UN Security Council faces major vote on Gaza; Trump caves on Epstein vote; Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza

Drop Site Daily: November 17, 2025

Israel kills a child in Shujaiya, and two others are killed over the weekend in Gaza. New report finds nearly 100 Palestinians have died of torture and medical neglect in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023. The UN Security Council is expected to vote today on a U.S.-drafted resolution that would establish an international stabilization force in Gaza. EU ponders training Palestinian police. Indonesia mulls sending troops to Gaza. Israeli troops shoot dead a 15-year-old in the West Bank and refuse to return his body. Trump changes his tune and calls for House Republicans to release the Epstein files. Bangladesh sentences former PM Sheikh Hasina to death. Israel bombs southern Lebanon, killing one, and fires on UN peacekeepers. Chinese military maneuvers are conducted in the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Sudanese and Russian militaries report territorial gains. Colombian airstrikes in the Amazon.

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A statue depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands on the National Mall on October 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. The statue titled “Best Friends Forever” has returned after being taken down by the National Park Service last week due to permit violations (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images).

The Genocide in Gaza

• A Palestinian child was killed by Israeli fire in the Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, according to Al-Araby TV.

• The bodies of 17 Palestinians arrived at hospitals in Gaza over a 72 hour period, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Sunday, including two killed in new Israeli attacks and 15 recovered from under the rubble. At least three Palestinians were wounded. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 69,483 killed, with 170,706 injured.

• Since October 11, the first full day of the ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 266 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 635, while 548 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health.

• Nearly 100 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. The report documents 94 cases between October 7, 2023, and August 2025. Of these, 68 were from the Gaza Strip and 26 were from the occupied West Bank or held Israeli citizenship. At least 46 Palestinians died in Israel Prison Service facilities, and 52 more died in military custody. Physical violence, including bruising, rib fractures, internal organ damage and intracranial haemorrhage has been a leading cause of death, followed by chronic medical neglect or denial and severe malnutrition. The report said the actual number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody is likely significantly higher, given the Israeli military’s practice of enforced disappearances. No one implicated in the cases has been held accountable to date. “This unprecedented toll, together with extensive findings and evidence of deaths caused by torture and medical neglect, points to a deliberate Israeli policy of killing Palestinians in custody,” the report said.

• The Palestinian Presidency issued a statement that summoned the international community, and the U.S. in particular, to pressure Israel to allow prefabricated houses, tents, and shelter supplies into Gaza, as this weekend’s winter storms have wreaked havoc on an already vulnerable Gaza population. The statement said that “dilapidated and torn” tents cannot shield displaced people from rain and cold, leaving children, women, and the elderly at grave risk of exposure-related illness and death. It called for Israel to remove its restrictions on aid, a call that echoes similar pleas from Eyad Amawi (a Gaza humanitarian official), who said on Friday: “Gaza needs housing. Gaza needs to save what can still be saved.”

• The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution today that would establish an international stabilization force in Gaza. In a statement on Sunday, Palestinian factions, including Hamas, opposed the measure and called it “an attempt to impose international guardianship over Gaza and promote a vision biased toward the occupation.” The statement also stressed the “rejection of any clause related to disarming Gaza or infringing upon the Palestinian people’s right to resistance and self-defense.” The resolution is opposed by Russia, China and several Arab countries. The resolution also calls for a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state. On disarmament of Palestinian resistance groups, Netanyahu said “Either this will happen the easy way, or it will happen the hard way.”

• U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet directly with Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, according to the New York Times. They previously met in October, a meeting at which Witkoff offered his condolences to al-Hayya, whose son was killed when the Israeli military bombed his residence in Doha. Neither side has confirmed the upcoming meeting, and the date for the meeting is not yet fixed.

• Indonesia says it has trained up to 20,000 soldiers for deployment to Gaza as part of the “international stabilization force,” Reuters reported. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin stressed that the troops are not being prepared to disarm Hamas, saying their duties would center on “health and construction.” Further discussions are expected when Jordan’s King Abdullah visits Jakarta later this week.

• The EU is considering a proposal to train 3,000 Palestinian police officers from Gaza, as reported by Reuters. A document prepared for EU foreign ministers ahead of their Nov. 20 meeting reviews options for supporting Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan, including this police training. The police training outfits would not include provisions for police funding, as Palestinian police are expected to be on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority. The paper also weighs expanding EU border monitoring in Rafah to other border crossing points.

• Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and Jordan’s King Abdullah met in Islamabad on Saturday, and discussed their joint opposition to any forced displacement in Gaza. Sharif’s office said both leaders showed “unanimity of views” and “zero tolerance for any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.” The nations agreed to further coordination among the eight Arab-Islamic states working with Washington on the Gaza ceasefire plan.

• A shadowy outfit called Al-Majd has been charging Palestinians $1,500–$2,700 to leave Gaza, directing families onto buses that crossed Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) out of Gaza before flying them out of Ramon Airport in Israel on charter flights to Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa. Passengers told Haaretz they weren’t told the destination, Haaretz reported. The group is reportedly run by Israeli-Estonian national Tomer Janar Lind and appears to be entirely unregistered, yet was referred to the Israeli army by Israel’s newly formed “Voluntary Emigration Bureau” to help coordinate departures—a setup Palestinian officials say exploited desperate families and functioned as a displacement pipeline.

• Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq has been severely constricted since the Trump administration sanctioned it in September: its bank accounts have been frozen, U.S. funders and partners have been scared off, and platforms like YouTube have taken down hundreds of its videos documenting Israeli abuses, according to the Guardian. Director Shawan Jabarin said the group’s 45 staff members are working without pay and nearly all the group’s U.S. allies have gone silent over fears of legal exposure. He described the sanctions as a political assault designed to cripple work aimed at holding Israel accountable, and as part of a broader Trump effort to target pro-Palestinian civil society. Jabarin added that Al-Haq would continue documenting Israeli violations and urged U.S. organizations to resist rather than comply.

West Bank and Israel

• Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old boy in Al-Far’a camp on Sunday and seized his body, with witnesses and medics saying troops also blocked ambulances from reaching the wounded. Israel claimed, without evidence, that the teen “posed a danger” to soldiers during its raid on the West Bank camp.

• Guy Peleg, the Israeli journalist who first reported on the gang-rape of Palestinian prisoners at Sde Teiman, is now facing an organized campaign of harassment, Middle East Eye reports. He has been followed, filmed in public, and had his personal information shared online. Some instances of this can be seen in a video here.

• Israeli troops fired a tear gas canister into a 14-year-old boy’s face as he waited for a bus last month, according to a new investigative report from Haaretz. The troops were part of a slow-moving convoy, and the shot was from close range: after opening the door of the Jeep in which he was riding, the report says, a soldier fired upon the boy, Nazih Masalma, from roughly five meters away. The victim lost his eye and had significant reconstructive work done to his jaw. He spent six days in intensive care and still struggles to sleep, speak, and tolerate noise. His neighbors videotaped the attack, but they fear releasing a video of the attack might provoke Israeli army retaliation. The full report can be read here.

U.S. News

• Trump urged House Republicans to release the Epstein files in a Truth Social post on Sunday, saying the party has “nothing to hide” and accusing Democrats of using the issue to distract from the GOP’s “successes.” He added that the Justice Department has already released tens of thousands of pages and said he’s fine with the House Oversight Committee obtaining and publishing any additional documents.

• Representative Thomas Massie told Republicans weighing their vote on the Epstein files that, while Trump can still shield them in red districts with an endorsement, “by 2030 he won’t be president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you block the release of these files.” He added that “the record of this vote will outlast Donald Trump’s presidency.”

• The United States will designate the Venezuelan “Cartel de los Soles” as a foreign terrorist organization on November 24, elevating its status to the same tier as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged that the supposed cartel is led by Nicolás Maduro and other senior Venezuelan figures. The move comes after more than two months of lethal U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed roughly 80 people, and as a U.S. Navy carrier strike group arrives in the region. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Caracas has indicated interest in talks, but analysts, including from former State Department official Brian Nichols, say Washington’s new designation appears aimed at building a legal basis for potential military action.

• ICE launched “Operation Charlotte’s Web” on Saturday beginning with arrests made by federal agents in Charlotte, North Carolina. DHS said the operation is necessary because nearly 1,400 immigration detainers— those individuals released “to North Carolina’s streets because of sanctuary policies”—had not been honored. Local officials emphasized that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police do not participate in immigration enforcement, while community groups reported sweeping federal presence across major corridors with agents detaining people at shopping centers and parking lots. Immigrant advocates distributed legal-rights cards as residents described families being separated, and officials, such as County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, warned that the operation echoed recent crackdowns in Chicago and Portland in which people without criminal records were detained.

• Avelo Airlines privately touted its growing ICE-deportation business as a financial lifeline, but internal emails, flight data, and accounts from employees depict a troubled operation marked by poor planning, pressure from ICE to ignore safety rules, and dangerous incidents—including a mid-flight loss of cabin pressure that injured six people. In July, an Avelo employee reported finding more than two dozen lithium-ion batteries in migrant luggage after an ICE officer allegedly tried to block searches—part of what flight attendant union leader Sara Nelson described as a broader pattern of ICE staff refusing required safety checks and impeding flight attendants’ duties. Flight attendants say shackled migrants, hooded detainees, and ICE guards’ noncompliance make federally mandated evacuation procedures nearly impossible, underscoring what workers and activists characterize as systemic hazards across “ICE Air.” Read the full report at The American Prospect.

• In a contentious interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pointed to emails—a clear reference to those published by Drop Site News—detailing Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and business arrangements involving the Israeli government and figures linked to Israeli intelligence. “I think the right question to ask is, was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel?” she said. Bash appeared incredulous; our recent investigation found an Israeli intelligence official who repeatedly stayed in Epstein’s apartment was contemporaneously in touch with her ex-husband, former CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash.

International News

• An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed one person on Sunday night, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The National News Agency identified the victim as Mohammed Shoueikh, a school principal in the town.

• Lebanese President Joseph Aoun instructed his foreign minister to file an urgent complaint at the Security Council regarding Israel’s illegal construction of a concrete wall in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Naharnet. The wall takes up more than 4,000 square meters of Lebanese territory. The UN called on Israel to remove the wall and withdraw to the Blue Line that divides Lebanon and Israel.

• The Israeli military fired on UNIFIL peacekeepers on Sunday morning from a position within Lebanon. Heavy machine gun rounds were fired within five meters of the peacekeepers, who were on foot and were forced to take shelter in the terrain. This is the third time the Israeli military has attacked UNIFIL forces in as many months.

• The German government announced on Monday that it is lifting its restrictions on exports of military equipment to Israel, reversing a decision in August by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Germany would not authorize any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. A spokesperson for Merz on Monday said at a news conference that, “Since Oct. 10, we have had a ceasefire in Gaza and it has fundamentally stabilized. That is the basis for this decision.” Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar welcomed the decision saying, “I call on other governments to adopt similar decisions, following Germany,” in a post on X.

• Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia on Monday for ordering a lethal crackdown on last year’s student-led uprising, a verdict the interim government called “historic” and Hasina denounced as a “rigged tribunal.” The ruling comes amid heavy security and rising political unrest ahead of February elections, with India facing calls to extradite Hasina and the UN estimating the 2023 unrest left up to 1,400 people dead.

• Sudan’s army says it has retaken two towns in North Kordofan from the Rapid Support Forces, as the RSF is reported to continue burning and burying bodies around el-Fasher to conceal mass killings. New satellite analysis from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab identified four additional body-disposal sites in and around the city, with researchers warning that some 150,000 civilians remain unaccounted for.

• Chinese Coast Guard vessels patrolled the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands on Sunday, a move Beijing called a “lawful” operation to defend its claims to the islands after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could respond militarily to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Beijing’s actions— which also included a threat from its Osaka consul general and a travel warning advising Chinese citizens to avoid Japan — triggered a formal complaint from Tokyo and added new strain to the relationship between the two countries..

• Russia captured the villages of Mala Tokmachka and Rivnopillia in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, widening Russia’s gains as exhausted Ukrainian forces struggle to hold the line and brace for a fourth winter of full-scale war. Fighting remains fiercest around Pokrovsk in the east, while Ukraine continues striking Russian infrastructure, hitting another oil refinery over the weekend.

• Iran confirmed Saturday that its Revolutionary Guards seized the Marshall Islands-registered tanker Talara in Gulf waters, Reuters reported. Iran accused the ship of carrying “unauthorized cargo.” The tanker, carrying high-sulphur gasoil from the UAE to Singapore, lost contact off Khor Fakkan on Friday, when U.S. officials reported its diversion. This is Iran’s first reported seizure since the June Israeli-U.S. strikes.

• Ecuadoran voters decisively rejected President Daniel Noboa’s plan to allow the return of U.S. military bases, blocking Washington from reestablishing its former hub at Manta and delivering a major political setback to the Trump-aligned leader. Three additional ballot measures—ending public party funding, reducing the number of lawmakers, and creating an elected body to draft a new constitution—were also rejected, undermining Noboa’s push to expand his powers amid spiraling cartel violence and controversial U.S.-backed anti-drug operations.

• South Korea finalized a deal with the United States to build nuclear-powered attack submarines, with Washington approving the program and agreeing to help find fuel. The vessels are meant to counter Pyongyang’s advancing nuclear submarine program, and South Korea insists they must be built domestically, despite Trump’s claim that they’ll be produced in Philadelphia.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening, according to statements from both of their offices. Russian officials described the meeting as an “exchange of views” concerning the state of affairs in Gaza, the status of Iran’s nuclear program, and plans for stabilization in Syria; Israel described it simply as a “follow-up to a series of prior discussions.” The conversation comes in light of a competing proposal from the Russian delegation at the UN’s Security Council, which removes Trump’s “Board of Peace” and curtails the authority of the “international stabilization force.”

• At least seven minors were killed in Colombian military airstrikes on an ex-FARC splinter group in the Amazon as part of President Gustavo Petro’s intensified campaign against armed cocaine-trafficking factions under pressure from President Donald Trump. The strikes killed a total of 19 fighters and may have killed Antonio Medina, a high-ranking rebel commander.

• Richard Falk, the former UN special rapporteur who spent years documenting Israeli abuses in the occupied territories, told Al Jazeera that he and his wife, Hilal Elver, were detained and questioned for more than four hours at a Toronto airport on Thursday. They were asked about their work on Israel, Gaza, and genocide, and a security officer told them, “We’ve detained you both because we’re concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada,” Falk said.

More From Drop Site

• “Euphrates River Becomes the Last Battle Line in Syria’s Civil War”: The Euphrates, a 700-mile river that divides Syria, has become a front between two forces contesting the future of the country, with the near bank controlled by the Syrian government led from Damascus, while U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are positioned on the far bank. Since March, there’s been an ongoing mediation process between U.S. officials, the SDF, and the Syrian government. Read more from the frontlines of this developing situation here.

• DISPATCH FROM THE FLOODS: Heavy rains flooded Gaza City on Friday, turning rubble-filled streets into rivers and drenching the tents where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering with almost no protection from the elements. Families described their tents collapsing, belongings soaking in mud, and children trapped in flooded hospitals, with civil defense crews reporting widespread inundation across camps and warning that Israel’s restrictions on aid and supplies are leaving people exposed at the very start of winter. Read Abdel Qader Sabbah’s latest here.

• “How to Monkeywrench A Genocide”: Palestine Action’s multi-year campaign of sabotage against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems—from rooftop occupations to factory break-ins—has forced multiple UK facilities to shut down, may have cost the company major government contracts, and the group has won sympathy and acquittals from juries. The UK government has responded by designating the group a terrorist organization in July, triggering mass arrests of people merely holding signs in support of PA, which has, in turn, prompted a nationwide “Lift the Ban” movement that has rapidly grown into one of the largest waves of civil disobedience in recent British history. Read Drop Site contributor Christopher Ketcham’s reporting on Palestine Action here.

• Jeremy Scahill spoke to Colombia’s Presidential Advisor to the Middle East, Victor de Correa-Lugo, about the state of his nation’s advocacy on behalf of Gaza. Correa-Lugo noted that he has taken a wait-and-see approach to the issue, while the Trump plan for Gaza has made its way through the UN, though he has undertaken some coordination with “states [Colombia] considers allies of the Palestinian people.” As regards the specifics of the plan, Correa-Lugo noted his disagreement: he said Colombia supports “salvation troops”—engineers, medical teams, as opposed to occupation forces—and that a non-negotiable for his delegation is Palestinian self-determination. “We cannot decide on behalf of the Palestinian people,” he reiterated.

  He also addressed the stand that Petro took in New York during the September General Assembly of the UN, when he walked out on Netanyahu’s speech, made pointed remarks about the U.S. military, and had his American visa revoked in response. Correa-Lugo said this was Petro saying “no to genocide and no to occupation.” He described the Petro administration’s posture as something of a watershed in his country’s history: openly supporting Palestinians comes with real political risks in Colombia, a country long labeled the “Israel of Latin America.” He said Colombia’s recent rupture in diplomatic ties with Israel, and Bogotá’s backing of the genocide case at the ICJ, reflect a deliberate shift under Colombia’s first left-leaning government in years—a shift Colombia’s leaders hope other nations will emulate. If they do, he said, “we can defeat Zionism and end the occupation in Palestine.” Watch clips from the interview here, here, and here.

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