Netanyahu joins Board of Peace; Bondi’s burn book; House Republicans pass election overhaul

Drop Site Daily: February 12, 2026

President Donald Trump urges Iran negotiations and praises Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for conduct in Gaza. VP JD Vance says Trump wants a deal that blocks Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu, wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, signs onto Trump’s “Board of Peace.” Hamas leadership meets with an Iranian representative. U.S. draft proposes gradual disarmament of Hamas. Prominent Palestinian leader assaulted and starved in prison. Israel revokes citizenship of two Palestinians. GHF “security provider” in talks with Trump’s Board of Peace about a future role in Gaza. Attorney General Pam Bondi heads to the Hill, where she is confronted by Epstein survivors and Rep. Becca Balint. Bondi’s “Burn Book.” The House passed the Save America Act, which guts mail-in voting and aims to make casting a ballot harder: The IRS improperly shared taxpayer data with DHS in immigration crackdown. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright meets with Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez. The government lost hard drives and withholds surveillance footage in an ICE abuse lawsuit. U.S. sanctions Lebanese gold firm accused of financing Hezbollah. After El Paso airspace closure, Mexico denies evidence of cartel drone activity. Israeli forces escalate attacks across south Lebanon. China offers support to Cuba amid U.S.-driven fuel shortage. Deadly clashes erupt in Ataq, Yemen as an STC-linked crowd storms a government building. Five police officers are killed in an ambush in northwest Pakistan. Rebel attacks kill pilots and a soldier in Indonesia’s Papua region. Russia says it will observe expired nuclear treaty if the U.S. does the same. Russian drone strike kills three children and their father in Kharkiv. Russia moves to block WhatsApp. Thousands of UK passport holders served in Israeli military during Gaza genocide, records show.

From Drop Site: Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone talks with congresspeople about Epstein, Gaza, and the annexation of the West Bank.

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

Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the House Committee on the Judiciary on February 11, 2026. Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images.

The Gaza Genocide, West Bank, and Israel

• Israeli attacks in Gaza continue across the Strip: Two children were injured by Israeli fire while inside their tents in the Al-Musallah area, south of Khan Younis, according to Al-Araby TV. Israeli aircraft carried out an airstrike on eastern areas of Khan Younis city. In the central Gaza Strip, four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire. A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, with reports of ambulances attempting to reach the wounded coming under fire.

• Casualty counts: Over the past 24 hours, the bodies of four Palestinians were recovered from under the rubble, while five Palestinians were injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,049 killed, with 171,691 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 591 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,583, while 724 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

• Netanyahu, wanted for war crimes, signs onto “Board of Peace”: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially signed onto President Trump’s “Board of Peace” on Wednesday during a meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. The board, which has no Palestinians on it, is scheduled to hold its first meeting on February 19 in Washington to discuss the reconstruction of Gaza. Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi wrote on X that Netanyahu’s appointment “reinforces doubts, deepens the lack of trust, and rewards policies of extermination and repression instead of holding them accountable.”

• Hamas leadership meets with Iranian representative: The head of Hamas’ leadership council, Muhammad Darwish, led a Palestinian delegation in Doha, where it held talks with Iranian diplomat Ali Larijani on Wednesday. Darwish expressed solidarity with Iran, rejecting “any aggression targeting its territory.” Larijani briefed the group on Iran’s ongoing negotiations with the United States and reiterated Tehran’s “unwavering support” for the Palestinian cause.

• U.S. draft proposes gradual disarmament of Hamas: A United States draft proposal would require Hamas to surrender all weapons capable of striking Israel, though the proposal would “at least initially” allow the group to retain some small arms as part of a phased disarmament process that could take months or longer, according the New York Times. The plan is reportedly being prepared by Jared Kushner, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and Board of Peace High Representative Nickolay Mladenov. Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera Mubasher Wednesday the group has not received any disarmament proposals and has not officially adopted a decision to freeze its weapons reiterating that Palestinian arms are linked to ending the occupation. Several Hamas and resistance officials have previously outlined a proposal involving a long-term truce—supported by peacekeeping forces and regional guarantees—with pledges to refrain from publicly displaying or using weapons.

• Limited movement, under Israeli-backed militia monitoring, continues at Rafah: Forty-six Palestinians entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt under strict Israeli restrictions on Wednesday. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 47 Palestinians—17 patients and 30 companions—left Gaza through Rafah on Wednesday. Israel is reportedly allowing the Abu Shabab militia to monitor movement on the Gaza side of the crossing under Israeli supervision and to conduct physical searches of Palestinians entering the Strip, Kan News reports, adding that this arrangement could soon become permanent. Returnees are transported along Salah al-Din Road toward an Israeli army checkpoint and searched by the militia before reaching Israeli forces, according to Haaretz.

• Prominent Palestinian leader assaulted and starved in prison: Abdullah Barghouti, a renowned Palestinian resistance leader, was injured during an Israeli assault at Gilboa Prison, suffering a bleeding wound to his left eye after a guard struck his head against an iron door, while also enduring severe weight loss from ongoing starvation policies, according to the Prisoners’ Media Office. At least 87 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli detention since the Gaza genocide began, according to the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs.

• Israel continues to target aid workers in Gaza: OCHA reported that one UNRWA staff member was killed in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, bringing the total number of aid workers killed since October 2023 to 589, 397 of whom were employed by the United Nations.

• Israel revokes citizenship for two Palestinians: Israel stripped two Palestinians of their Israeli citizenship on Wednesday, an action which Netanyahu said would be repeated often in the future. Mahmoud Ahmed and Muhammad al-Halasa, both from occupied East Jerusalem, are set to be deported to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, after Israeli courts convicted the men of “carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis.” Their loss of citizenship and deportation marks the first use of a 2023 law, which allows the Israeli government to revoke the Israeli citizenship of Palestinians convicted of attacks. The Palestinian human rights group Adalah says that the move violates international law by rendering the men effectively stateless, adding that it “undermines the fundamental protections that citizenship is meant to provide.”

• GHF “security provider” in talks with Trump’s Board of Peace about its future role in Gaza: UG Solutions, a U.S.-based security firm that deployed last year to guard so-called aid distribution sites in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is in discussions with President Trump’s “Board of Peace” about a potential future security role in Gaza, according to Reuters. Over 2,600 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or security contractors as they attempted to access aid at or near aid distribution sites in a system overseen by the GHF. UG Solutions said it has submitted proposals to the board—proposals which it says were “received positively—though officials privy to negotiations stressed no decisions have been finalized. Read Drop Site’s November report about how UG Solutions is stepping up its recruitment efforts amid possible plans to deploy to Gaza here.

• Palestinian deported in private jet speaks out: Maher Awad, a Palestinian who had been living in the U.S. and was in the process of obtaining his green card, was arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with seven other Palestinians to Tel Aviv, from which he was taken by Israeli police to the town of Ni’lin in the occupied West Bank and released. Awad and his fellow Palestinians deportees were reportedly transported to Israel aboard a private jet owned by Israeli-American real estate developer and Donald Trump’s personal friend, Michael Dezer. He gave an account of his deportation to Middle East Eye in a video available here.

U.S. News

• Trump urges Iran negotiations in meeting with Netanyahu: President Trump held a nearly three-hour private meeting at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. In a subsequent post on his social media site, Trump said that “nothing definitive” was decided and that “negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.” He added, “Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal,” Trump said. “Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.” Trump also said he discussed what he called “tremendous progress” in Gaza and claimed there was “truly peace in the Middle East,” despite Israel’s continued assault on Gaza that has killed nearly 600 Palestinians since the so-called ceasefire went into effect in October.

• JD Vance says Trump wants a deal that blocks Iran’s nuclear program: Vice President JD Vance told a reporter that Trump instructed his “entire senior team” to pursue a deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. When asked about regime change in the country with whom the U.S. is set to open negotiations later this week, Vance said, “If the Iranian people want to overthrow the regime, that’s up to the Iranian people. What we’re focused on right now is the fact that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

• Pam Bondi headed to the Hill, where she was confronted by Epstein survivors and Rep. Becca Balint: Eleven Epstein survivors attended Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. When Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Dan Goldman asked them to raise their hands if they had been unable to secure meetings with the Department of Justice, all 11 did so. Bondi declined to apologize for her office’s behavior and instead accused the members of Congress of exploiting the victims for “theatrics” and “getting in the gutter.” Rep. Becca Balint also confronted Bondi in the hearing about whether the DOJ had questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about a 2012 visit to Jeffrey Epstein’s island. Bondi deflected the question, invoking Bill Clinton and Merrick Garland. Bondi accused Balint, who is Jewish and whose grandfather died in the Holocaust, of fueling an “antisemitic culture,” citing Balint’s vote against a resolution condemning the phrase “from the river to the sea.” This remark prompted Balint to leave the chamber in anger.

• Bondi’s “Burn Book”: A photo taken by freelance photojournalist Kent Nishimura appears to show Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Justice staff tracking which documents each member of Congress who accessed the unredacted Epstein Files has viewed. The materials, which were arranged in binders passed between Bondi and her team, have been described by some critics as a “burn book.”

• IRS improperly shared taxpayer data with DHS in immigration crackdown: The Internal Revenue Service acknowledged it improperly disclosed the confidential tax information of thousands of people to the Department of Homeland Security as part of a data-sharing agreement that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants, according to Associated Press. A Wednesday statement from a top IRS official reports the tax agency has verified roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million names DHS requested. Experts say that the disclosures likely violate federal privacy law and undermine long-standing protections for taxpayer information.

• U.S. Energy Secretary meets with Venezuela’s acting president: On Wednesday, Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez welcomed United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas to discuss a U.S.-led overhaul of the Venezuelan oil sector, locking in U.S. dominance of the country. A “bilateral energy agenda” was reportedly reviewed at the meeting and received positively by both parties. Wright’s three-day trip—the most significant engagement in Venezuela by the U.S. energy sector in decades—includes talks with major oil firms like Chevron and Repsol, as well as planned visits to key production sites in the Orinoco Belt. Rodríguez spoke of a long-term energy agenda between the two countries that would serve as the “motor” for the bilateral relationship. Wright said in an address that the U.S. will continue to ease sanctions on the country to attract foreign engagement, but that Washington will not commit to “on-the-ground” security for those providers who choose to operate in the country.

• Democratic senators press Rubio to stop deportations of Iranian asylum seekers: Ten Democratic senators, including Tim Kaine and Peter Welch, urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to halt deportations of Iranian asylum seekers, warning they face persecution if deported to Iran and arguing that this policy violates United States and international law. The lawmakers said the administration has deported at least 109 Iranians since late 2025, including 45 via Qatar in September or October, 50 through Kuwait on December 7, and 14 more on January 25, with another flight of deportees halted amid a measles outbreak and bipartisan pushback.

• Homeland Security civil rights watchdog gutted as ICE expands its power: The budget for the DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties—a watchdog agency created at the same time that ICE was, ostensibly as a safeguard against violations of civil liberties—has been slashed by more than 75 percent, according to a new report from The Lever. The agency now has nine staffers (down from 150 at the beginning of March), and it is headed by a former adviser to the Heritage Foundation who also holds another full-time job at DHS. It has also issued no policy recommendations despite receiving nearly 6,000 complaints since March, according to court filings released last month. The Lever’s full report on this silent gutting is available here.

• Federal government loses hard drives and withholds surveillance footage in an ICE abuse lawsuit: In a court fight over conditions at the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, lawyers suing the United States Department of Justice say that the agency lost three hard drives provided to store surveillance footage, failed to turn over video from five key cameras—including cameras in isolation cells—and produced soundless footage of a visit by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The plaintiffs argue that the missing and delayed evidence severely prejudices their abuse case, noting the government has received nearly 72 terabytes of storage yet still claims footage is missing, destroyed, or unaccounted for despite court orders to produce it. More on the government’s convenient mishap from 404 Media, available here.

• The House passed the Save America Act, which guts mail-in voting and aims to make casting a ballot harder: Republicans are stuck in a Catch-22, however, as the bill is aimed at boosting their chances in the midterms, but can’t pass without the votes of vulnerable Republicans like Susan Collins who would then be punished in the midterms for supporting it. The bill also can’t pass the Senate without ending the filibuster. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is opposed, and Collins has expressed “concerns.” Backers of the bill want to attach it to government-spending legislation later this month to sneak it through. Yet it’s not obvious that requiring additional documentation to cast a vote will help Republicans overall, as the political realignment has found Democrats with more support among the upper class and less with working-class voters less likely to have their papers handy.

International News

• Rising accounts of death toll in Iran: The death toll in Iran during mass protests in December and January has risen to 7,002, according to the U.S.-funded Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). The group said 6,506 of those killed were protesters, including 216 children, while 214 individuals affiliated with government forces and 66 “non-protesters civilians” were killed. HRANA also put the number of arrests at over 52,000. Iran’s government issued a much lower death toll on January 21, saying 3,117 people were killed, including over 2,400 civilians and security forces.

• U.S. sanctions Lebanese gold firm accused of financing Hezbollah: The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on the Lebanese gold company Jood SARL on Tuesday, accusing it of helping Hezbollah convert gold reserves into cash, according to a statement from the United States Department of the Treasury. Secretary Scott Bessent said the move aims to cut Hezbollah off from the global financial system. The sanctions freeze the firm’s assets in the United States and make it illegal for U.S. individuals and companies to do business with them.

• Drone strikes in Sudan:

  • RSF drone strikes hit schools and civilian areas: RSF drone attacks struck three sites in North and South Kordofan, one of which was a Quranic school in Al-Rahad, and killed at least one student in the attacks. Drones also hit civilian areas in Tandalti and heavily damaged a secondary school in Dilling. The attacks are part of efforts to sever key supply highways linking El Obeid to Kadugli. The Sudanese Armed Forces said it would retaliate with drone strikes on RSF positions near Bara and Taiba. Estimates of the number wounded by Tuesday’s drone strikes ranged from 18 to 25, and one additional person was reportedly killed.

  • WFP warehouse hit by rockets in Kadugli: On Tuesday night, what appeared to be rockets struck a WFP warehouse in Kadugli, causing substantial damage to its buildings and mobile storage units, UNOCHA reports. The Sudan Doctors Network reported more RSF drone attacks in Kadugli on Tuesday, which they say hit residential neighborhoods in the city and left 16 civilians injured.

• Mexico denies there is evidence of cartel drone activity after El Paso airspace closure: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico’s airspace was never closed during the U.S. temporary shutdown of its airspace near El Paso, and that her government has “no information” about criminal cartels using drones in the area. United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the closure was intended to neutralize an incursion by cartel drones, though sources familiar with the situation told the Associated Press the airspace was shut down so the Pentagon could test an anti-drone laser it plans to deploy against the same groups.

• Israeli forces escalate attacks across south Lebanon on Wednesday: Israeli quadcopters dropped explosives on a stone factory in Wadi Hunein between the south Lebanese towns of Odaisseh and Markaba, while Israeli troops advanced into the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab from Tallat Shawat, prompting the Lebanese Army to deploy in response after residents demanded protection during the funeral of Abdullah Nasser. Witnesses told reporters that the area of the funeral was later hit with more than ten sound grenades and two artillery shells, likely used to disincentivize participation in the procession. A family home in Bilda was also destroyed.

• China offers support to Cuba amid fuel shortage: China’s foreign ministry released a statement on Tuesday saying that Beijing is ready to assist Cuba with its jet fuel shortage that has disrupted air travel to and from the country, though officials did not specify whether that help would include fuel, according to Reuters. Spokesperson Lin Jian said China “firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security” and opposes foreign interference, adding Beijing would provide assistance “to the best of our ability.”

• Deadly clashes in Ataq, Yemen as STC-linked crowd storms government building: On Wednesday, a crowd affiliated with Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council attempted to storm a local government building in Ataq, prompting security forces in the Shabwah Governorate to open fire, killing at least five people and wounding 39, according to reporting from Al Jazeera. The violence follows the announcement of a new cabinet by the Presidential Leadership Council, as power struggles between the STC and the Yemeni government (and between their respective backers, the UAE and Saudi Arabia) continue in southern Yemen.

• Five police officers killed in an ambush in northwest Pakistan: Militants opened fire on police patrols on Wednesday in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city of Dera Ismail Khan. The patrols were returning from an operation in Pakistan’s northwest, and five officers in the group were killed before security forces killed four of the attackers in a retaliatory strike, according to Reuters. Dera Ismail Khan is about 70mi from Waziristan, a longtime stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, which ended its ceasefire with the Pakistani government in late 2022. The breakdown of that agreement has led to a resurgence of Islamist violence in the region.

• Rebel attacks in Papua region kill pilots and a soldier in Indonesia: Separatist gunmen killed a pilot and co-pilot of a small Smart Air plane as it landed at Korowai airport in Indonesia’s Papua region, according to Reuters, and a separate ambush on a convoy linked to the mining company Freeport Indonesia killed one soldier and wounded two others. The Free Papua Movement claimed responsibility for both attacks; the FPM is part of a long-running insurgency in the resource-rich region of West Papua that has intensified in recent years. Drop Site spoke to a local leader shortly before he was killed in November. Watch it here.

• Russia says it will observe expired nuclear treaty limits if U.S. does the same: On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told parliament that Moscow will continue adhering to the warhead limits of the now-expired New START as long as the United States also abides by the old terms. Trump has so far refused to extend the treaty, saying he prefers a new agreement. Washington has also attempted to include China in a new nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which Beijing has resisted.

• Russian drone strike kills three children and father in Kharkiv: A Russian drone struck a home in the Kharkiv city of Bohodukhiv on Tuesday night, killing toddler twins Ivan and Vladyslav, their one-year-old sister Myroslava, and their father, Reuters reports. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack undermines diplomatic efforts to end the war. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 129 drones on Tuesday night, most of which it intercepted.

• Russia moves to block WhatsApp: Russian authorities have ordered a nationwide block on WhatsApp, saying Meta failed to comply with Russian law, as the Kremlin tightens control over messaging platforms as part of a push for “digital sovereignty.” WhatsApp says the move aims to push its 100M+ Russian users onto a state-backed “national messenger,” while officials say Meta could resume operations if it complies with new government regulations and enters dialogue.

• Thousands of UK passport holders served in Israeli military during Gaza genocide, records show: More than 2,000 United Kingdom passport holders were serving in the Israel Defense Forces during the war on the Gaza Strip, according to data obtained by Declassified UK through a freedom of information request, including 1,686 British-Israelis and 383 triple nationals as of March 2025 — far above the previously known 54 British “lone soldiers.” Declassified UK’s report found more than 50,000 Israeli soldiers held at least one other nationality, with the largest groups from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany. The full report is available here.

• India–France sign major arms deal: India has placed a $39B order for 114 French Rafale fighter jets—one of its largest-ever defense procurements—as part of a sweeping air force modernization drive aimed at boosting readiness against regional threats, upgrading its air combat fleet, and deepening strategic defense ties with France and other Western arms suppliers.

Drop Site on the Hill

Send any congressional tips to Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone via email at julian@dropsitenews.com or via Signal at julianandreone.2003

• Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone spoke to lawmakers Wednesday:

  • Sen. Bernie Sanders on West Bank annexation: “The intention of a good part of the Israeli government is to… annex the West Bank and to do away with any hope for a two-state solution,” Sen. Sanders told Andreone. Sanders also discussed the case of the recently released Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia, and warned about the “authoritarian” precedent her case sets. Video here.

  • Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) on whether House Democrats could take steps to enforce the Gaza peace plan and halt Israel’s daily killings: “I have called for a ceasefire,” she said, telling Drop Site to speak to Republicans and driving away. Brown has received millions of dollars in career support from pro-Israel groups; Democratic Majority for Israel spent over $2 million boosting her 2021 campaign against Nina Turner alone. Brown’s full response (or lack thereof) is here.

More from Drop Site

• Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain spoke to Owen Jones about Epstein’s ties to Israel and foreign intelligence. The full show is linked here.

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