Exclusive: UN abandons Rafah crossing; PHP flaws expose websites; AIPAC ends endorsements

A group of Palestinians arrive at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, Gaza, crossing through the Rafah Border Crossing after Israel granted limited passage on February 27, 2026. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images. Thursday, October 22, 2026 – Iran : President Donald Trump says U.S. “not negotiating” with Iran, signals action “fairly soon.” Iran says seven vessels hit in Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Israeli fighter jets flew toward Iranian border in provoking exercise. U.S. denies reports of ordered departures from embassies across Gulf. Palestine : Scoop: UN abandons Rafah crossing as Israel arrests Palestinians returning to Gaza. Gaza faces critical flour shortage as remaining bakeries risk closure within 48 hours. Israeli settlers and soldiers continue attacks on olive harvesters across the occupied West Bank. 409 Israeli attacks on Palestinian olive harvest in the occupied West Bank in three weeks. Yemen : Four killed in attacks on Saudi Arabia airport, oilfield. Two killed in Taiz as clashes continue. Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces declare gatherings in Ansarallah-held areas “legitimate military targets.” Ansarallah says Saudi Arabia struck vessel carrying 14 Indian nationals in Red Sea. Lebanon : Israeli ceasefire violations continue across southern Lebanon. U.S. : Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes plans to pay California wealth tax. Shape and size of blue wave in House begins to clarify. In Michigan Senate debate, Republican candidate Mike Rogers resorts to Islamophobic talking points. U.S. accuses Canada of interfering in its elections. Trump administration releases heating oil reserves to northeast, aiming to lower consumer costs. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr threatens to punish broadcasters for airing “fake polls.” CBS: Federal agents knock on doors in search for noncitizen voters. DOJ weighs lawsuits against more states over alleged noncitizen voters, possibly before or after the midterms. AIPAC ends endorsements and direct PAC contributions, keeps super PAC and individual fundraising. SCOTUS refuses Trump administration attempt to restrict hormone treatment, surgery for transgender prisoners. TAP: Sen. Roger Marshall’s business partner and donor ran private equity empire behind hospital collapses. International: Cyber agencies worldwide urge organizations to take sites offline after OpenAI model finds critical PHP flaws. Russian strikes on Kyiv injure six; Ukrainian strikes on Russia kill one and wound 3. German military designates Russian sabotage a “significant” threat. MI5 spied on founder of Britain’s National Health Service for decades, newly declassified documents show. First Ebola case in Nigeria matches strain from Congo. Tunisia imprisons 10 people for protesting pollution. Egyptian authorities question co-founder of independent news outlet Mada Masr. North Korea to deploy border loudspeakers against South Korea. China accuses Philippines of “illegally” resupplying on disputed shoal; Philippines and Taiwan talk about deepening ties. Key opposition leader arrested in Ecuador. El Salvador launches operation to rescue missing personnel in Haiti. U.S. threatens sanctions for countries supporting Cuba at UN, Cuba diplomat says. Mexican prosecutors charge ex-official with treason over U.S. collaboration. This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday Subscribe Iran Trump says U.S. “not negotiating” with Iran, signals action “fairly soon”: President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “not negotiating” with Iran and that “something one way or the other” will happen “fairly soon,” pointing to the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. “Most people seem to think it’s after the election, and we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews. Asked whether he had finished negotiating with Tehran, he replied: “No, I think we’re not negotiating.” “We are going to have something one way or the other. It’ll happen fairly soon,” he added. Iran says seven vessels hit in Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz: Forces simultaneously struck four vessels conducting ship-to-ship oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf, leaving all four burning, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy claimed Thursday. Three other vessels struck naval mines west of the Strait of Hormuz overnight, sustaining damage and catching fire before coming to a halt, according to the IRGC. The IRGC said the four vessels had previously used shipping routes it declared prohibited despite Iranian warnings. It accused the U.S. military of encouraging vessels to cross mined routes. The IRGC warned that further U.S. involvement in the maritime confrontation could prompt attacks on American military bases across the region. Israeli fighter jets flew toward Iranian border in provoking exercise: Dozens of Israeli fighter jets and refueling aircraft flew more than 800 miles through Syrian and Iraqi airspace toward Iran on Monday, following a route consistent with a potential strike before turning back near the Iranian border, according to Axios. Israel notified Washington in advance, describing the operation as a training exercise intended to project military power and deter Iranian attacks ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections. U.S. officials said Israel knew Iranian air defenses would detect the aircraft, while some suspected Israel hoped Iran would fire on the jets, providing justification for renewed strikes. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei of allowing renewed nuclear weapons development, declaring that the only way to eliminate the alleged threat was to overthrow Iran’s government. He said he had issued that directive to the Israeli military, Mossad, and security agencies. U.S. denies reports of ordered departures from embassies across Gulf: State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott denied reports that Washington was preparing to order some personnel and family members to leave U.S. embassies across the Gulf, calling them “inaccurate,” amid reports of possible new escalation with Iran. Pigott said that the State Department had issued an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only, citing escalating Houthi attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure that have caused casualties and severe travel disruptions. Palestine Scoop: UN abandons Rafah crossing as Israel arrests Palestinians returning to Gaza: The UN informed Palestinian officials that it will stop receiving Palestinians returning from Egypt and coordinating their entry into Gaza starting in mid-November, citing the dangers facing returnees and repeated Israeli arrests, a senior Palestinian source involved in negotiations told Drop Site News. The decision follows Israel’s arrest of a Palestinian cancer patient and her daughter on Tuesday, the same day Rafah reopened after a roughly 10-day suspension triggered by the detention of another returnee. “The United Nations will ask the parties concerned to provide an alternative entity to assume this responsibility; however, its withdrawal will proceed regardless of whether an alternative is secured,” the source told Drop Site. Finding a replacement will be difficult, the source said, as transporting returnees requires coordination with Israel and passage through dangerous areas within the Yellow and Red Line zones. The Red Cross may be the only alternative, but its Gaza office previously declined, the source said, saying the task fell outside its mandate. Nearly all Palestinians who leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing are medical evacuees and their companions through a process that is facilitated by the UN. While the UN will continue to facilitate medical evacuations, its decision to stop receiving Palestinians entering Gaza could affect the entire operation of the crossing, the source said, as Egypt might not agree to accept medical evacuees leaving Gaza unless they are allowed to return. Under a negotiated agreement, the number of Palestinians allowed to return into Gaza must equal the number allowed to leave. “Maybe the Egyptians will say if no one is allowed to return, we will also not be part of, of receiving one from Gaza, which means at the end that the whole process is blocked,” the source said. Drop Site is reaching out to the UN and will update this story when we receive a response. Killed and wounded in Gaza: Four Palestinians, including a girl, were killed Thursday by Israeli attacks across Gaza. A strike on a vehicle southwest of Gaza City killed two Palestinians, while gunfire and shelling in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza and west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed two other Palestinians, including a 17-year-old girl, Al Jazeera reported. Over the past 24 hours, four Palestinians were killed—three in new Israeli attacks and one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 12 injured across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023, is now 74,498 killed, with 175,616 injured. Since October 11, 2025, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,538 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 5,498, while 841 bodies have been recovered. Gaza faces critical flour shortage as remaining bakeries risk closure within 48 hours: Flour stocks in Gaza’s warehouses are completely depleted , leaving a 100% shortage and threatening to shut down the seven remaining operational bakeries within 48 hours unless new supplies enter, according to the head of Gaza’s Bakers Association. Only seven of Gaza’s 20 bakeries remain operational after Israel closed the crossings over the past week and continued blocking commercial flour imports despite partially reopening them. Flour currently available in Gaza’s markets comes from the World Food Programme (WFP), while commercial bakeries dependent on imports through the crossings have stopped operating. The WFP decided on Monday to cut food assistance to more than half a million Palestinians in Gaza due to funding shortages. Israeli settlers and soldiers continue attacks on olive harvesters across the occupied West Bank: Jenin: Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in Khirbet Al-Makhal on Thursday, forcing them to abandon their harvest before stealing 17 bags of olives and harvesting equipment, WAFA reported. Israeli forces closed roads and village entrances, prevented farmers from reaching their land, and continued bulldozing land for a settlement road, severing the main paved road between Silat Al-Dhahr and Al-Attara. Salfit: Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian olive pickers and foreign solidarity activists in Wadi Yasuf, forcing them to abandon their harvested olives. Qalqilya: Israeli forces raided the Al-Wajh area, forcing Palestinian farmers off their land. 409 Israeli attacks on Palestinian olive harvest in the occupied West Bank in three weeks: Israeli settlers and soldiers carried out 409 attacks against Palestinian olive farmers, their trees, land, and agricultural equipment between October 1 and 21, including 317 by settlers and 92 by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. The commission documented 287 incidents directly targeting farmers, including 50 physical assaults, 14 incidents involving pepper spray or projectiles, and 11 shootings. One Palestinian was killed by settler gunfire while harvesting olives near Burqa, northwest of Nablus, on October 7. Yemen Four killed in attacks on Saudi Arabia airport, oilfield: An attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday killed two and injured eight others, with injuries ranging from minor to critical, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation. Two other people were killed and two wounded when Saudi air defenses shot down a drone targeting Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, southeast of the Kingdom. The Saudi-led coalition also claimed the interception and destruction of nine drones: four in the Eastern Province, one in Riyadh, and four across the Riyadh and Medina regions. Ansarallah claimed attacks targeting Saudi’s Defense Ministry in Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu, Abha International Airport, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam over the past 48 hours. Two killed in Taiz as clashes continue: Airstrikes targeted Ansarallah fighters and vehicles in Al-Maafer district, south of Taiz, according to Al Jazeera. Ansarallah-affiliated media also reported three airstrikes on the Al-Sarari area. Ansarallah rocket shelling and sniper fire killed two civilians, including a young girl, and wounded five others, including women, children, and elderly people, across several areas of Taiz on Wednesday, according to Saudi-backed forces. Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces declare gatherings in Ansarallah-held areas “legitimate military targets”: Yemen’s Saudi-backed government declared that tribal rallies and other civilian public gatherings in areas controlled by Ansarallah will be treated as “legitimate military targets.” In a statement, its Defense Ministry warned civilians not to attend gatherings like tribal mobilizations, mass rallies or “cultural courses,” which it said Ansarallah uses to recruit “children, young people” and send them