U.S. kills two in extrajudicial boat strike; 47 killed in Haiti gang raid; Israel seizes Jerusalem UNRWA center

People react following overnight violence where more than forty people were killed by armed gangs in Kenscoff, a neighborhood near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on August 24, 2026. Photo by Clarens Siffroy / AFP via Getty Images. Tuesday, August 25, 2026 – Israel continues to strike Gaza despite “ceasefire.” Israel shoots 10-year-old Palestinian girl in the back, killing her in Gaza tent. Israeli forces seize UNRWA center in East Jerusalem, expel staff. Settler attacks and Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank. Iconic Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour passes at 79. Oil tanker struck off Omani coast. U.S. unveils latest wave of Iran sanctions. China warns U.S. sanctions on Iran's trade partners will "only intensify tensions." New York Times: U.S. prepares to return diplomats to Middle East embassies evacuated during Iran war. International Energy Association not discussing second emergency oil release, official says. Tehran hosts Pakistan Army Chief. Omani Foreign Minister visits Iran for talks on Hormuz. Iran’s central bank chief calls currency collapse “temporary” as rial hits record low. Saudi confirms Ansarallah attack on tanker. Israel continues violating ceasefire across southern Lebanon, bombing Tyre and advancing in Bint Jbeil. U.S. kills two in eastern Pacific boat strike. Senate runoff in South Carolina. U.S.-Canada trade dispute escalates. Treasury could tap $1 trillion cash account to fund bond buybacks, officials say. Trump administration prepares largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history, targeting up to 200,000 people. Trump administration proposes new $103,000 H-1B visa fee after court struck down earlier version. U.S. partners with British firm to develop nuclear-powered merchant fleet, challenge China's shipbuilding dominance. Supreme Court opens path for Trump mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms. New poll shows Democratic voters overwhelmingly think Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. 47 killed in Haiti in gang raid near capital. U.S. removes Syria from terrorism list. Investigative journalist and Drop Site News correspondent Ali Younes faces up to a year in prison in Jordan. Greece moves Patriot battery. U.S. pushes nationwide Sudan arms embargo, criticizes unnamed "external actors." This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Palestine Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, nine Palestinians were killed—six in new Israeli attacks and two due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 36 were injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One body was recovered from beneath the rubble. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,431 killed, with 174,437 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,296 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,296, while 814 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israel continues to strike Gaza despite “ceasefire”: Israeli strikes on Gaza killed nine Palestinians, including two children, on Monday, with attacks reported on homes, tents, prayer halls, and a desalination plant. Israeli forces struck a home east of Bureij refugee camp, killing a four-year-old child and trapping residents under rubble. Israeli aircraft bombed the Ashkelon prayer hall and a home in Al-Shati camp, wounding residents. An overnight drone strike on a tent near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital killed two brothers. Israeli forces killed two more Palestinians in strikes on Khan Younis, with one Palestinian dying on Tuesday from wounds sustained in the strikes. Israel shoots 10-year-old Palestinian girl in the back, killing her in Gaza tent: Israeli forces shot 10-year-old girl Amal Abu Khater in the back, killing her instantly as she sat eating lunch inside her displaced family’s tent in western Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday. Amal had just returned from memorizing the Quran and performing the Dhuhr prayer, her family told Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed. “There were people who felt safe, sitting in their tents. It’s supposed to be a safe area, and it is full of displaced people,” Amal’s relative Hassan Abu Khater told Drop Site. “What did she do to deserve to be killed? She was sitting and eating sweets... What sin did this little girl commit?” Amal’s grandmother, Samira Abu Khater, said. Watch Ahmed’s dispatch from Khan Younis here . Israeli forces seize UNRWA center in East Jerusalem, expel staff: Israeli forces raided and seized the UNRWA-run Qalandiya Vocational Training Centre in Kafr Aqab, north of occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, storming the compound with four armored vehicles and 50 Israeli security forces and raising an Israeli flag inside. Around 40 employees and others inside were detained and questioned before being expelled, with Israeli forces firing tear gas around the center. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participated in the raid. The seized UNRWA compound would be replaced with an educational and community center, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, while claiming the land has been owned by the Jewish National Fund since 1937. The facility, established in 1952 and which had hosted a diplomatic mission on Monday investigating Israeli attacks, is UNRWA’s oldest vocational training center and trains roughly 340 young Palestinian refugees annually. The seizure marked a shift “from raids and restrictions to eviction and imposing control on a United Nations facility,” the Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement. It warned that the move was part of “an Israeli plan targeting the Palestinian presence and international institutions in Jerusalem.” Settler attacks and Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank : Bethlehem : Israeli settlers attacked international solidarity activists near Harmala on Tuesday morning, choking and bruising several during the assault. The activists were attempting to open a road that had been closed by the settlers; the settlers assaulted them with sticks and pepper spray. Settlers injured three Palestinians Tuesday in the Al-Hashwa area east of Bethlehem, WAFA reported. Separately, Israeli forces detained three Palestinians in the governorate, including Palestinian journalist Thaer Al-Fakhouri. Ramallah: Settlers prevented firefighting crews from reaching a fire that broke out on agricultural land in Wadi Ammar, northeast of Ramallah, delaying efforts to extinguish the blaze. Nablus: Settlers have continued to besiege three Palestinian homes in Qusra, south of Nablus, for a third consecutive week. Israeli forces have also tightened restrictions and closed roads leading to the area. Jenin: Israeli forces uprooted more than 100 olive trees in Wadi Al-Yahmour in Barta’a, southwest of Jenin. Jordan Valley: Israeli forces arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian after he reportedly ambushed and stabbed an Israeli soldier outside a commercial complex. The soldier sustained wounds, including internal bleeding, and is hospitalized in stable condition. Iconic Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour passes at 79: Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour, whose work became a visual language of Palestinian identity, land, and resistance, has died at the age of 79, his family announced Monday. “The final chapter has been written,” his family said. “To the world, he leaves behind a life filled with beauty, memory, and a legacy that will continue to live through all those he touched.” Born in Birzeit in 1947, a year prior to the Nakba and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians by Israeli militias, Mansour spent more than five decades depicting a Palestine rooted in its people and landscape. His work was repeatedly targeted by Israeli authorities. In 1980, the Israeli military shut down an exhibition featuring Mansour in Ramallah just three hours after it opened. Mansour later recalled that the artists were summoned and told they could not use the colors of the Palestinian flag, even in depictions of flowers or watermelons. Palestinian artists and activists drew inspiration from Mansour’s story and started using the watermelon as a symbol of their identity. During the First Intifada, he co-founded the New Visions collective, with artists boycotting Israeli art supplies and instead working with mud and henna, incorporating Palestine into their art. Iran Oil tanker struck off Omani coast: An oil tanker was struck by an “unknown projectile” off northern Oman on Monday, damaging its engine room and disabling the vessel, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The attack occurred 9 nautical miles northeast of Ash Shishah, on Oman’s Musandam Peninsula near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. UKMTO said the crew was safe, but the environmental impact remained unknown. No group claimed responsibility. U.S. unveils latest wave of Iran sanctions: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions against nearly 60 people, entities, and vessels on Monday, dubbing the campaign “Operation Economic Outcast,” aimed at disrupting Iran’s global financial and economic connections. The announcement provided few details regarding secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Iran, and Bessent declined to identify the countries that would be targeted or say when penalties would take effect. China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates are Iran’s largest trade partners. Bessent claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump is now personally calling world leaders and asking them to end dealings with Tehran. Seyed Ali Madanizadeh, Iran’s Economy Minister, responded to Monday’s announcement by curtly noting that the U.S. would “fail this time as well” to hinder Iran, and adding that the country had “long been preparing for days like this.” Iranian Parliament Speaker and lead negotiator Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf also issued a statement, writing on X that Iran’s trading partners had made clear to Tehran that they would completely disregard Washington’s threats. “They don’t take these statements into account at all,” Ghalibaf said. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari described the U.S. sanctions on Iran as unilateral, instead reaffirming Doha’s support for mediation between Washington and Tehran. China warns U.S. sanctions on Iran’s trade partners will “only intensify tensions”: China said it would take “necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.” Ahead of Bessent’s announcement, the Foreign Ministry warned that “sanctions and pressure do not help solve problems; they only intensify tensions.” NYT: U.S. prepares to return diplomats to Middle East embassies evacuated during Iran war: The U.S. is preparing to return diplomats to several Middle Eastern embassies evacuated during the war with Iran, the New York Times reported. Foreign Service officers could begin returning as early as this week to missions in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq, and Kuwait, according to an internal State Department document obtained by the Times. The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon is expected to receive returning diplomats first but will remain below full staffing, while missions in Israel, Jordan, and Oman are eventually expected to return in full. IEA not discussing second emergency oil release: International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told Reuters on Monday that the agency is not currently considering a second release from member countries’ strategic oil reserves. “Not for the time being,” he said, adding that 80% of the reserves remain after member nations announced a 400 million-barrel release in March. Birol also warned that Europe could face gas shortages during the winter. European storage is around 62%, below historical averages and short of the EU’s target of 80% by December 1, as the bloc seeks to eliminate Russian imports while still hoping to receive supplies from the Middle East. Tehran hosts Pakistan Army Chief: Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Monday. Naqvi said that Munir’s meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian made “significant progress” toward restoring the Islamabad memorandum between Iran and the United States. The Interior Minister said Pezeshkian presented Tehran’s concerns and the meeting ended on a “highly positive note.” Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reportedly told his Pakistani counterparts that Iran “distrusts the United States,” and that it must “change its behavior” before any talks, urging the U.S. to “implement the terms” of the previous memorandum of understanding. Omani Foreign Minister visits Iran for talks on Hormuz: Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks about the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei described the conversations as strictly bilateral, having nothing to do with the U.S. Shipping data showed just two tankers crossed the Strait on Monday, down from seven vessels on Sunday. Trump claimed Tuesday that the U.S. Navy had removed or detonated all