Qatar reacts to Israel’s unprecedented Doha strike, NATO shoots down Russian drones over Poland, Mass anti-government protests in France
Drop Site Daily: September 10, 2025
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since dawn. The number of Palestinians in Gaza who have died from malnutrition and starvation tops 400. The United Nations says that more than 110,000 people were forcibly displaced in Gaza in August. Qatar’s prime minister said the Israeli strike on Doha “reflects only the barbarism of Netanyahu.” Polish and NATO forces shoot down several Russian drones that violated Polish airspace during strikes on Ukraine. The Trump administration struggles to put a lid on the Epstein scandal. Nepali police are dispatched to bring some order to the capital after yesterday’s protests. An Islamic State affiliate kills more than 50 at a funeral in the Congo’s North Kivu province. British MPs express “grave concern” over Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s scheduled visit to the UK, citing Genocide Convention. Hundreds arrested in France in widespread anti-government protests.
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The Genocide in Gaza
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, according to Al Jazeera, including 15 in an attack on tents sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City and two in an attack on a high-rise building in the city. Four others were killed in a drone attack in central Khan Younis.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports at least 41 Palestinians killed and 184 injured in the past 24 hours. Twelve Palestinians were killed and 30 injured while seeking aid. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 64,656 killed, with 163,503 injured.
Five more deaths, including one child, were recorded over the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total since the start of the war to 404, including 141 children.
The UN says displacement in Gaza has surged past 110,000 people since mid-August, with nearly 62,000 moving south in recent weeks despite immense obstacles. OCHA reports that leaving the north is “simply impossible” for many, with transport costs soaring to $1,000, roads barely usable, and southern shelters severely overcrowded. Most families have already been uprooted multiple times, left exhausted, penniless, and hungry, while tents trickle in under Israeli restrictions. Satellite monitoring also warns that some 1,500 people camping along Gaza’s shoreline face serious danger from tides and storm surges.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 31 female Palestinian journalists, most of them in strikes on their homes alongside their families, according to the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. The victims span reporters, anchors, photographers, and media coordinators. The committee says these killings amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel’s Strike in Doha
After an Israeli strike targeting the offices of Hamas in Qatar that killed several office members of the group and a Qatari corporal and injured several others, Trump expressed regret over the incident, calling Qatar “a strong ally and friend of the U.S.” He also directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize a defense cooperation agreement with the country.
Hamas said in a statement that its top leader survived the attack but that five rank-and-file members of the group were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya—Hamas’s top negotiator—as well as three bodyguards and the head of al-Hayya’s office.
An Israeli official told the Associated Press that about 10 planes participated in the air raid and dropped about 10 missiles.
Doha has formed a legal team to initiate legal proceedings against what they called a “rogue act.” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the attack, saying Qatar “will not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, or security, stressing that the blatant Israeli attack targeting Hamas political bureau leaders during negotiations in Doha amounts to state terrorism.” He said that Israel “used weapons that radar systems were unable to detect, making the assault completely treacherous and unforeseen.” He “criticized Netanyahu for previously declaring intentions to reshape the Middle East, questioning whether this was also meant as a threat to reshape the Arabian Gulf” and said the attack “not only violated international law but also ethical and humanitarian standards, particularly as Qatar was officially hosting negotiations with US involvement and Israeli awareness.”
The Washington Post reports that Qatar privately warned the U.S. that its role is no longer viable following the Doha strike, according to a readout of a phone call between President Trump and the Emir of Qatar. In his public statement, Prime Minister Al Thani “denied claims that the State of Qatar had received prior notification from the United States before the Israeli attack, stressing that the first call from an American official came ten minutes after the strike.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday following the attack, claiming Israel “acted wholly independently” and asserting the war could end if Palestinians accept Trump’s ceasefire “proposal.” He publicly endorsed the so-called “Trump plan” for Gaza, a U.S.-backed initiative that aims to depopulate the territory under the guise of “voluntary” departure and redevelop it into a high-tech luxury tourist enclave dubbed the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Netanyahu returned to court today in Tel Aviv to resume testimony in his corruption trial.
The leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, traveled to Qatar on Wednesday in a show of support. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is scheduled to visit on Thursday.
West Bank and Jerusalem
After a shooting in occupied East Jerusalem attack killed six Israelis and wounded at least a dozen others on Monday, Israeli forces responded with sweeping restrictions across Jerusalem, Ramallah, and surrounding areas, adding checkpoints that trapped hundreds of thousands of Palestinians for hours—including one enclave of 40,000 people that was completely sealed off.
Israeli forces have arrested the mayor of al-Qubeiba, a town in the Jerusalem governorate in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. Nafez Hamouda was detained during a raid on his home.
U.S. News
The newest batch of Epstein files to be released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee includes a suggestive birthday note to Epstein and a photo of a giant novelty check with “DJ Trump” on the signature line, apparently buying a woman from Epstein. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied Trump’s involvement, saying that the check did not bear his actual signature. Despite Trump’s attempts to control the narrative, several Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in pushing for the full files’ release.
President Donald Trump announced the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher and Princeton PhD student who had been kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023 by the Iran-backed militia Kata’ib Hezbollah. Trump said she endured “months of torture” before being transferred to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, following efforts by Iraqi security services and U.S. mediation. Tsurkov, known for her work on Middle Eastern politics and human rights, had traveled to Iraq on her Russian passport for field research.
International News
Polish and NATO forces shot down several Russian drones that violated Polish airspace during strikes on Ukraine, with debris falling in the Lublin region and airports temporarily closed. An estimated 19 drones crossed into Polish airspace causing widespread panic and scrambling air defenses, though it remains unclear whether Poland was deliberately targeted. Prime Minister Donald Tusk activated the NATO Article 4 mechanism intended to raise alarm when a member state is under threat, adding in public comments in response to the Russian incursion that Poland is now closer to war than any period since World War II.
Tehran and the UN’s nuclear watchdog struck a deal allowing inspectors to return to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, including sites hit by U.S. and Israeli strikes in June. The agreement, announced by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi after a three-hour meeting in Cairo with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, clears a key hurdle set by European leaders, who had warned they would move to restore sweeping UN “snapback” sanctions on Iran by the end of the month without progress. Grossi hailed the deal as an important step in the right direction, though he said the full text would not be published. In Iran, some lawmakers have demanded access to the agreement, while others have previously demanded that Iran cease cooperation with international inspectors in the wake of the June attacks by Israel and the United States.
A Russian glide bomb struck the village of Yarova in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, hitting a crowd of elderly residents waiting to collect pensions near a mobile post office. The attack killed at least 24 people, mostly pensioners, and wounded around 19 others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as “brutally savage” while calling for renewed international support to resist the Russian invasion of the country.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel, saying the war on Gaza “has shaken the conscience of the world.” Von der Leyen also said the commission “will set up a Palestine donor group next month,” to partly focus on Gaza’s reconstruction. She said she plans to freeze support to Israel given by the European Union’s executive branch: “We will put our bilateral support to Israel on hold. We will stop all payments in these areas, without affecting our work with Israeli civil society or Yad Vashem,” she said, referring to the Holocaust memorial. “Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop."
Dozens of British MPs have written a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to express their “grave concern” about Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s scheduled visit to the UK in the coming days. “The United Kingdom is a state party to the 1948 Genocide Convention and therefore bears binding responsibility not only to refrain from committing genocide itself, but also to take active steps to prevent and punish genocide and incitement to it wherever it occurs,” they wrote. “This obligation includes ensuring that individuals credibly implicated in the commission or incitement of such crimes are not afforded political legitimacy or hospitality by our government.”
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across France on Wednesday in anti-government protests against President Emmanuel Macron and planned budget cuts. Protesters blocked roads and clashed with police in demonstrations dubbed “Bloquons Tout”—“Block Everything." The protests came on the same day that Sébastien Lecornu, whom Macron tapped as France’s fifth prime minister in two years, took office. French authorities deployed 80,000 police nationwide in preparation for the protests and have arrested nearly 300 demonstrators.
Annalena Baerbock, now in her first week as President of the United Nations General Assembly, was asked whether she would distance herself from her October 7, 2024, remarks endorsing strikes on civilian sites in Gaza. She did not explicitly retract her statement, instead emphasizing Israel’s security concerns while reiterating her support for international humanitarian law, leaving critics concerned that her earlier framing continues to blur the legal protections for civilians in conflict.
Nepali soldiers patrolled the streets of Kathmandu on Wednesday following violent protests that forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign and set parliament and other government buildings ablaze—the worst unrest in Nepal in two decades. The demonstrations, sparked by a government ban on social media and anger over corruption, left at least 19 people dead and spread nationwide, with protesters targeting politicians’ residences and public infrastructure. The military, led by General Ashok Raj Sigdel, urged restraint and called for dialogue, while international actors including the UN and India emphasized the need for stability. Analysts suggest a transitional government involving credible leaders, particularly trusted by the youth, will be necessary to navigate the country’s political crisis.
Rebels linked to the Islamic State, specifically the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), killed over 50 people at a funeral in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in a nighttime machete attack, officials said. Many victims were caught off guard, with some reportedly burned in their homes. The Islamic State’s Central African Province has confirmed the assault, claiming over 100 deaths. The attack follows a pattern of escalating violence by the ADF, which originated in Uganda in the 1990s and now operates across DR Congo.
On Brazil’s Independence Day, right-wing demonstrators in São Paulo unfurled a massive American flag—reportedly the size of a basketball court—to show support for former President Jair Bolsonaro and gratitude to Donald Trump for his attempts to intervene in Bolsonaro’s criminal trial. Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, embraced the flag as a symbol of thanks to Trump, while right-wing pastor Silas Malafaia claimed that leftist activists may have planted it. Left-wing lawmakers have asked federal police to investigate whether the flag came from an NFL event, citing potential violations of Brazilian law against foreign involvement in domestic politics. Brazil’s Supreme Court is moving closer to convicting former President Bolsonaro over the failed coup after Brazil’s 2022 election, with the first two justices voting guilty on charges that he led a criminal organization attempting to overthrow democracy; three more votes are expected in the coming days, with a verdict anticipated by Thursday.
More from Drop Site
Global Sumud Flotilla update: The Global Sumud Flotilla reported that a second vessel, Alma, was struck by a suspected drone attack, though the nine people onboard were unharmed and damage was minimal. The incident came just a day after a similar strike on the flotilla’s principal “Family Boat.” News of the second attack drew large crowds to Sidi Bou Said port near Tunis, where hundreds rallied in solidarity with Gaza and in support of the flotilla. Drop Site’s Alex Colston shared footage of the demonstrations.
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This dispatch reads like a global indictment of impunity. From the chilling escalation in Gaza to the reckless drone incursions over Poland, and the mass arrests in France, we’re witnessing a breakdown of international norms in real time. The killing of 31 female Palestinian journalists—many in their homes—is not just a tragedy, it’s a targeted erasure of truth-tellers. These are not collateral casualties; they are deliberate silencing acts that demand accountability under international law.
Qatar’s condemnation of the Israeli strike on Doha as “barbarism” isn’t hyperbole—it’s a reflection of how far the boundaries of sovereignty and diplomacy have been breached. Meanwhile, NATO’s interception of Russian drones over Poland signals a dangerous new threshold in the Ukraine conflict, one that could easily spiral.
This isn’t just a moment for outrage—it’s a call to amplify the voices being buried, to demand transparency from our governments, and to stand in solidarity with those risking everything to report from the frontlines. Journalism is not a crime. Starvation is not strategy. And silence is not neutrality.
Qatar PM said that Israel “used weapons that radar systems were unable to detect, making the assault completely treacherous and unforeseen.” This is obvious bullshit. Israel used 10 US-made fighter jets to drop the bombs. No radar systems were able to detect them?
That makes me question the veracity of this statement as well:
In his public statement, Prime Minister Al Thani “denied claims that the State of Qatar had received prior notification from the United States before the Israeli attack, stressing that the first call from an American official came ten minutes after the strike.”