Netanyahu orders full lockdown of West Bank after shooting; Bombshell report on Kushner’s $2B slush fund; Brent crude hits $114

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Friday, October 23, 2026 – Iran : President Donald Trump accuses Iran of driving up oil prices as Brent crude hits $114. Europe faces winter energy crisis, International Energy Agency chief warns. U.S. spent $11 billion in three years defending Israel, analysis finds. United Arab Emirates closes Umm Al Quwain beaches after oil spill from tanker. U.S. claims naval blockade prevented Iran from exporting $25 billion in oil over 100 days. Palestine : Three Palestinians killed, several wounded in Israeli strikes across Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders full closure of the occupied West Bank after Hebron shooting. Israeli settlers and soldiers rampage across the West Bank. Israeli settlers destroy late Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh memorial. Yemen : Ansarallah claims Saudi Arabia rejected five-day ceasefire proposal for talks. Saudi-led coalition launches strikes across Yemen as Saudi Arabia intercepts Ansarallah missiles.

Lebanon : Israeli airstrikes, artillery shelling reported in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire. U.S. : Jared Kushner received $2 billion in dark money from Gulf States, new book excerpt alleges. CBS: Hegseth bans Pentagon personnel from using nonpublic information to bet on U.S. military operations. ProPublica: Postal Service cuts cause sharp rise in ballot rejections during midterms. Judge restricts DHS investigations of supposed noncitizen voting.

Judge restricts DHS investigations of supposed noncitizen voting. WSJ: DOJ corruption probe examines Corey Lewandowski. DOJ charges 15 in health care fraud worth nearly $2 billion. Musk gives another $76 million to America PAC; his total midterm donations now $442+ million. Axios: Major U.S. banks discover third-party AI agents in customer accounts. Ohio governor’s race now “leans Democratic,” per analysis. Virginia state senator charged with conspiracy, bribery, racketeering.

International: Egypt editor faces trial in escalated press crackdown. Six killed, 28 wounded in church funeral shooting in Jordan. Sudanese army strikes Darfur, Kordofan. Mob beats immigrant to death in South Africa. WHO says Ebola outbreak is becoming “more complex”; infections in three African countries. Syria security force raids suspected ISIS cell; seven dead. Hundreds flee Ethiopia fighting for Kenya. Tunisian police fire tear gas at protesters after detainee’s death.

Major earthquake kills 16 in Tibet. Musk restores Ukraine’s Starlink access, Trump says. 10,000+ rally in student-led protest against Serbia’s ruling party on eve of election. Germany arrests Ukrainian national on suspicion of spying for Russia. Israeli forces patrol the area near the houses of two Palestinian gunmen who attacked an Israeli military checkpoint, killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring three others, earlier in the day in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron on October 23, 2026.

Photo by Hazem Bader / AFP via Getty Images. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Iran Trump accuses Iran of driving up oil prices as Brent crude hits $114: President Donald Trump accused Iran of deliberately attempting to raise global oil prices ahead of the November midterm elections. “Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the U.S. Midterm Election,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“They are even making up fake hits, mines, and everything else,” he claimed, insisting that more oil is now passing through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war began. Middle East Gulf and Gulf of Oman oil and petroleum product exports, excluding Iran, fell to around 15 million barrels per day (bpd) on a seven-day moving average, down from a pre-war baseline of 20.5 million bpd, according to Kpler data. Kpler says data from the past two weeks may be revised upward.

Brent crude hit a high of $114.72 overnight. The U.S. national average price for regular gasoline sits at $4.284 per gallon, a 5-cent drop from last week; diesel fuel now averages $6.276 per gallon, a 10-cent increase. Europe faces winter energy crisis, IEA chief warns: Europe is entering winter with historically low natural gas reserves and cannot withstand further supply disruptions caused by the U.S. war with Iran, the International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warned .

EU gas storage is just 72% full, compared with the usual 90% ahead of winter, a shortfall equivalent to the energy needs of 10 to 12 million homes. Nearly 10% of Europe’s liquefied natural gas previously passed through the Strait of Hormuz, where attacks on vessels have disrupted shipping. “Life will not be easy for Europe this year and also next year,” Birol told Al Jazeera, adding that even an immediate ceasefire would not prevent higher energy costs in the coming months.

Birol also warned of diesel shortages linked to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. “I have never ever seen the dark and long shadow of geopolitics so dominant in the energy sector,” Birol said. “Energy is not currently considered a business but a political leverage.” U.S. spent $11 billion in three years defending Israel, analysis finds: The U.S. fired an estimated 609 missile interceptors to defend Israeli territory between October 2023 and June 2026, costing approximately $11 billion in taxpayer money, according to an analysis by researcher Stephen Semler.

The estimate excludes interceptors fired to defend U.S. forces in the region. “That is not a symbiotic relationship. It is a parasitic one,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, sharing the analysis. UAE closes Umm Al Quwain beaches after oil spill from tanker: The UAE temporarily closed all beaches and coastal areas in Umm Al Quwain after an oil spill from a tanker contaminated the shoreline. The spill comes amid escalating Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and oil tankers in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

UAE authorities did not link the spill to the war. Other regional spills, including oil slicks near Iran’s Qeshm and Hengam islands and along Oman’s coastline, were caused by attacks on vessels in the region. U.S. claims naval blockade prevented Iran from exporting $25 billion in oil over 100 days: The naval blockade of Iran prevented at least $25 billion worth of Iranian crude oil exports since it resumed 100 days ago, CENTCOM claimed in a post on X. CENTCOM claimed that due to the blockade, dubbed “America’s steel wall,” no goods have entered or left Iran by sea, except for “humanitarian shipments U.S. forces have allowed.”

Palestine Three Palestinians killed, several wounded in Israeli strikes across Gaza: Two Palestinians were killed and others wounded on Friday in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Nasr neighborhood of western Gaza City, according to WAFA. In southern Gaza, an Israeli drone strike targeting a bicycle on Al-Qubba Street, west of Khan Younis, killed one Palestinian and wounded others. Netanyahu orders full closure of West Bank after Hebron shooting: Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an Israeli military checkpoint near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding three others before being killed by Israeli forces.

The gunfight lasted more than 20 minutes. Israeli forces then imposed a sweeping military lockdown on Hebron governorate, closing all entrances and exits, and preventing Palestinian movement. Troops raided homes and detained at least five Palestinians in raids, according to WAFA. Israeli forces also critically wounded a Palestinian driver after shooting him in the chest in Dura, southwest of Hebron, and closed the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim worshippers.

During a subsequent visit to Hebron on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had instructed the army and security forces to “immediately impose a closure on the city of Hebron” and prepare for a “full lockdown” of the entire West Bank starting Friday. Netanyahu added that along with Defense Minister Israel Katz they were considering an extensive operation in the West Bank “such as has not been carried out since the Six Day War,” in reference to 1967.

Netanyahu announced plans to apply the same “successful and aggressive model” used in the occupied West Bank refugee camps, where Israeli forces have displaced tens of thousands of residents and demolished large areas in what rights groups have said are crimes against humanity. Israeli settlers and soldiers rampage across the occupied West Bank: Ramallah: Settlers burned and cut down dozens of olive trees in the Al-Qibla area south of Burqa on Friday, WAFA reported.

In Sinjil, settlers attacked olive harvesters and broke branches off fruit-bearing trees. Nablus: Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters toward Palestinians in the agricultural plains of Salem and Beit Furik, igniting fires. In Burin, settlers attempted to set fire to a Palestinian home and its surroundings under Israeli military protection. Jenin: Israeli forces gave families in Khirbet Suruj one week to evacuate their homes and agricultural structures.

The community includes more than seven homes and ten livestock sheds, with families who have lived there since 1950 and hold land documents dating back to 1960. East Jerusalem: Israeli forces arrested Sheikh Khaled Abu Jumaa, the Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, after he delivered the Friday sermon and led prayers at the mosque. Israeli settlers destroy Shireen Abu Akleh memorial: Armed settlers destroyed a memorial to Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh near the entrance to the village of Ajja south of Jenin city.

The memorial was erected in 2022 to honor the Al Jazeera journalist, who was shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces while covering a military raid on Jenin refugee camp on May 11, 2022. Yemen Ansarallah claims Saudi Arabia rejected five-day ceasefire proposal for talks: Senior Ansarallah official Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti said that while Riyadh sought mediation through Oman during the initial escalation in July, Saudi Arabia did not accept a proposed five-day ceasefire for direct talks.

In an interview with The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal, Al-Bukhaiti said that Ansarallah had agreed to the proposal. Al-Bukhaiti claimed Ansarallah forces captured Mount Han overlooking Taiz, the major southwestern city under siege, while insisting that any future peace agreement end the war and blockades imposed by both sides. He also called on Saudi Arabia’s ruling family to oust Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying his continued rule threatens the kingdom itself.

“We will support any move within the ruling family … to oust bin Salman,” he said, urging action by Saudi citizens and opposition groups. Saudi-led coalition launches strikes across Yemen as Saudi Arabia intercepts Ansarallah missiles: At least 18 airstrikes were reported across Yemen’s Saada, Hodeidah, Al-Jawf, Amran, and Taiz governorates, according to Ansarallah-affiliated media. Saudi Arabia: Air defenses intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles launched by Ansarallah toward Riyadh and Khamis Mushait, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki said.

Lebanon Israeli airstrikes, artillery shelling reported in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire: Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike near Ali Al-Taher Hill, while intermittent Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Zawtar Al-Sharqiya on Friday in the Nabatieh district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. In the Marjayoun district, Israeli forces reportedly set fire to wooded areas in the town of Qantara. U.S. News Jared Kushner received $2 billion in dark money from Gulf States: U.S. special envoy and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner received $2 billion in a slush fund created by top Emirati and Saudi officials, according to an excerpt of a new book by investigative reporter Matthew Cole .

Cole reports an extraordinary sequence of events that began with Russian intelligence infiltrating Kushner’s iPhone. According to Cole, Dutch intelligence captured a Russian agent, flipped him, and gained access to Kushner’s device themselves. As they began to monitor Kushner’s phone in real time, they observed suspicious transfers of huge amounts of money. According to Cole, UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought to influence U.S. foreign policy during the first Trump term, and offered Kushner the money toward that