U.S. sanctions UK’s Palestine Action as “terrorist group”; ICE agent released from Texas jail; Russia threatens to strike UK military targets in Ukraine

Demonstrators protest outside the Royal Court's of Justice as the Court Of Appeal makes its judgement on the Home Office's challenge to the Palestine Action decision on June 15, 2026 in London, England. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images. Thursday, August 27, 2026 – Israeli drone strikes wound Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis. Israeli settlers expand outpost in occupied West Bank; five Palestinians wounded in Hebron and Jerusalem. UN: Israel has killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza in last two weeks. Haaretz: Israel cultivating network of armed militias across Gaza. Israeli court acquits settler who attacked French nun. Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov discusses Trump's Board Gaza plan before UNSC. Gaza Board of Peace “failing” development chief tells Security Council. Palestinian envoy tells UNSC that Israeli annexation has reached point of no return. Canada revokes Jerusalem deputy mayor’s visa. Tanker hit by projectile while transiting Strait of Hormuz. Iranian warship confronts vessel in Hormuz. Drones shot down over Iraqi Kurdistan. Qatari, Iranian FMs meet in Tehran, discuss mine clearing and potential Hormuz corridor. U.S. officials signal readiness to attack Iran, though “prefer diplomacy.” Iran says “hostile” Persian-language media could be “potential military targets.” IAEA’s chief says no “solid evidence” that Iran is rebuilding nuclear facilities. Araghchi calls U.S. sanctions “state and economic terrorism.” Iran cannot import enough petrol as a result of U.S. blockade. Pakistan says it is not bound by U.S. sanctions on Iran, and rejects reports that army chief visited Tehran as Trump's envoy. Ansarallah strikes Mokha port and Yemen’s western coast. Saudi-backed forces claim seizure of vessel carrying drone equipment to Ansarallah. Newlywed woman killed as Israel strikes southern Lebanon. U.S. designates three left-wing groups in Europe “terrorists”, including UK's Palestine Action. ICE agent Christian Castro released from Texas jail. Maine GOP governor nominee says he’ll seek ICE presence at polling places. Sen. Chris Van Hollen forces Senate resolution demanding accounting of Israel’s West Bank human rights record. Pentagon panel claims it found “hidden” documents on Afghanistan withdrawal. West Point professor sues, says he was fired for refusing to omit climate science. Navy sailor who jumped overboard USS Abraham Lincoln faces disciplinary charges. Russia threatens to strike UK military targets. Israeli forces fire shells near Syrian town. Sudan’s army shoots down drone that crossed into Sudan from Ethiopia. Sudan’s RSF closes markets and cuts off internet in West Kordofan amid intensifying fighting. U.S. official condemns Sudanese Army strike in Chad. Democratic Republic of the Congo Suspends 11 Universities in M23-Held Goma and Bukavu. Taiwanese parliament rejects government's $6.6 billion military drone plan. Death toll from Nepal-China border floods rises to at least 353, with 826 missing. Nigerian kidnappers collected nearly $5.8 million in ransom over past year, report finds. Forest fires kill 12 in northeastern Algeria, dozens injured. WHO: Uganda's Ebola outbreak over, but DRC's continues to rise. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Palestine Israeli drone strikes wound Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis: Israeli drones struck a home in western Gaza City on Thursday morning, injuring several people, WAFA reported. A separate drone strike also hit a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Strip, wounding several.. Israeli settlers expand outpost in occupied West Bank; five Palestinians wounded in Hebron and Jerusalem: Bethlehem: Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, continued expanding an outpost in the Ush Ghrab area on Thursday, bringing in mobile homes and installing them at the site, WAFA reported. Settlers also raised Israeli flags along the road. The area, which includes an Israeli military base, had been designated around 15 years ago for a children’s hospital serving the Bethlehem governorate, but the project was never completed after settlers established an outpost there. East Jerusalem: Israeli soldiers tear gassed and fired upon Palestinians in Beit Anan on Wednesday evening, northwest of East Jerusalem, and injured two Palestinians during the raid, one of whom was shot in the knee. Israeli authorities tightened movement restrictions on Palestinian communities northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, requiring residents of Nabi Samwil, Beit Iksa and the Khalayleh neighborhood to obtain special permits to enter and leave their communities, with some families removed from lists allowing them access to their homes, according to the Jerusalem Governorate. Hebron: Israeli soldiers shot and wounded two women and a 14-year-old girl in Al-Kamel on Wednesday night, WAFA reported, during a raid on the town. The women were returning from a wedding when soldiers fired heavily at their vehicle without warning, according to the town’s mayor and husband of one of the wounded women. He said his 58-year-old wife and the 14-year-old girl suffered serious injuries to the face, while a 30-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel. Also in the Hebron governorate, Israeli settlers chased Palestinian shepherds off their land near the village of Masafer Yatta on Wednesday, with several other incidents of theft, harassment, and military assistance of settlers reported in the area. UN: Israel has killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza in last two weeks: Israeli air strikes since August 12 have killed at least 100 Palestinians and wounded 400 others in Gaza, Ramiz Alakbarov, the acting UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, noting that conditions remained “dire despite a nearly year-old ceasefire.” Haaretz: Israel cultivating network of armed militias across Gaza: A Haaretz investigation based on Israeli soldiers’ testimony, Palestinian sources, UN information, and satellite imagery revealed the extent of Israel’s cooperation with armed Palestinian militias in Gaza. Haaretz identified five prominent groups operating in areas under Israeli control, with apparent activity at a sixth location. The militias, which have regularly clashed with Hamas fighters, operate from compounds near Israeli military outposts and are integrated into IDF operations, with call signs on army radio networks and positions marked on military maps. Soldiers said Israel has built compounds for some groups, with others saying the IDF has provided artillery and drone support. Haaretz also documented accounts of militia members looting and burning Palestinian homes and helping force residents from their communities. “You see the State of Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet sending armed, trained militias to commit war crimes, and I’m the one who has to protect them during their operations so they don’t get hurt,” an Israeli air force officer said. Israeli court acquits settler who attacked French nun: The Jerusalem Magistrate Court acquitted Wednesday Yona Schreiber, a settler from the occupied West Bank settlement of Peduel, who assaulted a French Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this year, finding him not responsible because of “mental illness.” Schreiber attacked the 48-year-old nun and researcher in April, pushing her to the ground, kicking her in the head and wounding her outside the Cenacle on Mount Zion. Mladenov discusses Trump’s Board Gaza plan before UNSC: Nickolay Mladenov, the “High Representative” for the Gaza Board of Peace, spoke before the the UN Security Council on Wednesday, telling the body that Hamas’s decision to disarm and transfer authority to a transitional administration would be an “opportunity to dramatically improve life in a sustainable way for Palestinians in Gaza”. In his testimony, he hailed Hamas’ acceptance of “complete demilitarization” of the Strip. Hamas has stressed that it has agreed for heavy weapons to be restricted and stored under the authority of a Palestinian committee governing Gaza. Mladenov claimed that “Three things must be in place for the process to move forward: the International Stabilization Force must deploy; Israel’s undertakings under the Sharm el-Sheikh protocol must be implemented; and Hamas must adhere to its commitments.” The representative said, in light of recent attacks on the Strip, that “Gaza does not have it in it to bear another catastrophe.” He tiptoed around Israel’s responsibility for carrying out these attacks, noting that Israel was “not a signatory” to the Board’s plans, having only affirmed its commitments verbally, and claimed that Israel’s present use of force in the Strip did not pose an “immediate threat” to peace. Mladenov called Israel’s policy on shelter, in light of the approaching winter, “not acceptable,” and urged Israel to “allow better shelter into the Strip for dignity, for health, and for safety.” Mladenov also issued a rare criticism of Israel’s continued airstrikes on Gaza, though he refrained from framing them as targeting civilians: “After three years of war and 20 years of military operations, I ask, will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” he said. “It will not. It only delays the demilitarization that would happen, and it obstructs the civilian transition that should take place to ensure that remilitarization will not be possible in the future.” Israel’s deputy UN ambassador, Noa Furman, also spoke before the body, saying that Hamas’s “disarmament must come first” before Gaza’s reconstruction can begin, while still claiming Israel remains committed to Trump’s plan. Gaza Board of Peace “failing,” development chief tells Security Council: Athena Rayburn, the executive director of the Association of International Development Agencies, condemned the U.S.-led Gaza Board of Peace for failing to stop Israel’s daily attacks on the Strip before the Security Council on Wednesday. She said that the Board had, as an institution, failed to provide “immediate protection, relief and safety for the civilian population” in Gaza in the short term, and seemed unable to move Gaza towards “the end of Israel’s unlawful presence and the realization of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.” Rayburn noted that, “the rights of Palestinians in Gaza have been made subordinate to the far-reaching, capricious and arbitrary requirements of its occupier,” and called the arrangement “untenable.” Palestinian envoy tells UNSC that Israeli annexation has reached point of no return: Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, also spoke before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, telling the body that Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land has reached a point of no return. “Annexation has long been under way, but Israel has now crossed the Rubicon when it comes to full-fledged, full-blown annexation with the release of the tenders for the E1 plan,” Mansour said. The E1 settlement project would effectively divide the occupied West Bank in two. Canada revokes Jerusalem deputy mayor’s visa: Canada has removed travel authorization for Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Arieh King over his activities on behalf of illegal settlements on Tuesday, leading King to cancel a planned visit to Toronto and Montreal. King, an especially vocal advocate of settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, had been scheduled to attend a fundraising event in Canada for his settlement initiatives, the report said. Iran Tanker hit by projectile while transiting Hormuz: A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, setting the vessel on fire, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported on Thursday. The attack caused no injuries to the crew and the fire has since been put out, local authorities said. Iranian warship confronts vessel in Hormuz: A “large Iranian Warship” confronted an Indian ship attempting to transit the southern U.S.-backed route in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported. The ship was deterred from passing through the Strait after receiving a warning, the agency said, alleging that no traffic had been observed through the southern route in the 24 hours preceding the confrontation. Drones shot down over Iraqi Kurdistan: At least one drone was shot down near the village of Badalyan in Iraq’s Erbil governorate on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera, which reported an attack on the area by two drones. The downed drone sparked a fire in the region. No casualties were reported from the attack. The attack reportedly targeted facilities belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties. Qatari, Iranian FMs meet in Tehran, discuss mine clearing and potential Hormuz corridor: Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Thursday, a meeting during which, “the latest developments