It has been over seven months since Hamas and Israel came to a ceasefire agreement that promised to end the genocide in Gaza. But since then, senior leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say, Israel and the U.S. have tried to implement terms that Hamas never agreed to—specifically, disarming the resistance while Israeli forces continue to occupy most of Gaza and violate the ceasefire on a daily basis.
President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has unilaterally rewritten the Gaza ceasefire agreement, resistance leaders told Drop Site News, in an effort to compel Palestinians to surrender their liberation cause and institutionalize Israeli domination over the future of the Gaza Strip. Since mid-March, Hamas officials have been summoned to a series of meetings where U.S. officials, regional mediators, and the Trump-appointed “High Representative for Gaza” have pressured the group to disarm, warning a large-scale Israeli military assault may resume if they refuse to capitulate.
This campaign, they said, will fail and ultimately lead to a resumption of the armed struggle. “The [Israeli] aim is to end the Palestinian presence in the Gaza Strip, not merely occupation,” said Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas leader, in an interview with Drop Site. “They are trying to send a message to the Palestinians that there is no solution within Palestine, and that the only solution is for them to leave.”
“The Occupation’s Conditions”: Trump’s Board of Peace Demands that Hamas Surrender to Netanyahu’s Gaza Agenda
Staten Island shipyard explosion kills civilian, injures 31 firefighters, officials say
The blast happened around 4 p.m. at 3075 Richmond Terrace, between Lockman and Andros avenues on the north shore of Staten Island, according to the FDNY.
A fire marshal and a firefighter are hospitalized in critical condition, and five other firefighters have moderate injuries, authorities said. The other firefighter and EMS injuries were described as minor. One civilian died, and the other was listed in serious condition.
“This was a complex, fast developing emergency situation,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference late Friday.
Mahmoud Khalil to appeal to Supreme Court, after appeals court declined to review his case
Federal judges on Friday declined to review an appeal filed by Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last March at the start of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists. Khalil’s lawyers said they will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declined to review a January decision by a lower court that opened the door to Khalil’s deportation. The decision did not pertain to the main issues in the case, but rather what the appropriate venue was for Khalil’s case.
Khalil’s attorneys had argued that the case challenging alleged constitutional violations should be heard in federal district court, whereas the U.S. attorneys with the Department of Justice said such issues were best suited to immigration court, whose judges are hired by the U.S. Attorney General.
The ruling split the Third Circuit, with six judges voting to approve Khalil’s request and five judges voting to deny it. The dissenting judges contended that the court’s decision could threaten the constitutional rights of Khalil and other noncitizens.
'I feel like I lost my life': Gaza amputees fight for mobility amid shortages
Rozan Kheira woke to the sound of explosions, screaming and panic. At 10pm, an Israeli air strike hit her family's home in Gaza City as they slept.
Her first instinct was to get out of bed. But when she tried to stand, she collapsed. She tried again and fell once more.
Only then did she look down and see blood pooling around her leg. Her foot had been severed, attached only by a small shred of skin.
"I had just woken up and couldn't comprehend what was happening," Kheira told Middle East Eye. "At that moment, I forgot we were even at war."
The 24-year-old Palestinian lay frozen in shock until her brother carried her downstairs.
That night, 19 November 2023, changed her life forever.
As Israel destroyed hospitals, killed medical staff and blocked fuel and medicine from entering Gaza, treatable injuries became life-altering disabilities - and in some cases, fatal.
Kheira was rushed to the Indonesian Hospital after the strike. "After hours of bleeding, I underwent surgery, and my foot was completely amputated," she recalled.
Iran destroyed 20 percent of US's MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet: Report
Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US’s pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.
The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.
Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.
The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy sounds warning after Russia strikes Kyiv with Oreshnik missile
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was hit by a massive strike of missiles and drones early on Sunday, shortly after its air force warned Russia might launch a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile. Explosions reverberated through the city shortly after 1am after the air force announced a threat of an Oreshnik launch on its Telegram channel.
At least three people were injured and several residential buildings damaged across the city, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. “The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said. “There are currently reports of at least four locations affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts. Fires and damage to residential buildings are preliminarily reported.” Debris was on fire on the premises of a school in the city centre, Klitschko said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the use of such weapons as the Oreshnik missile “sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors”. He added in a social media post: “If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes.
We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war.”
US temporarily bans green-card holders from entering country from African nations
US authorities have temporarily banned green-card holders from entering the country if they have traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.
The order issued on Friday is part of an expanding attempt to prevent Ebola from entering US borders. A previously announced travel restriction blocked only people without US passports who had visited those countries from entering but exempted US citizens and lawful permanent residents.
“HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] and CDC [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have determined that permitting the director of CDC or other secretarial delegate the discretion to prohibit entry of certain lawful permanent residents is reasonably required in the interest of public health,” the order reads.
The order added that green-card holders may maintain stronger ties to families and communities outside the US than US citizens and nationals, “such that prohibiting their entry is comparatively less burdensome”.
US citizens returning from the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan now have a second point of entry to the US, the CDC said, in addition to Washington’s Dulles airport. The agency said on Saturday it is expanding its enhanced Ebola screening to include the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport.
Three dead and 18 first responders sickened by apparent fentanyl exposure in New Mexico
Three people died and 18 first responders were sickened by exposure to fentanyl in a rural New Mexico home this week, New Mexico state police said.
Police initially found four people unconscious at the home in Mountainair, 90 miles (145km) east of Albuquerque. Two were declared dead at the scene and a third died at a hospital.
During the response, authorities said, first responders were exposed to the substance and began experiencing symptoms including nausea and dizziness. Eighteen were hospitalized and then decontaminated.
Preliminary findings suggest multiple powdered opioids contributed to the deaths of three residents, including fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl (also known as P4 fentanyl), and methamphetamine.
Officials identified the deceased as 51-year-old Mika Rascon and 49-year-old Georgia Rascon. The identity of the third person has not been released by the medical examiner.
GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, Roger Wicker blast reports of 60-day ceasefire deal with Iran
Key Senate Republicans are raising concerns about a reported peace deal being negotiated with Iran, arguing it would be a disaster for the United States that would make meaningless the war launched by President Trump nearly three months ago.
“The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a post on social platform X.
He said the effects of the joint military operation between the U.S. and Israel titled “Operation Epic Fury” would “be for naught” if the deal as he understood it went forward.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of President Trump who for years has pushed for U.S. military action against the Iranian regime, said a premature deal could fundamentally shift the balance of power in the Middle East in Iran’s favor.
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