Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 17 Palestinians; Tuesday’s primary results; Liberia to take 1,200 deportees from the U.S.

Palestinians carry the body of a person killed in an Israeli airstrike on August 19, 2026 in Gaza City, Gaza. Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images. Wednesday, August 19, 2026 – Israel escalates its attacks on Gaza, killing 17, wounding 38 over the past 24 hours. Palestinian child dies of malnutrition in Gaza. Nearly 470 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in a week. Land seizures, settler attacks and detentions reported across the occupied West Bank. UN: Gaza remains world’s deadliest place for aid workers in 2025 for third consecutive year. Israel announces probe into two high-profile Gaza massacres. United Arab Emirates halts all trade with Iran after accusing it of launching missiles. President Donald Trump calls Hormuz “New U.S. Territory.” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf visits Iraq, lauds “resistance.” Pentagon considering Gulf drawdown. Vessel struck, “completely” disabled off of Mokha. Missile strikes in Yemen kill three, including a child, in Hodeidah. Israeli forces continue military activity, demolitions in southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire.” Lebanese army chief: Israel keeps attacking even as army implements agreement. Hezbollah MP: Resistance will confront any Israeli move on Ali Al-Taher. Primary results from Florida, Alaska, Wyoming, and California. Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon criticizes party leadership. Trump pauses new 50% Canada tariffs for three days, cites pending trade deal. Whistleblower alleges Trump antisemitism task force pressured universities despite lacking evidence. U.S. quietly deporting Mexican migrants to Guatemala, Honduras instead of Mexico. Minnesota Attorney General sues Texas Governor Abbott over refusal to extradite ICE agent. Trump administration moves to repeal Clinton-era “roadless rule.” Liberia agrees to take up to 1,200 U.S. deportees over the next year. Trump administration issues more International Criminal Court sanctions. Bolivia arrests major Trump-linked right-wing operative over shooting of activist. Half of Venezuela’s oil is being exported to the U.S. Pakistan will challenge Imran Khan ruling. Israel says strike on Syria intended to block Turkish military buildup. Zelenskyy fires senior aide amid corruption probe. Liberia agrees to accept up to 1,200 U.S. deportees. Iraqi resistance leader decries U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money and airspace. South Korea says Trump military drill cuts may be pressure on Seoul over Iran war, investment. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Palestine Israel escalates its attacks on Gaza, killing 17, wounding 38 over the past 24 hours: An Israeli strike on a seaside cafe on Tuesday killed seven Palestinians and wounded 14, with Al Jazeera confirming at least one child was among those killed. “We don’t know what we’re supposed to deal with anymore. Do we deal with the Israelis? Or the sun burning us inside the tents? Or the water—waking up at 6 a.m. to go get water? Or do we deal with the winter that is still coming, when we’ll also suffer from the weather?” Eyewitness Abu Ahmed said. Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed submitted video reports from the scene of the port attack, available here and here . At least nine Palestinians were killed and 15 wounded on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on the Municipalities Police headquarters in Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Interior Ministry. The strike hit during a busy time in the middle of day and close to a crowded municipal park. Footage from Drop Site contributor Mohamed Ahmed of the police building attack shows ambulances arriving as people rush to carry the dead and wounded, including a woman and a child. “Every day we say, ‘Tomorrow there’s hope. There is still hope,’ while the number of martyrs keeps rising. Let people feel for us. Yesterday, it was the port. Today, the municipal park, full of children. Every day, they take revenge on us,” eyewitness Abu Al-Baha said. Separately, an earlier Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed one Palestinian. Gaza’s Interior Ministry said Israeli attacks on the civil police force are meant to cripple the police and “spread chaos within Palestinian society. Hamas rejected the Israeli military’s claim that resistance leaders were targeted as “baseless.” The group said the attack, coming after recent meetings with mediators and “Board of Peace” member Jared Kushner aimed at advancing the ceasefire agreement, showed Netanyahu’s government was deliberately seeking to undermine those efforts. Hamas called on mediators, particularly the Trump administration, to take immediate action to halt the escalation and pressure Israel to abide by the agreement. Palestinian child dies of malnutrition in Gaza: A Palestinian girl died from severe malnutrition on Tuesday as Israel continues to restrict food and other necessities entering Gaza. Since the ceasefire began, Israel has allowed in only 35.3% of the minimum agreed aid deliveries, averaging 211.8 trucks daily against the required 600, a document shared by Palestinian authorities with mediators on Sunday showed. The IPC warns that 74,200 children in the Strip require treatment for acute malnutrition through April 2027, including more than 11,400 severe cases. Without sustained aid, nearly 1.9 million Palestinians could face acute food insecurity by December. Nearly 470 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in a week: Israeli forces and settlers conducted at least 467 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in one week, according to the Palestinian prime minister’s office. At least 75 Palestinian homes and structures were also demolished, the office said, calling the attacks “relentless escalation of violence, dispossession, and destruction.” Israel places Palestinian journalist Mohamed Awad under administrative detention: Palestinian journalist and Drop Site contributor Mohamed Awad has been placed under administrative detention by Israeli authorities, according to journalist Mutassem Saqf Al-Hait. Awad was arrested from his home in the village of Beitunia, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on August 12 by the Israeli military. Administrative detention is a legal mechanism that allows Israeli authorities to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial. Land seizures, settler attacks and detentions reported across the occupied West Bank: Israeli forces detained at least 30 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, while Israeli authorities and settlers carried out land seizures, outpost expansion and the continued siege of Palestinian homes. The detainees included journalist Abdulrahman Hassan from Bethlehem, while Israeli forces separately arrested Palestinian Jerusalem Affairs Minister after raiding his home in Silwan. Ramallah: Israeli forces shot and critically wounded a Palestinian man during a Tuesday evening raid on Al-Amari refugee camp in Al-Bireh, in the central West Bank, according to the Palestinian Information Center. Israeli authorities declared approximately 1,152 dunams (285 acres) of land in Sinjil, Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya and Qaryut as “state property” to expand the Karmei Oz settlement, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said. Nablus : For a second straight day, Israeli settlers blocked roads in Beit Imrin, northwest of Nablus, isolating families and cutting farmers off from their land, amid a push to build a new settlement outpost nearby. Settlers, backed by Israeli forces, also continued to besiege three Palestinian homes in the Ras Al-Ain area of Qusra for the 11th consecutive day. Jenin : Palestinian Ahmed Al-Hatnawi told Radio Al-Shams that Israeli forces etched the number “44” on his forehead and arm after detaining him during a raid in Qabatiyah, Haaretz reported. “As if we were animals and beasts,” he said, describing the practice as deliberate humiliation. Al-Hatnawi said Israeli forces took him to a makeshift interrogation site, questioned him for roughly two hours, and threatened him. UN: Gaza remains world’s deadliest place for aid workers in 2025 for third consecutive year: Gaza remained the world’s deadliest place for aid workers in 2025 for the third consecutive year, with 186 killed in Israeli attacks despite the ceasefire declared in October, according to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) in a statement to mark World Humanitarian Day. 68% percent of those killed in Gaza died in aerial bombardments. Globally, 350 humanitarian workers were killed in 2025, the second-highest annual toll on record, while 907 aid workers were victims of violence. Sudan recorded a record 71 aid worker deaths. Israel announces probe into two high profile Gaza massacres: The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it would launch criminal investigations into two high profile attacks in Gaza, including the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family in January 2024, and the massacre of 15 Palestinian aid workers in southern Gaza in March 2025. The military said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. The decisions followed reviews by the Israeli military’s fact-finding mechanism, which is officially tasked with examining exceptional operational incidents during wartime. In its statement, the Israeli military acknowledged for the first time that it opened fire on the vehicle carrying Hind Rajab and her family after previously denying involvement in the incident and falsely claiming that its forces were not present in the area. Watch an in-depth investigation into the killing of Hind Rajab by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines in “The Night Won’t End.” An investigation by Forensic Architecture into the aid worker massacre found that Israeli soldiers fired nearly a thousand bullets during the attack and that a number of aid workers were executed by Israeli soldiers at point blank range. Read Drop Site’s coverage here . Iran UAE halts all trade with Iran after accusing it of launching missiles: Iranian air defenses detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, the first falling outside its territorial waters and the second within them, the UAE Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, with a phone alert warning residents of a “potential missile threat.” The UAE Foreign Ministry then announced it was halting all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, citing regional escalation. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “completely rejected” the claim that it launched missiles targeting Emirati territory, calling it damaging to efforts to build regional trust. Trump calls Hormuz “New U.S. Territory”: U.S. President Donald Trump posted a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz “NEW U.S. Territory,” and, in a separate post, said no talks with Iran are underway and that the U.S. naval blockade remains “in full force and effect.” Trump also claimed Hormuz is “open and operating” and that all naval mines have been removed or detonated. Just three transits were recorded on August 16 and 10 crossings on August 17. Kpler said vessels continue using Iran’s unilateral routing scheme, with none recorded through the conventional Hormuz traffic-separation system or southern Omani routes yesterday. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday that “until the United States implements its commitments under the memorandum, including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and the other agreed conditions, the strait will not reopen.” Ghalibaf visits Iraq, lauds “resistance”: Ghalibaf arrived in Iraq on Wednesday for a three-day visit. Speaking at the site where former General Qassem Soleimani was killed, Ghalibaf said, “Today’s visit to Iraq is aimed at strengthening the new order in the region and accelerating mutual cooperation among all countries of the region, without the intervention of foreign powers.” Referring to Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Ghalibaf added, “After years of experience in Iraq, the resistance has gone beyond the borders of the two countries and has become an influential force at the regional and global levels Pentagon considering Gulf drawdown: The Pentagon is assessing whether to reduce its Persian Gulf military presence after Iranian strikes exposed the vulnerability of Washington’s regional base network, eight officials told The Washington Post on Tuesday. CENTCOM normally stations about 40,000 troops across nearly 20 sites. More than 200 U.S. facilities have been damaged or destroyed since U.S. and Israel launched war; strikes killed six troops in Kuwait and four in Jordan, while U.S. defenses burned through more than 1,000 Patriot and THAAD interceptors. Officials have considered shifting forces west toward Jordan, Israel, or Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Rubio talks with UAE national security official: U.S. Secretary of State Marco