Mexico kills cartel boss, triggering wave of violence; Toddler in Gaza dies waiting for medical evacuation; Huckabee’s explosive interview

Drop Site Daily: February 23, 2026

Israeli attacks on Gaza intensify, killing at least three. Gaza toddler dies after being blocked from medical evacuation. Teen killed in Israeli raid near Nablus as settler violence spreads across nearby towns. Trump continues to weigh Iran strikes. Pezeshkian says Tehran is committed to peace. Araghchi announces further talks with U.S. envoy in Geneva. Trump raises global tariff rate to 15%. Trump says U.S. will send hospital ship to Greenland. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tells Tucker Carlson that Israel has a right to the entire Middle East: “It would be fine if they took it all.” Gaza policy hurt Kamala Harris with young and progressive voters, Democratic election review finds. Cuban security presence in Venezuela shrinks, as U.S. escalates its interdiction of oil shipments to Cuba. Mexican forces kill cartel leader El Mencho in Jalisco raid; organized crime groups respond with violence. Israeli strikes kill 12 in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader says it has no option “but resistance.” Islamic State launches a new phase of attacks on Syrian forces. In Darfur, RSF seizes border town of Al-Tina. Russia launches massive missile and drone barrage across Ukraine, while terrorist attack cripples Lviv. Somaliland offers U.S. mineral and base access as it seeks recognition.

NEW from Drop Site: Israeli Soldiers Killed Gaza Aid Workers at Point Blank Range in 2025 Massacre: A minute-by-minute reconstruction of the massacre by Earshot and Forensic Architecture found Israeli soldiers fired over 900 bullets at the aid workers, killing 15.

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Mexico’s National Guard outside the facilities of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO) after the killing of “El Mencho” in Mexico City, Mexico on February 22, 2026. (Photo by Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Gaza Genocide, West Bank, and Israel

• Casualty counts: Over the past 24 hours, one Palestinian was killed and eight were injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,073 killed, with 171,749 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 615 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,651, while 726 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

• Israeli attacks kill one Palestinian and wound three across Gaza: The Israeli army announced that it had killed a Palestinian Monday morning in Gaza, claiming he had crossed the “yellow line.” Three Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire east of Gaza City, according to WAFA. Israeli naval boats also destroyed a fishing vessel belonging to two young men after heavily targeting it with gunfire off the coast, southwest of Gaza City.

• Three Palestinians killed over the weekend: Israeli forces killed two Palestinians and wounded four others in Gaza on Saturday. Osama an-Najjar, 46, was killed by an Israeli drone strike in Qizan an-Najjar, south of Khan Younis. Majed Abul-Awf was killed in the Jabalia refugee camp by a bomb dropped by a drone. A young woman was shot in the neck near the Holy Family Church, east of Gaza City, and three others were wounded by Israeli gunfire in Shuja’iya. Fire from Israeli armored vehicles was reported east of Khan Younis as well, and warplanes and gunboats struck the city from the coast. On Sunday, 27-year-old Basma Aram Banat, was fatally shot by Israeli troops in Beit Lahia.

• Israel declines to fund Board of Peace: Israel will not contribute financially to the Board of Peace, finance minister and security cabinet member Ze’ev Elkin confirmed during his remarks to state broadcaster Kan Reshet Bet on Sunday. Elkin claims that Israel has “no reason” to pay for rebuilding a territory it says was used to attack it. Israel signed the Board’s charter at its inaugural meeting last week—maintaing direct influence over decisions concerning Gaza’s future.

• Gaza toddler dies after being blocked from medical evacuation: Two-year-old Nidal Abu Rabie died in central Gaza on Sunday, after Israeli authorities prevented him from traveling abroad for urgent treatment for severe liver and spleen enlargement. Rabie was on the medical transfer list for more than 14 months and held an official referral for nine of those months. His sister, who also has a valid referral for evacuation, remains hospitalized at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Health officials say some 22,000 Palestinians remain on medical evacuation lists—including 5,000 urgent cases and 8,000 cancer patients—with at least one patient dying each day while awaiting permission to leave Gaza for treatment.

• Israeli attacks force Bedouin families to flee area north of Ramallah: Eleven Palestinian Bedouin families—55 people—began dismantling their homes in the settlement of Al-Khalail, near the village of Al-Mughayir, after escalating attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, according to Shehab News Agency, including attempts to burn down their tents and steal their livestock. The families had already been displaced from Ain Samiya in 2023. More than 60 Palestinian Bedouin communities have been displaced since October 7 across, according to the settlement-monitoring group Peace Now.

• Teen killed in Israeli raid near Nablus as settler violence spreads across nearby towns: Seventeen-year-old Mohammad Wahbi Hanani was shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces during a Saturday evening raid in Beit Furik, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. A 16-year-old was also shot and wounded during the attack, Anadolu Agency reported. The incursion followed an earlier settler attack on Beit Furik’s Officers’ Neighborhood. Separately, settlers assaulted residents in the western area of Qasra, triggering clashes and heavy gunfire that left three Palestinians injured, including a 70-year-old man.

• Over 100 Palestinians detained across West Bank since Ramadan began, rights group says: Israeli forces have detained more than 100 Palestinians across the West Bank since the start of Ramadan, including women, children, and former prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. The group said the arrests follow Israel’s announcement of intensified Ramadan detention campaigns, which are often carried out under the cover of settler attacks. The group documented severe beatings, destruction and looting of homes, confiscation of properties, hostage-taking of family members, and the use of detainees as human shields, and extrajudicial killings during the operations.

• Congressman urges investigation into killing of Palestinian-American in West Bank: Rep. Brendan Boyle is calling for an “honest and open investigation” into the killing of his constituent, 19-year-old Philadelphia native Nasrallah Abu Siyam, who was shot dead by Israeli settlers in the West Bank on February 18. Journalist Jasper Nathaniel interviewed eight witnesses to reconstruct the killing. The State Department on Saturday said it expects “a full, thorough, and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.”

Iran

• Trump weighs Iran strikes: President Donald Trump is considering a targeted military strike on Iran within days to force Iran to submit to U.S. demands, according to The New York Times, and has kept open the possibility of a broader campaign later this year aimed at toppling the country’s supreme leader. The report comes as two U.S. carrier groups have moved within striking distance of Iran, which would be poised to carry out that initial strike. Targets under review reportedly include nuclear facilities, missile sites, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters. Several people around Trump are urging him not to bomb Iran, Sen. Lindsey Graham told Axios on Saturday, though Graham clarified he is not among them. Axios reports that Trump has been presented with military scenarios that include targeting Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and his son, but that he has not made a final decision. A senior official told the outlet that the U.S. would consider an Iranian proposal that includes some “token” uranium enrichment if there is a guarantee that no bomb would be pursued.

• Pezeshkian says Tehran is monitoring the situation and is committed to peace: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian tweeted on Sunday that Tehran remains committed to regional peace and stability, and noted that recent negotiations produced “practical proposals” and “encouraging signals.” In light of the U.S.’s alarming buildup in the region, he also noted that Iran is closely monitoring U.S. actions and is fully prepared for any potential scenario.

• Araghchi announces further talks with U.S. envoy in Geneva: Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi told CBS News he expects to meet Witkoff in Geneva on Thursday. Speaking to journalist Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, Araghchi said Tehran is working on a proposal limited to nuclear issues, excluding Iran’s missile program and regional alliances, and argued that a deal better than the 2015 nuclear agreement is within reach. “When we meet probably this Thursday in Geneva again, we can work on those elements and prepare a good text and come to a fast deal.”

• IAEA chief and Iran’s foreign minister discuss nuclear talks: International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi to review recent developments, according to Mehr News Agency.

• Iran designates EU militaries as “terrorist organizations” after IRGC listing: Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Tehran has designated the military forces of all European Union member states as terrorist organizations in response to the EU labeling part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity. It based this decision on the principle of “reciprocity,” the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

• University students protest in Iran: Students across several universities in Iran have staged anti-government protests on their campuses in recent days. Iran’s state news agency said students demonstrated at five universities in Tehran and one in the city of Mashhad over the weekend. The university protests took place following 40-day memorials for people killed in January during large anti-government mobilizations. According to the U.S. government-funded Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), over 7,000 people were killed and over 53,000 arrested. The Iranian government put the death toll at over 3,000.

United States

• Trump raises global tariff rate to 15%: Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision to throw out a number of his tariffs on Friday, President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he would immediately raise the existing 10% worldwide tariff to 15%, describing it as the maximum level he believes is legally permitted. Trump said his administration will soon introduce additional tariffs, and pledged to press ahead with his broader trade agenda.

• House split over Iran war powers vote: As Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mike Lawler say they oppose the War Powers Resolution put forward by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie — which would require congressional authorization before any U.S. military action against Iran and force lawmakers to go on the record next week — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly declared: “No war with Iran.” Sources on Capitol Hill told Drop Site News that many Democrats still view potential war with Iran as both sound policy and politically advantageous. Khanna has challenged Gottheimer and Lawler to debate the issue publicly as the vote approaches.

• Trump says U.S. will send hospital ship to Greenland: President Donald Trump also announced on Saturday that the United States would be sending a naval hospital ship to Greenland, claiming residents are not receiving adequate medical care. Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, publicly rejected the overture, noting the territory already has a free public health system.

• Mike Huckabee says Israel has right to Middle East: In an interview with Tucker Carlson released over the weekend, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made the shocking claim that Israel has the Biblical right to take over all of the Middle East, saying, “It would be fine if they took it all.” This comment alone inspired the foreign ministries of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, as well as the General Secretariats of the GCC, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to issue a joint statement expressing their concern and condemning the comments.

• Trump administration lets lifesaving aid lapse across seven African countries: The Trump administration is allowing U.S. humanitarian programs to expire in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe, arguing there is “no strong nexus” to United States national interests, according to an internal State Department email obtained by The Atlantic. The cuts come a year after the dismantling of USAID and follow earlier cancellations of aid to Afghanistan and Yemen.

• Gaza policy hurt Kamala Harris with young and progressive voters: Senior officials at the Democratic National Committee told the pro-Palestinian IMEU Policy Project in a closed-door meeting that internal data from a 2024 election autopsy showed vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost meaningful support over the Biden administration’s handling of Gaza, calling it a “net-negative,” especially among younger and progressive voters, according to a report in Axios. Harris has since said the administration should have more forcefully criticized some actions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The DNC has refused to release the report, and has denied that it is hiding Israel-related findings.

• U.S. military kills three in Pacific vessel strike: The U.S. military conducted a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific on Friday, killing three people, according to U.S. Southern Command. SOUTHCOM posted video of the strike and claimed without evidence they were engaged in narco-trafficking, saying “Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action.” The Trump administration’s targeting of vessels has killed at least 148 people in dozens of strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean since September.

Cuba

• Cuban security presence in Venezuela shrinks under U.S. pressure: Cuban security advisers and medical workers have begun leaving Venezuela as interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s government faces mounting pressure from Washington to unwind Caracas’s long-standing alliance with Havana, according to multiple sources cited by Reuters. Rodríguez has replaced elite Cuban protection units with Venezuelan bodyguards, breaking from the precedents of Nicolás Maduro and Hugo Chávez, and some Cuban advisers have been removed from their counterintelligence posts. Thousands of Cuban teachers, doctors, coaches and military advisors are still working in Venezuela as part of cooperation agreements signed in previous years that saw Cuba send professionals to Venezuela in exchange for shipments of oil, which have been suspended since December.

• U.S. escalates interdiction of oil shipments to Cuba, including from civilian vessels: The United States Coast Guard and other U.S. military forces have been intercepting and redirecting oil tankers in international waters in a campaign that has all but halted fuel shipments bound for Cuba, according to reporting from The New York Times. Civilian vessels like the Ocean Mariner have been turned back about 65 miles off the Cuban coast under Coast Guard escort. Since late 2025, at least six tankers linked to Venezuelan fuel shipments have been seized or driven from routes feeding Cuba’s energy supply, dramatically constricting inbound fuel and contributing to worsening blackouts, halted transportation, and dwindling reserves.

• Florida congressman rejects report of Rubio contacts with Raúl Castro: Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) denied that United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been communicating with the grandson of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, a claim made in Axios reporting last week. Gimenez is the only member of Congress born in Cuba.

International News

• Mexican forces kill cartel leader El Mencho in Jalisco raid, violence erupts across the state in response: Mexican army special forces killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, during a dawn operation in the town of Tapalpa, Mexican authorities said on Sunday. The operation was carried out with intelligence cooperation from the United States. Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense said its troops came under fire before killing seven alleged cartel members, and that they seized armored vehicles and rocket launchers. Over 70 people were arrested in the operation and the ensuing violence launched in retaliation by cartel gunmen via “narco-blockades” across Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and surrounding areas, prompting shelter-in-place warnings, suspended transit, canceled public events, and school closures. The Mexican government reported that 25 security forces were killed across the country in the unrest and that calm had been restored.

• Israeli strikes kill 12; Hezbollah leader says it has no option “but resistance”: Israeli airstrikes hit the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp and towns across the Bekaa Valley on Friday, killing at least 12 people. Hezbollah said six of those killed were members of the group. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health issued a statement Saturday saying that 10 people were killed and 24 injured, including three children. In response to Friday’s strikes, Mahmoud Qumati, a senior official with Hezbollah, said “we no longer have any option but resistance,” describing the attacks as a “new aggression.”

• Islamic State launches new phase of attacks on Syrian forces: Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for shootings targeting Syrian army personnel in Mayadin and Raqqa, as Syria’s Defence Ministry confirmed a soldier and a civilian were killed in attacks by unknown assailants, according to Reuters. The group said it is entering a “new phase of operations” against the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. According to a report from the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism released last week, al-Sharaa and two senior cabinet ministers have been targeted in five assassination attempts by the Islamic State, all of which have been foiled.

• RSF seizes border town of Al-Tina in Darfur: The Rapid Support Forces reportedly took control of Al-Tina from a coalition aligned with the Sudanese army on Friday, according to 24Darfur and local sources. The North Darfur town, which borders Chad, caused Chad to close several of its crossings with Sudan, including the important Adré crossing, which has halted food and fuel flows into Darfur. Chad also deployed troop reinforcements to the area and warned about the prospect of the war spilling over into its border; last year, two Chadian soldiers were killed along the frontier in incidents linked to the Sudanese conflict. More combat was reported over the weekend, as Sudanese Army air defenses reportedly thwarted an attempted RSF drone strike on El-Obeid in North Kordofan State on Saturday, and SAF drones also reportedly struck RSF positions in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State. On Sunday, the RSF launched attacks on Misteriya in North Darfur, according to Darfur24.

• Uganda hosts RSF leader after UN genocide accusations: Uganda welcomed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo for his first foreign trip in over two years, a day after a UN fact-finding mission said RSF forces carried out crimes in El-Fasher that “bear the hallmarks of genocide.” Dagalo arrived Friday as part of a regional tour aimed at shoring up diplomatic backing amid Sudan’s expanding civil and proxy war. Hemedti met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala.

• Fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border escalates: Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan along the border, claiming it killed at least 70 militants linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while Afghan authorities said civilian areas in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces were hit, including homes and a religious school, leaving at least 18 people dead, according to The Associated Press. Afghan officials rejected Islamabad’s casualty estimates and condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, as Pakistan’s government framed the operation as self-defense against cross-border attacks it blames on Afghanistan-based armed groups. In Pakistan’s northwest, a suicide bombing in Bannu on Saturday killed two Pakistani soldiers.

• Russia launches massive missile and drone barrage across Ukraine, while terrorist attack cripples Lviv: Russian forces fired roughly 50 missiles and nearly 300 drones at Ukraine overnight, striking regions including Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding dozens. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow is investing in escalating its military assault on the country rather than in diplomatic efforts. In Lviv, at least one person was killed and about two dozen wounded in a “terrorist attack,” according to CNN, in which homemade explosive devices planted in rubbish bins detonated as police responded to an emergency call. Ukrainian authorities later detained a suspect they say acted on instructions from Russia.

• Somaliland offers U.S. mineral and base access as it seeks wider recognition: Somaliland is prepared to grant the United States exclusive access to mineral resources and potential military bases, Minister of the Presidency Khadar Hussein Abdi told Agence France-Presse, as the breakaway region intensifies efforts to secure international recognition. Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland’s independence in December, in a move condemned by Somalia and the African Union. Drop Site covered Somaliland’s U.S. lobbying effort here.

More from Drop Site

• Israeli soldiers killed Gaza aid workers at point Blank Range in 2025 Massacre: Israeli soldiers fired nearly a thousand bullets during the massacre of 15 Palestinian aid workers in southern Gaza on March 23, 2025—with at least eight shots fired at point blank range—according to a joint investigation by the independent research groups Earshot and Forensic Architecture. The report, based on eyewitness testimony and audio and visual analysis, reconstructs, minute by minute, how the massacre unfolded and shows that a number of the aid workers were executed at close range, with at least one shot from as close as one meter away. Read more from Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous here.

• Questioning Congress on allowing journalists into Gaza: Israel has killed more than 270 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and foreign reporters remain barred from entering the territory. What does Congress actually know—and what are they doing about it? Drop Site’s Julian Andreone went to Capitol Hill and pressed members, not just on press freedom but on Israeli ceasefire violations and whether they plan to take action in response.

• Marco Rubio’s Cuba obsession: United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is “practically obsessed” with overthrowing the Cuban Revolution, Drop Site’s José Luis Granados Ceja explains, arguing it has long served as a political inspiration across the region. His full appearance on “World Affairs in Context” with Lena Petrova here:

• While Iran Boils, Trump’s “Peace Plan” Threatens Palestinian Existence

  📅 Wed. Feb. 25 | 5:30–6:30 PM ET

  Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill and Palestinian-American journalist and editor Rami Khouri will examine 75 years of U.S. intervention denying Iranian and Palestinian self-determination, and how Trump’s “Board of Peace” signals a dangerous new phase in U.S./Israeli policy.

  Register here.

• Murtaza Husssain to join Quincy Institute panel: Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain will join American Conservative’s Harrison Berger and broadcaster Ana Kasparian in a public conversation with the Quincy Institute’s Kelley Vlahoson titled “Epstein Files: A Roadmap of Post-Cold War Corruption and Geopolitical Chaos” on Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. ET. More information here.

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