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Today marks two years of genocide in Gaza. Two years of the most violent episode in the modern history of Palestine.Israel has killed over 67,000 Palestinians, including over 20,000 children. That number is a bare minimum. Thousands more are missing under the rubble. There have been countless massacres. Flour massacres, aid massacres, Red Crescent massacres. School massacres. The massacres of over a thousand families and bloodlines that have been wiped out forever.We do not even know the number of deaths not caused by bombs or bullets or shells or drones—the number of preventable deaths caused by Israel’s assault. We do know that at least 460 Palestinians, including 154 children have starved to death and more are dying every day from Israel’s campaign of forced starvation and famine.Entire cities have been reduced to dust and broken concrete. Homes, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, bakeries—everything that knits a community and society together has been destroyed. Even color seems to have been obliterated. Everything now covered now in gray dust.92% of residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Over 500 schools and every university has been damaged or destroyed. Only 1.5% of cropland is still accessible and suitable for cultivation.Nearly every Palestinian in Gaza —95% of the population—has been displaced, most of them multiple times. Hundreds of thousands now live in tent cities where they are still bombed and shelled and shot.Health care has been devastated. Out of 38 hospitals in Gaza, 25 are completely shut down while the rest are barely functioning. The number of doctors and medical personal killed is over 1,700. Over 360 have been detained.Journalists have been slaughtered. Israel has killed between 250 and 270 journalists and media workers over the past two years. An unprecedented number. There is so much that is unprecedented.Israel’s massive colonial violence is by no means confined just to Gaza. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a huge escalation in daily attacks and dispossession in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and soldiers. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been driven from their homes in the largest wave of displacement in the West Bank since 1967. The number of Palestinians arrested in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past two years has topped 20,000, including over 1,600 children. At least 77 political prisoners have died in custody.And it is not just Palestine. Israel has bombed Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Qatar.All of this has been backed and supported and armed by the United States more than any other country. A new report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the U.S. has provided Israel with at least 21 billion dollars in military aid over the past two years alone. It concludes with the obvious: Israel would not have been able to sustain its wars across the Middle East without massive US backing.On today’s Drop Site livestream, Palestinian human rights lawyer and legal scholar Noura Erakat joins Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous to discuss all of this and more. Erakat addressed the UN Security Council on Monday—only the second Palestinian woman to brief the Security Council since October 7, 2023 and the first to present the legal case that Israel’s war on Gaza is genocide.Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to Drop Site at https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Hamas issued a response to President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire proposal on Friday “in the interest of stopping the aggression and genocide” in the Gaza Strip. The movement said it “values the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, aimed at halting the war on Gaza, securing a prisoner exchange, allowing immediate entry of aid, rejecting the occupation of Gaza, and rejecting the displacement of our Palestinian people from it.” It continued:"Within this framework, and in order to achieve an end to the war and the full withdrawal from Gaza, the Movement declares its approval for the release of all Israeli captives—living and remains—according to the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions in place to carry out the exchange. In this context, the Movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter, through mediators, negotiations to discuss the details."The Movement also renews its approval to hand over administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and backed by Arab and Islamic support."As for other issues in President Trump’s proposal relating to the future of Gaza and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, these are tied to a collective national stance and rooted in relevant international laws and resolutions. They will be discussed within a unified Palestinian national framework in which Hamas will participate and contribute with full responsibility."Trump reposted the statement on Truth Social and responded postively in a separate post: “Based on the statement just issued by Hamas , I believe they are ready for for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”In a breaking Drop Site livestream, Prominent Palestinian academic and activist, Dr. Sami al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, joins Drop Site journalists Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous to analyze the latest developments.Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to Drop Site at https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim break down what Trump’s 20-point plan, released on Monday, would really mean for Gaza. “The priority is going to be investment… making that money and the kickbacks,” Scahill warns, comparing it to Iraq after 2003, with Tony Blair is set to oversee redevelopment. “Colonial powers always used the local population to test out whatever new technologies, new theories, new medicines,” he says.Palestinian factions, consequently, largely see Trump’s “peace plan” as a farce. Crafted by Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides with no Palestinian input, it ties food and medicine to Hamas’ surrender and hands Gaza to a foreign “viceroy.” Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to Drop Site at https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

A number of western states, including the UK, Canada, Portugal, France, Belgium, and Australia recently recognized Palestinian statehood as the United Nations General Assembly is underway in New York City.At the same time, talks between Iran and the E3 counties—Germany, France and Britain—to avert the looming “snapback” of UN sanctions are breaking down. The developments increase the odds of another war between Iran and Israel backed by the US and Europe.Meanwhile, Russian drone incursions into NATO territory could spark direct conflict with Moscow.Drop Site News’ Murtaza Hussain speaks with Dr. H.A. Hellyer, a British scholar of Middle East politics and security and a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Center for American Progress, about the shifting global order.Hellyer highlights that while Palestine has long been recognized by over 140 UN member states of the Global South, the recent recognition by western states serve to isolate Washington. Symbolically, he says, it affirms Palestinians’ right to self-determination, but recognition without enforcement risks repeating the Oslo “trap”: lofty rhetoric masking impunity as Israel expands settlements and intensifies its genocidal campaign in Gaza. Without pressure or consequences, recognition could amount to little more than “recognizing a graveyard.” Hellyer argues that the collapse of the U.S.-led order risks ushering in a fragmented era where the most vulnerable populations pay the highest price.Subscribe to Drop Site’s free and independent journalism at https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

The Trump 2.0 administration is has been escalating pressure on Venezuela, as part of a broader increase of tension in Latin America.In recent weeks, the US has begun sending military forces to the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. And in three separate instances, the U.S. military has bombed small boats leaving Venezuela, which they have claimed—without evidence—contained drug traffickers and members of the gang Tren de Aragua.For years, the U.S. government has been at odds with the Venezuelan government and has supported efforts to depose President Nicolás Maduro. One of the last acts of the Biden administration was to raise its bounty for Maduro to $25 million. Now, the Trump administration is increasing the pressure once again, escalating accusations that Maduro and his top allies are leaders of criminal organizations. Earlier this year, the Trump administration raised the bounty for Maduro to $50 million.Tactics from the war on terror are being deployed in Latin America. The Trump administration has declared Tren de Aragua to be a terrorist organization. In addition to opening the door to military strikes, like the attacks on boats near Venezuela, the designation allowed the administration to use the Alien Enemies Act to expel hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious Salvadoran prison.This week, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Adam Isacson, the Director for Defense Oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, to discuss developments in Venezuela, Colombia, and the region at large.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss Israel's Gaza City offensive and its unprecedented strike on Hamas in Doha, Qatar. "Gaza is burning," Israel’s defense minister said, as the military launched the main part of its ground operation to seize and take control of Gaza City. At least 68 people were killed by heavy Israeli bombardment across Gaza since dawn, including 20 in the bombing of the Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City alone, according to Al Jazeera.Drop Site’s reporters also discuss Israel’s strike on Sana’a on September 10 that killed 32 Yemeni journalists – which Sharif noted is “likely the deadliest attack on journalists in modern history.” Hundreds gathered at the Shaab Mosque for a mass funeral, coffins carried by honor guards as grieving families condemned the attack. Subscribe to Drop Site’s free and independent journalism at https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

The Chinese government held a major military parade in Beijing on September 3, commemorating the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The parade followed an international strategic and economic conference in China bringing together leaders from across Eurasia, including Russia, India, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and North Korea.The event highlighted China’s growing influence as a military power, as well as a defense exporter. Although China has been seen as a producer of low-end manufactured goods, its role in the global economy has radically shifted. In addition to making high-quality electric cars and consumer goods, Chinese factories are producing drones, ballistic missiles, tanks, and aircraft that are as good, or better, than those built by Western defense companies. And the scale is staggering.The Trump administration considers the Chinese Communist Party its primary adversary. And there have been concerns that the two countries may soon clash, including over control of the island of Taiwan.This week, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Steve Hsu, a theoretical physicist, technologist, and analyst of Chinese military developments. Hsu is also the host of the podcast “Manifold.”Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to get Drop Site's journalism in your inbox: https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

After nearly two years of brutal attacks by the Israeli government, portions of the Gaza Strip are now subject to a full-blown famine. That assessment comes from an international monitor known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which issued a report last month officially declaring famine in the Gaza Governorate for the first time. The assessment comes after months of warnings from the World Food Program, World Health Organization, and other global NGOs stating that Israeli restrictions on food and other basic supplies to the territory were at risk of generating widespread deaths from hunger.The Israeli military has vowed to press on with its offensive in Gaza despite global backlash, stating that it plans to force the surviving population of the territory into camps after conquering Gaza City. In the meantime, the humanitarian situation is continuing to deteriorate.In response to the famine, some countries have begun airdrops of aid to the territory, with little success.This week, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Chris Houston. Houston is an expert on humanitarian aid efforts who has worked in crisis zones in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Yemen, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. He has also served on the board of directors of Doctors Without Borders, and is the founder of the Canadian Peace Museum.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Ryan Grim is joined by philanthropist and frontline humanitarian Amed Khan to discuss the obstacles and urgency of delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza. “Governments have been an absolute disaster. They are an embarrassment… we only have us,” Khan told Drop Site. He singled out the U.S. as “an absolute disaster,” noting that while Greece and Italy have quietly done some medical evacuations, no state is “punching at their weight.” Leaders across the world, he said, “can’t look themselves in the mirror and say, I did the right thing.”Khan is executive producing “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” premiering in Venice tomorrow. The film has major Hollywood names attached—including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jonathan Glazer. Grim also spoke with Drop Site’s Alex Colston aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, now on its way from Barcelona to Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s siege. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Since the end of the 12-day war this summer, an uneasy ceasefire has held between Iran, Israel, and the United States.The war saw hundreds dead, as well as widespread destruction in both Iran and Israel. The short conflict that began with an Israeli surprise attack may have only set the stage for further conflict. The Israeli and U.S. attacks damaged, but did not destroy, the Iranian nuclear program, and despite attacks on Iran’s leadership, its government did not collapse. Meanwhile, both Iran and Israel have continued to trade threats, while President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. is likely to jump back into new rounds of fighting between the two countries.The next phase of the war between Iran, Israel, and their backers might possibly be far more bloody and violent than the first. The conflict also threatens to involve the U.S. in another major Middle Eastern war, even as politicians in the U.S. have promised to leave the region.This week, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Parsi is an award-winning author with a focus on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. You can read his latest Substack piece here and his latest piece for Foreign Policy magazine here.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

The confirmed death toll in Gaza has crossed 62,000 with at least 26 Palestinians killed over the past 24 hours, including four while seeking aid, according to the Ministry of Health. Nearly 350 Palestinians were injured over the same period, bringing the total number of wounded since the start of the war to 156,573.The Israeli military has systematically attacked the healthcare system in Gaza—bombing, raiding and destroying hospitals, killing and imprisoning medical workers and staff, and preventing much needed medical aid from entering the territory. It has also severely restricted the number of medical evacuations allowed out of Gaza, with thousands of wounded Palestinians, including thousands of children, unable to receive medical attention abroad. Meanwhile, the Trump administration recently suspended all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza after far-right influencer Laura Loomer said she “obtained video footage” of a few severely injured Palestinian children arriving in the U.S.In Congress, Rep. Ro Khanna has been leading calls for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state. The letter follows announcements from France, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom that they would move toward recognizing a Palestinian state. Khanna has been repeatedly criticized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for his efforts.On this week’s Drop Site News livestream, Ryan Grim and Sharif Abdel Kouddous speak with Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician based in Chicago who has volunteered in Gaza about medical evacuations and with Rep. Ro Khana about Washington’s foreign policy toward Palestine. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Israel massacred six journalists in Gaza City on Wednesday in an airstrike on a media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital—an attack that sent shockwaves throughout Gaza and made headlines across the globe. The Israeli military publicly proclaimed the attack was a targeted assassination of renowned Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif.Over the past 22 months, Israel has killed at least 238 journalists in Gaza, according to the Government Media Office, an unprecedented slaughter of journalists in modern history.Al-Sharif was the most recognizable Palestinian journalist still alive and reporting from Gaza and had been openly targeted by the Israeli military for months. Killed alongside him were four of his Al Jazeera colleagues—Mohammed Qraiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammed Noufal—and Mohammed Al-Khalidi of the media outlet Sahat.As the threats against al-Sharif escalated, he penned a letter in April to be published upon his death. “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,” he wrote. “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification—so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.”Western media institutions have, for the most part, remained largely silent or actively enabled the killing of their Palestinian colleagues in record numbers by parroting ludicrous claims by the Israeli military labelling journalists in Gaza as militants and terrorists.On this week’s Drop Site News livestream, Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous speak with Emmy and Peabody Award–winning Al Jazeera English journalist and documentary producer Laila al-Arian about the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and western media coverage of the genocide. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

For the past eight months, since the fall of the Assad government in December, Syria has been grappling with major internal crises and the legacy of a brutal 14-year civil war. While millions of Syrians have welcomed the collapse of the country’s previous regime, Syria today faces a new set of challenges. There is uncertainty over the future of the national economy, political rights, sovereignty, protection of minorities, and other issues vital to the country’s future.In addition to a wave of Israeli attacks on Syria that has continued to this day, Syria has been hit by outbreaks of sectarian violence that have called into question the motivations—and level of control—that the central government has over the country.Syria today is led by veterans of militant Islamist groups that fought the former regime. While the government has sought to put forward a pragmatic image to reassure both Syrians and the international community, today there remains a challenge dealing with thousands of foreign Islamist fighters who flocked to Syria to take part in the war.Now that the Assad regime has fallen, the role of those former fighters, including some from Western countries, could determine the future of Syria, as well as the region more broadly.Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Tam Hussein, an award-winning British investigative journalist and co-author of the book, To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan, a biography of the Algerian militant leader Abdullah Anas. Hussain also authors the Substack publication “The Blood Rep.”Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Reports are emerging that an expanded Israeli military ground campaign accompanied by heavy bombing and artillery shelling is underway in various parts of Gaza, including reports of Israeli tanks pushing into the center of the enclave, increased ground attacks in Khan Younis, and deepening operations in Gaza City.Israeli media reported on Wednesday that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is favors a complete military takeover of Gaza, including in areas where Israeli captives are being held. Netanyahu is set to convene his war cabinet today to discuss next steps. As it stands, 88 percent of Gaza is already in a so-called “militarized zone” or under Israeli displacement orders.Meanwhile, the genocidal assault continues. At least 87 Palestinians were killed over the last 24 hours, including 52 killed in aid massacres, bringing the confirmed death toll in Gaza to over 61,000—a number that is widely acknowledged to be a vast undercount. Nearly 650 people were injured over the past day as well, bringing the number of injured to more than 150,000—many of those injuries are life altering.Eight Palestinians died of famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number who have died as a result of hunger to 188, including 94 children—many of them in the past 2 weeks alone as Israel’s deliberate starvation campaign in Gaza has reached what food experts are calling an irreversible tipping point.On this week’s Drop Site news livestream, Sharif Abdel Kouddous speaks to the prominent Palestinian scholar and historian Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor emeritus of modern Arab studies at Columbia University and the author of many books, his latest is "The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine.”Khalidi recently published an article in the Guardian newspaper explaining why he is withdrawing from teaching a fall course at Columbia. This comes after Columbia University agreeing to pay a $200 million settlement to the Trump administration after it accused the university of failing to protect Jewish students during campus protests calling for the university to disclose and divest from any ties to Israel. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Israel’s extermination campaign in Gaza is continuing unabated. At least 74 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today, including 36 Palestinians who were killed while seeking aid. The starvation campaign continues to worsen as a result of Israel’s policies that severely restrict food, fuel, and medicine from getting into Gaza. As starving Palestinians try and access the meager amount food located at either GHF “aid distribution” sites or coming in through UN convoys, they are shot at, and killed, every single day by Israeli forces.The ministry of health recorded five additional deaths due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition since the start of the war to 180, including 93 children—dozens of these cases have occurred just in the past two weeks, as the widening famine has reached a tipping point. The current famine conditions were predicted months ago by food experts following Israel’s full spectrum siege that began on March 2—a year and a half into Israel’s genocidal assault—where aid had already been severely restricted.Gaza’s health care system has been systematically targeted by the Israeli military and is struggling to cope without medical supplies, with Palestinian doctors and medical workers suffering from hunger and malnutrition themselves. On Monday, officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said at least 38 people died after arriving at the facility over the previous 24-hour period, and many hundreds more are being treated for injuries.Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous speaks with Elidalis Burgos, a critical care nurse from the U.S. who has been volunteering at Nasser hospital for the past four weeks in the intensive care unit and emergency department. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

The leading international authority on food crises—the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)—on Tuesday said that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” warning that the situation has reached “an alarming and deadly turning point” and predicting “widespread death” without immediate action.The finding comes as Palestinians in Gaza have begun to collapse in the streets from hunger and the number of deaths related to hunger and malnutrition has grown exponentially as a result of Israel’s deliberate campaign of mass starvation.Meanwhile, Columbia University has agreed to pay a $200 million settlement to the Trump administration, which accused the university of failing to protect Jewish students during campus protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza. The settlement was announced a day after Columbia informed nearly 80 students that they had been suspended for one to three years—or expelled—for taking part in protests against the war on Gaza.On this week’s Drop Site News livestream, Ryan Grim and Meghnad Bose speak to Mahmoud Khalil, the former Palestinian student at Columbia University who was a lead negotiator for the student protests and was imprisoned by ICE for 104 days in a Louisiana detention center before being released on bail last month by a federal judge. Khalil discusses the latest in Gaza, the role of protest movements, Columbia University, and more in an interview with Drop Site in lieu of our weekly broadcast. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

The U.S. remains the most powerful single nation in the world, but it is not the most powerful in every region. While the U.S. remains mired in numerous wars in the Middle East, it is facing a rapid challenge from the People’s Republic of China. In recent history, China has become a major economic, technological, and political power—even taking the place of the U.S. as the dominant economic actor in many parts of the world.The U.S. and China in recent years have transformed from erstwhile partners into fierce rivals that many fear is rapidly transforming into a new Cold War. As their rivalry grows, some observers warn that the economic decoupling now taking place between Washington and Beijing could be a prelude to a direct military clash over Taiwan in the years to come.Understanding the history and future of China is more important than ever. The central figure in Chinese politics today is the country’s leader and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. But to understand Xi’s rise and contemporary Chinese politics, an even more interesting figure may be his father, Xi Zhongxun.The elder Xi was a leading figure in the Chinese Communist Party during the revolutionary era and a close associate of Mao Zedong. Like many Chinese officials of that generation, he suffered purges and repression, in the midst of a century of suffering that touched nearly the entire Chinese population, including his family and children.Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Joseph Torigian, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the author of the new book: “The Party's Interests Come First: The Life Of Xi Zhongxun, Father Of Xi Jinping.”Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Israel’s widening military assault on Gaza—the continued bombardment, the prolonged siege, the daily murder of starving people seeking aid, the expansion of ground operations and the carving up of Gaza with military corridors—has brought Gaza to a tipping point. Starving Palestinians have begun to collapse in the streets and die of hunger and thirst. At least thirty-three people have died from hunger and malnutrition over the past two days. Israeli troops gun down desperate people seeking meager food rations on a daily basis, with one of the deadliest aid massacres taking place on Sunday with nearly 70 people killed by the Israeli military as they approached a World Food Program aid convoy.On Monday, Israeli troops pushed into areas of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the first time since the beginning of the war. Deir al-Baah was the only city in Gaza that has not been subject to a major Israeli ground operation or suffered widespread devastation. Many Palestinians have sought refuge there and it is also the headquarters of several UN agencies and medical NGOs. Israeli forces raided the main staff residence of the World Health Organization in the city on Monday, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward the coast while male staff ere handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.On this week’s Drop Site News livestream, Sharif Abdel Kouddous speaks to Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committee in Deir al-Balah about the latest assault on the city and the spreading famine in Gaza; and with Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and a former UN official who worked as a special adviser on Israel-Palestine for the International Crisis Group about how the US and Europe are allowing Israel to pursue its genocidal campaign with impunity. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Negotiations for a Gaza “ceasefire” deal are continuing in Doha, Qatar, as President Donald Trump claims an agreement could be reached as early as this week. Palestinian negotiators, however, have told Drop Site that Israel continues to demand terms that would allow the genocide to continue after a 60-day pause during which 10 Israeli captives would be released from Gaza. Israel has also been threatening to establish a concentration camp in southern Gaza to corral an initial 600,000 Palestinians to prepare them for eventual removal from Gaza entirely. As this process continues, Israel has further intensified its military assault with daily massacres that disproportionately kill children and women. Since late May, an average of 30 Palestinians have been killed as they tried to receive meager food rations from the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation established by the U.S. and Israel. On this week’s Drop Site News livestream, Jeremy Scahill speaks to Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committees about the increasing horrors being unleashed on Palestinians, the latest developments in the ceasefire negotiations, and how ordinary people in Gaza view the prospects for a deal to end the genocide. Jeremy also offers insights from sources involved with the negotiations and gives a comprehensive update on the state of affairs. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill, and Murtaza Hussain are joined by Jon Elmer of Electronic Intifada to break down today’s major developments.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe