Israel’s attacks in Lebanon kill one and wound seven; Democrats block $852 billion in defense spending; John Bolton indicted
Drop Site Daily: October 17, 2025
Head of Gaza Health Ministry says 170,000 wounded Palestinians urgently need multiple surgeries, while Israel restricts the inflow of all aid to Gaza. France, the U.K., and the United States are finalizing a UN Security Council Resolution to authorize an “internal stabilization force” in Gaza. Israeli forces kill an 11-year-old playing soccer in the West Bank. Israel bombs Lebanon, killing one and wounding seven. A new Drop Site investigation traces the sources bankrolling the shadowy anti-Palestinian website “Canary Mission,” documenting new vital links to the organization, including an Estonian technology company and U.S. tax-exempt corporations. Democrats in the Senate block $852 billion defense spending bill that Republicans tried to use as a vehicle to restart parts of the federal government. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton surrenders to face charges of transmitting and retaining sensitive national defense information. Pakistani security forces “hunted and killed” anti-Israel protestors from the religious extremist TLP party; a new Drop Site report details the scene. Roadside attack kills 4 and injures 9 in Syria’s Deir Az Zor province; as of Thursday evening, no one has taken responsibility for the attack. India alleges Trump fabricated a commitment on the part of Prime Minister Modi to cease buying Russian oil. Indonesia’s military claims a victory over its Papua insurgency, regaining control of the central village of Soanggama.
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The Genocide in Gaza
The Israeli military shelled a minibus carrying approximately 10 people in the Zaitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City on Friday, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. One injured boy was rescued. At the time of publication, the fate of the remaining passengers was still unknown.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt “will likely open” this Sunday, but did not specify whether the crossing would reopen for humanitarian aid convoys or for Palestinians to cross.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director general of the health ministry in Gaza said in an interview on Al Jazeera that the 170,000 wounded Palestinians on average require three surgeries each, translating to more than 400,000 surgical procedures while Israel continues to block doctors and most medical aid. Hospitals face severe shortages of medicine, clean water, and supplies, and only half of the agreed aid trucks have entered. Dr. Al-Bursh warned that without immediate border openings, “these people will die before our eyes.”
Gaza faces the largest reconstruction crisis in modern history, with up to 70 million tons of rubble and 20,000 unexploded ordnance after more than two years of Israel’s assault, according to the Government Media Office. Thousands of homes, schools, and essential facilities were deliberately destroyed, and continued restrictions on heavy equipment and rescue tools are preventing debris clearance and body recovery. Officials warn that without international pressure to reopen crossings, recovery and civilian safety remain impossible.
On Wednesday, 480 aid trucks entered Gaza, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, including shipments of cooking gas and diesel for bakeries, hospitals, and generators, but officials called the deliveries “a drop in the ocean” compared with the Strip’s needs. The Associated Press reported that, according to the UN dashboard that monitors movement of aid trucks into Gaza, only 339 trucks have reached the territory. At least 600 trucks a day of humanitarian aid are supposed to enter Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, which is the minimum required to sustain the residents under Israel’s ongoing blockade and destruction.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed a “vast improvement” in Gaza aid distribution since the ceasefire, with UN convoys now reaching warehouses safely after Hamas reestablished internal control and policing. Separately, UN humanitarian agencies warned that Israeli restrictions on crossings and visas continue to block large-scale relief, even as aid teams expand food, medical, and infrastructure operations across Gaza.
Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation announced that, under Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s orders, a land-bridge convoy has departed carrying 87,754 shelter tents—enough for 436,000 people in Gaza—through Jordan and Egypt. Backed by the Qatar Fund for Development, Qatar Charity, and the Qatar Red Crescent, the convoy also delivers food, medicine, and winter supplies as the first phase of the ceasefire begins.
Ceasefire Updates
France, Britain, and the United States are finalizing a U.N. Security Council resolution that would provide a framework for an international “stabilization force” in Gaza, Reuters reports. French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the mission must be formalized through the Council to secure a legal mandate and attract troop contributions, with talks ongoing to present the measure “in the coming days.” The force would not be a U.N.-funded mission but rather modeled on the Haiti intervention, empowering participants to “take all necessary measures,” with Indonesia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Azerbaijan, and Italy among potential contributors.
Hamas official Zaher Jabarin said the movement remains committed to the ceasefire and reconstruction terms of the ceasefire agreement but firmly rejected “any form of international guardianship” over Palestinians, calling instead for full self-determination and an independent state. Jabarin said the deal would be remembered for freeing thousands of prisoners “despite the fascist occupier,” and urged Arab and Islamic states to “seize this historic moment” to help establish a sovereign Palestine.
In an apparent reference to Hamas’s recent executions of men accused of collaborating with Israel and looting during the war, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza…we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.” The post marked a sharp reversal from comments earlier in the week when Trump said Hamas “did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad… and killed a number of gang members,” and added, “that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you—that’s okay.”
A Palestinian man from Gaza said he lost his eyesight under Israeli “interrogation and torture” after being detained without charge or trial. He is among nearly 2,000 Palestinians released in the ceasefire agreement.
Israel has blocked an 80-person Turkish delegation carrying heavy equipment from entering Gaza, claiming Hamas could locate and hand over the bodies of dead Israeli captives without outside help. Hamas has said it handed over all the bodies it could access. Thousands of Palestinians remain missing under the rubble in Gaza.
West Bank
Palestinian media reported that 11-year-old Mohammed Bahjat al-Hallaq was shot and killed by Israeli forces while playing soccer at a school field in al-Reehiyya, south of Hebron. Witnesses said soldiers opened fire on a group of children, striking Mohammed in the pelvis; he later died of his wounds. Separately, Israeli forces shot a young man in Qabatiya, near Jenin, and wounded another boy with live fire in Kafr ‘Aqab, north of occupied Jerusalem. In Silwad, north of Ramallah, five Palestinians were injured after being assaulted by Israeli settlers. A Palestinian man was hospitalized in Nablus after being attacked by settlers near his land in Sebastia.
U.S. News
The Senate failed Thursday to advance an $852 billion defense spending bill, leaving the federal government shutdown in its third week. Most Democrats opposed the measure, insisting Republicans tie it to extensions of Affordable Care Act subsidies and guarantees that Trump wouldn’t unilaterally reverse spending decisions, while only three Democrats joined GOP senators to advance the legislation. The bill also differs from the version passed by the House, meaning the military would remain unfunded even if the Senate approved it, prolonging the deadlock as the Trump administration redirects Pentagon funds to pay active-duty troops and faces criticism for potentially illegal moves.
Dozens of Democrats running for the U.S. House in 2026 are either refusing to back House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) or declining to commit, citing ideological differences and dissatisfaction with his leadership. While some skeptics are long shots, several progressive candidates with strong campaigns say that Jeffries hasn’t matched grassroots anger or taken decisive action against the Trump administration. His failure to endorse New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has added to tensions. The challenge echoes past centrist rebellions under Nancy Pelosi, though many expect Jeffries may ultimately retain enough support to remain party leader.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton arrived at a federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland on Friday where he surrendered after being indicted on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining national defense information, stemming from his handling of classified materials during the first Trump administration. Prosecutors allege Bolton shared hundreds of pages of sensitive, “diary-like” updates with relatives via a personal email account later hacked by a foreign actor, and stored documents at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. Bolton is the third high-profile Trump-era figure to face federal charges in recent weeks.
Adm. Alvin Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command, announced that he will retire Dec. 12, less than a year into his tenure, amid intensified U.S. military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels. A US official said Holsey “had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats,” according to The New York Times. His abrupt departure comes as the U.S. military carried out a new strike on Thursday against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, a U.S. official told Reuters. Holsey, one of the few Black four-star officers in the military, praised Southern Command personnel but did not explain the reason for leaving, underscoring a pattern of sudden senior military departures under the Trump administration.
A ProPublica investigation found that over 170 U.S. citizens—mostly Latino, including nearly 20 children and several pregnant women—were unlawfully detained by immigration agents during Trump’s second term, sometimes facing abuse despite presenting valid identification. The Supreme Court recently allowed agents to consider race in enforcement sweeps, a ruling critics say has fueled racial profiling and unlawful arrests.
Representative Seth Moulton, who recently announced his campaign for Senator Ed Markey’s seat, made public that he is returning all donations from AIPAC and will no longer accept contributions or support from the organization. His recent FEC filing confirms that the donations are being returned.
A new report from Migrant Insider exposes systemic abuses at the GEO Group’s Aurora, Colorado immigration detention center, highlighting extreme cold, hunger, medical neglect, and psychological trauma for detainees. Compiled by Colorado Without Cages and the Shut Down GEO Coalition, the GEO Accountability Report depicts a profit-driven system in which more than 1,100 of 1,532 beds are full, basic rights and programs are curtailed, and detainees are treated as revenue rather than human beings. The coalition is urging Congress to end the contract, arguing that immigrants should be allowed to fight their cases in the community rather than in corporate-run prisons.
On a similar note, The Supreme Court is set to hear two cases that could dramatically expand “derivative sovereign immunity,” a legal shield that private contractors claim protects them from lawsuits when carrying out federal government contracts. The first involves GEO Group, a private prison company sued under Colorado law for forcing immigrant detainees to work without pay. The second, Hencely v. Fluor Corporation, involves a military contractor accused of negligence that led to deaths on a U.S. base in Afghanistan. If the Court sides with the contractors, it could grant sweeping immunity to firms across industries—from prisons to military services—effectively limiting public accountability for misconduct, entrenching the influence of private contractors in government operations, and blurring the line between public oversight and corporate profit. Here is the full report from Katya Schwenk at Jacobin/The Lever.
Trump’s attempts to redistrict congressional maps are running into limits, with modest gains in Texas and Missouri potentially offset by legal challenges and Democratic countermeasures in California and Utah, leaving the net effect on the 2026 midterms uncertain. The more consequential threat comes from the Supreme Court: in Louisiana v. Callais, oral arguments suggested justices may gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters’ ability to elect candidates of choice. A ruling against Section 2 could eliminate dozens of “minority opportunity” districts across the South, putting up to 30 percent of the Congressional Black Caucus and 11 percent of the Hispanic Caucus at risk, potentially locking in Republican control of the House and eclipsing the limited impact of Trump’s direct gerrymandering efforts. David Dayen writes more about this here, at The American Prospect
The Congressional Black Caucus’s silence on Israel’s war in Gaza, despite overwhelming evidence of genocide, reflects the influence of AIPAC’s financial and political power over its members. While Black Americans overwhelmingly condemn the violence and call for a ceasefire, CBC leaders have prioritized political survival over moral leadership, repeatedly voting to continue U.S. military aid to Israel. Read the searing exposé of the uncomfortably close relationship between the two in The Nation, here.
International News
The Yemeni movement Ansarallah announced that Major General Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghumari, their Chief of the General Staff, and his 13-year-old son were killed inU.S.–Israeli airstrikes on Yemen this summer. In a statement, Ansarallah said al-Ghumari died while carrying out his duties in support of Palestine.
A roadside explosion struck a bus belonging to Syria’s Ministry of Energy near Deir Az Zor on Thursday, killing four security personnel and injuring nine others, according to state media. The victims were guarding the Teim oilfield and were returning from their shift when the device detonated; no group has claimed responsibility. It was the deadliest such attack in the oil-rich province since President Ahmed al-Sharaa took power last year, amid rising friction between government forces and U.S.-backed Kurdish troops along the Euphrates.
Indian officials denied President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to halt Russian oil imports, saying Thursday there had been “no telephonic conversation” between the two leaders. Trump told reporters a day earlier that Modi had assured him India would soon stop buying Russian oil—a statement New Delhi quickly contradicted amid ongoing U.S.-India trade and tariff disputes. India remains one of Moscow’s largest energy customers, defending its purchases as vital to national energy security, despite U.S. pressure and new import penalties.
At the United Nations on Thursday, Venezuela’s ambassador Samuel Moncada accused the United States of carrying out “massacres” in Caribbean waters, holding up a Trinidad and Tobago Guardian front page reporting that two Trinidadian citizens among six people were killed in a U.S. strike off Venezuela’s coast. Moncada said Washington is conducting “summary executions” under the guise of anti-drug operations and called for an international investigation into what he described as state-sanctioned killings.
More than 20 Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon overnight in under 30 minutes, destroying a quarry, a concrete plant, and a stone-cutting factory used to rebuild war-damaged towns, with explosions heard as far as Saida. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported at least one killed and seven injured, while residents described low-flying jets lighting up the sky. Israel claimed the strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure despite a ceasefire deal with Lebanon in place since November of last year.
Indonesia’s military said it recaptured Soanggama village in Central Papua on Wednesday after a six-and-a-half-hour clash with separatist insurgents, reporting 14 rebels killed and no government casualties. Soldiers seized weapons, equipment, and a separatist “morning star” flag. The West Papua Liberation Army disputed the account, claiming only three of the dead were insurgents and that nine were civilians, including eight allegedly killed when troops surrounded a home. The clash is part of a decades-long low-level insurgency in Papua, which has intensified in recent years, leaving dozens of rebels, soldiers, and civilians dead.
Mass protests have broken out in Lima, Peru, following the impeachment of President Dina Boluarte and the appointment of José Jerí as her interim successor. The unrest has escalated into violent clashes between protestors and police, with one person killed and dozens injured. In addition to demanding new elections, the largely youth-led protests have also denounced rampant corruption and crime in the country. In response, Jerí’s government declared a state of emergency in Lima and promised an investigation into the violence.
Police in Birmingham have banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending their November 6 Europa League match against Aston Villa, citing “high-risk” safety concerns linked to past violent incidents, including clashes at the 2024 Ajax–Maccabi Tel Aviv match in Amsterdam. In a post on X, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the police recommendation to ban Maccabi’s fans was “the wrong decision” and that “the role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”
More From Drop Site
DROP SITE EXCLUSIVE: Pakistani security forces violently suppressed an anti-Israel protest by the religious extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party in Muridke on October 13, killing scores of demonstrators, while arresting leader Saad Rizvi and his family. The crackdown appears linked to Pakistan’s military preparing to normalize ties with Israel—a deeply unpopular move—using the TLP as a warning to other potential dissenters. Witnesses reported live gunfire, vehicle assaults, and mass removal of bodies, with estimates of hundreds killed. Read more in Waqas Ahmed, Ryan Grim, and Murtaza Hussain’s latest for Drop Site.
Drop Site News uncovers a global financial network linking the shadowy pro-Israel organization Canary Mission to U.S. charities, Baltic shell companies, and a Long Island design firm sharing an address with a major Israeli fundraising nonprofit. Reporter Jacqueline Sweet traces how donor money moves through obscure intermediaries—including an Estonian tech company and U.S. tax-exempt foundations—to fund Canary Mission’s blacklisting operations, which have targeted pro-Palestine activists and informed U.S. deportation actions. Read the full report here.
“Return To Shujaiya”: In his latest report, Abdel Qader Sabbah documents families defying danger to return to a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City after the “ceasefire” with 78-year-old Hajar Al-Sawwaf vowing to “die here” rather than flee again. Read it here.
For The Nation, Drop Site’s Alex Colston reflects on reporting from the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civil-society maritime mission aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza, highlighting the dual role of journalists as witnesses and participants. “As any news editor could attest,” he writes, “reported reality, analytic judgment, and the social determination of ‘how things are’ blend together. When editing a report from one of Drop Site’s Palestinian journalists, Hamza Salha, I praised how he reported his family’s displacement and the struggles of his father, and Hamza responded simply, ‘Walla, this is my life.’” Read the full article here.
On Drop Site’s weekly livestream, Jeremy Scahill discusses Israel’s long-standing practice of withholding the bodies of Palestinians killed by its forces. More than 700 bodies remain in Israeli custody, including one person who died in 1980. He joined journalist Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada for a live interview examining the policy’s history and ongoing impact.
Scahill and Abunimah reviewed Hamas’s prisoner-exchange priorities, noting that Fatah Leader Marwan Barghouti topped the list despite being from a rival faction. Scahill highlighted frustration within the Palestinian resistance over not securing top political prisoners sooner, while Abunimah emphasized that negotiators protected fundamental principles under intense pressure, noting that most long-term prisoners released—157 of 250—were from Fatah. Watch or listen to the full stream here.
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Reading about Gaza’s suffering alongside political games and corporate immunity cases makes it hard to believe in “international law” anymore. Where’s the humanity?
There seems to be no stopping the suffering that Israel is inflicting on the Middle East.