufts University, who was detained by ICE earlier this year for writing an op-ed in favor of divestment.

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday it is ending Temporary Protected Status for nationals from South Sudan. According to DHS, immigrants from South Sudan will now have about 60 days to leave the country. The decision came despite warnings from the UN and other groups of escalating armed conflict in South Sudan and widespread food insecurity and hunger.

International News

• The Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday after threatening a major attack and issuing displacement orders for several buildings in the villages of Al-Tayyiba,Taya Debba, and Zoutar al-Sharqiya in what it claimed without evidence were Hezbollah targets. The announcement of the attack came shortly after Israel bombed two towns in the southern Tyre district.

• The U.S. is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus in a bid to create a new political agreement between Syria and Israel, according to Reuters. The U.S. base will be created in what is intended to be a “demilitarized zone” in southern Syria that will help deconfliction efforts between Israel and Syria. Since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli military has launched an occupation of southern Syria including raids, home demolitions, and the killing of civilians.

• Satellite images of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, appear to show mass burials after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the city. The “images appear to show mass graves being dug and later covered at two sites in the city, one at a mosque just north of the Saudi hospital where some 460 people reportedly had been killed and another by a former children’s hospital that the RSF had been using as a prison,” according to the AP.

• House-to-house battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces have engulfed the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, according to Reuters. Russian troops have reportedly captured dozens of buildings in Pokrovsk as part of a broader offensive. The city is strategically critical to the defense or capture of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, in which it resides.

• President Donald Trump reportedly appealed directly to Chinese Premier Xi Jinping to release Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai during their meeting in South Korea last week, three officials briefed on the talks relayed to Reuters. Lai is the founder of the opposition “Apple Daily” newspaper and was charged with colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious material in 2020. Lai is reportedly in poor health as he awaits a verdict. Though he is a British citizen, his arrest has been an active concern of U.S. diplomats in both the Trump and Biden administrations, and Trump is reported to have said that his release would improve U.S.-China relations.

• Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, has accused authorities of killing and secretly disposing of the bodies of hundreds of protesters following last week’s disputed election, which saw President Samia Suluhu Hassan claim a landslide victory amid a ban on opposition participation. The vote sparked nationwide protests, met with a harsh crackdown, curfews, and an internet blackout. Chadema, whose leader Tundu Lissu has been detained on treason charges, claimed to reporters that it had recorded 2,000 deaths so far, alleging that many victims remain unidentified and their bodies were taken to undisclosed locations.

• President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said she filed a police report on Wednesday against a man who groped her and tried to kiss her as she was walking between meetings, according to the Associated Press. Sheinbaum used the incident to call for state and national leaders to review relevant laws and to make it easier for women to report sexual assaults.

• A secretly filmed video shows Pakistani police loading dead bodies into a truck. Drop Site contributor Waqas Ahmed recirculated the video, writing that last month the “Pakistani regime had lured protestors, shot them on the streets, and then covered up the extent of the carnage by taking bodies away in trucks. This newly surfaced video confirms that.” Drop Site’s full report on last month’s attacks can be read here.

• Canada’s Residence Visa Program for Palestinians is a “PR Show”: Though the Canadian government launched a Temporary Residence Visa Program for Palestinians in Gaza with family ties to Canada, those attempting to use the program, like Canadian citizen Najlaa Alzaanin, describe intense hurdles in a process that Amnesty International says is “seemingly designed to fail.” Read more about this program in Mersiha Gadzo’s latest for Drop Site here.

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