U.S. crowdsources ideas on Iran; Gaza holds mass funeral for 112 killed in 2023; Board of Peace contradicts itself

A mass funeral is held for over 100 members of the Abu Sharia and Al-Hasayna families, whose remains were recently recovered after an Israeli attack earlier in the genocide, on August 4, 2026 in Gaza City, Gaza. Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images. Tuesday, August 4, 2026 – Fire, explosions reported at U.S. base in Kuwait. Cargo vessel hit near Oman. President Donald Trump maintains Iran wants talks with the U.S. U.S. military crowdsourcing “creative” ways to punish Iran. Reuters: U.S. has used up “virtually all” its long-range precision missiles. Ships continue to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi ships avoid Bab Al-Mandab. Ansarallah claims drone strike on Saudi airport. Israel resumes attacks on Gaza. Israeli forces demolish a school, bulldoze land as settlers attack West Bank communities. More than 100 bodies recovered from 2023 Israeli strike laid to rest in Gaza. Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey issue condemnation of Israeli ceasefire violations. Board of Peace claims Israel is set to withdraw only after Hamas disarms, contradicting its own roadmap. Hamas official discusses arms policy. Israel detained 630 Palestinians in West Bank during July, prisoner group says. Hamas Political Chairman Khalil Al-Hayya talks with Turkish, Iranian leaders. Lebanon and Israel resume talks in Rome. Primaries in Michigan, Missouri, Washington state, Kansas, and Virginia. Immigrant dies at Newark ICE facility. DOJ increasingly uses Civil War-era conspiracy law to charge ICE protesters, NPR finds. Twenty-five states sue Trump administration over new Section 301 tariffs. Federal judge strikes down New York’s ban on masked ICE agents. FCC commissioners receive luxury gifts from Paramount ahead of merger. AIPAC moves into the California special election. DRC Ebola death toll surpasses 1,700 as WHO accelerates vaccine, treatment trials. More than 150 migrants rescued from English Channel after boat fire. Russian, Ukrainian attacks kill at least 27. Sudan’s army vows to defeat the RSF by year’s end. Cross-border shelling kills dozens of refugees near the Sudan-Ethiopia border. China accuses Philippines of “political provocation” over cultural programs. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Iran Fire, explosions reported at U.S. base in Kuwait: A large fire broke out at a U.S. base in Kuwait on Monday evening, where several explosions were heard, Iranian outlets reported, though no casualties or damage were reported. Cargo vessel hit near Oman: A cargo vessel was struck by an unidentified projectile near Oman on Monday, the UKMTO reported. No details about casualties, damage to the ship, or the identity of the vessel were given in the warning. Trump maintains Iran wants talks with U.S.: President Donald Trump accused Iran on Monday of secretly seeking talks despite their public denials of Trump’s statements. He also claimed that the U.S. currently controls the Strait of Hormuz through a naval blockade, and said that either a “deal” or “total surrender” would end its naval siege. Later on Monday, addressing reporters in the White House, Trump said negotiations were “going on right now,” and claimed that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and “many others” were involved in the talks. He called the talks “the last chance to sign a good document,” and threatened Iran with “decapitation” if an agreement is not reached. After noting that the talks were “not very complex” and would “go quickly,” Trump claimed that Hormuz could be reopened by “tomorrow” and that during a “phase 2” they would discuss “nuclear capacity.” “That will take a little while,” he said. His remarks were echoed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said Tuesday a deal to reopen the strait could be reached “today or tomorrow.” Qatar said Tuesday that efforts to reach a diplomatic solution between the United States and Iran are continuing, but stressed that no direct talks are currently scheduled. The foreign ministry spokesperson said mediators are working with “all parties” on a “short-term solution” to revive negotiations. Trump accused Chevron and Exxon Mobil of price gouging, saying they made “too much money” during the U.S.’s war on Iran and demanding that both companies cut prices and return gains to consumers. U.S. military crowdsourcing “creative” ways to punish Iran: U.S. Central Command emailed a broad group of military intelligence analysts seeking “creative and unconventional” ways to pressure and punish Iran as Washington reassesses a strategy that has failed to force Tehran into a deal, CNN reported on Monday. The “crowdsourcing” comes from Trump’s limited paths to victory, the outlet reported, with U.S. intelligence agencies believing that airstrikes alone are unlikely to change Iran’s position, and that destroying deeply buried nuclear sites could require Trump to deploy ground troops. Reuters: U.S. has used up “virtually all” its long-range precision missiles: The U.S. military has used up most of its stockpiles of highly accurate long-range missiles in its war with Iran, according to Reuters. The missiles are primarily surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), which cost over $1 million each. The U.S. has used “virtually all” of these weapons, two sources familiar with the data told Reuters. Ships continue to move through Hormuz: Roughly 5 million barrels per day are moving through the Strait of Hormuz via “dark” ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, according to estimates from Bloomberg. Brent crude settled Monday at $83.77 a barrel, down sharply from above $100 on July 23, as fears of a wider supply disruption haveappeared to ease. ⁠ Preliminary data released on Monday indicated that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by another 2.9 million barrels last week. That is substantially slower than several weekly draws of roughly 7 million to 9 million barrels earlier in the planned 172 million emergency release. Yemen Saudi ships avoid Bab Al-Mandab: Six Saudi-flagged tankers were detected on Monday evening rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope rather than transiting the Red Sea, as shipping adjusts to Ansarallah’s maritime blockade targeting Saudi-linked vessels. The diversion adds an estimated two to four weeks to voyages and increases transport costs. Ansarallah claims drone strike on Saudi airport: Ansarallah said it carried out a drone strike on a “sensitive” Saudi target at Najran Airport, claiming the attack achieved a “precise hit.” In a statement Tuesday, the group said the strike was in response to alleged Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace over the governorates of Saada and Hajjah, warning that “any violation of our airspace will not go unanswered or unpunished.” Palestine Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 10 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,377 killed, with 174,230 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,252 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,120, while 804 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israel resumes attacks on Gaza: Israeli strikes resumed in Gaza on Monday evening, after a 30 hour pause. An Israeli aircraft struck a vehicle on Gaza City’s coastal Rashid Street, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding several others. Eyad Amawi, Gaza’s relief coordinator, told Drop Site the strike came immediately after a “Board of Peace” delegation concluded its visit to Israel. Israeli forces demolish a school, bulldoze land as settlers attack West Bank communities: Bethlehem: Israeli forces bulldozed Palestinian agricultural land in the village of Beit Iskaria on Tuesday, in what local officials said was an effort to expand the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, WAFA reported. The attack also damaged the village’s drinking water network. Hebron: Israeli forces demolished two classrooms and a sanitary unit at Shaab Al-Batm Mixed Basic School in Masafer Yatta. Nablus: Israeli settlers attacked communities south of Nablus, setting fire to three vehicles between the villages of Jalud and Talfit and attempting to torch a building before residents intervened. Tulkarm: Israeli forces raided the home of Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission head Moayad Shaaban in the Dhnaba suburb, interrogated, and threatened that if he continued to call for the formation of popular protection committees, they would raid his home again. East Jerusalem: Israeli authorities demolished properties in the neighborhood of Al-Tur after the owners had previously carried out self-demolitions under Israeli pressure. During the operation, Israeli forces assaulted property owners and other residents, seriously injuring one man in the eye. More than 100 bodies recovered from 2023 Israeli strike laid to rest in Gaza: Palestinians held a mass funeral Tuesday for 112 bodies recovered over the weekend from the site of a November 2023 Israeli airstrike in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood, one of the deadliest attacks of the war. Gaza’s Civil Defense said the remains included 40 children, while 157 bodies are still believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of the strike, which killed more than 300 people. Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey issue condemnation of Israeli ceasefire violations: After 4,059 Israeli ceasefire violations documented by the Palestinian side, the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire—Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey—issued their first joint condemnation of Israel’s continuing attacks on Gaza on Monday. The three countries condemned Israel’s targeting of healthcare facilities and medical infrastructure, and the killing of civilians, including women and children, calling the attacks “a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.” A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson told reporters Tuesday that “it is clear to the international community who is obstructing the implementation of the agreement,” and that the recent intensification of Israeli strikes was an attempt by Israel to “obstruct peaceful solutions” to the conflict. BoP claims Israel is set to withdraw only after Hamas disarms, contradicting its own roadmap: The U.S.-led “Board of Peace” put out a statement on Monday after a meeting between its envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would come only after Hamas fully disarms. The statement said that Israeli forces would withdraw “beyond the Yellow Line…once decommissioning is complete,” and that this applied to “light weapons, heavy weapons, and the tunnels alike.” A roadmap previously published by the board, however, said that the disarmament process would begin only after a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, as well as the decommissioning of Israeli-backed militias. The roadmap also limited disarmament to “heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels,” but did not include “light weapons.” Separately, documents leaked on Monday showed that the BoP is advancing plans for more than 60 infrastructure, economic, and “security” projects across the Gaza Strip, scheduled to launch between August 2026 and January 2027, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan. Kan also reported that the board pledged to Israel that it would seek countries to receive students and patients from Gaza, in exchange for Israel dropping its displacement plan. Israel had recently renamed the forced displacement plan a “freedom of movement” plan, in an effort to make it more acceptable to foreign governments. Hamas official discusses arms policy: During a Monday evening appearance on Piers Morgan Live, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, said that Hamas’ planned decommissioning of weapons was an “exceptional phase” accepted out of necessity, and that the group has not changed its goal of ending Israel’s occupation of the Strip, to which it might employ “different techniques, different tools, different methods.” Israel detained 630 Palestinians in West Bank during July, prisoner group says: These detentions across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, brought the total number of arrests since the start of the Gaza war to more than 25,000, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. More than 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including around 370 children, 92 women, and 3,198 administrative detainees, held without charge. Al-Hayya talks with Turkish, Iranian leaders: Hamas political chief Khalil Al-Hayya met Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın on Monday to discuss Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Israel’s ongoing attacks, and developments in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, Shehab News reported. Hamas said Kalın praised the movement and the Palestinian factions’ position in the negotiations,