Drop Site News / June 8, 2026
Iran and Israel exchange fire. Iran declares end to attacks against Israel. President Donald Trump calls for both sides to “stop shooting.” Tehran blames Washington for escalation with Israel. Iranian official says nuclear deal “not really feasible.” Ansarallah to resume attacks on Israel-affiliated vessels in Red Sea. Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue following exchange of fire with Iran. Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hezbollah denies direct contact with U.S. At least five killed in Gaza early Monday. Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in Gaza on Sunday. At least 3,189 ceasefire violations committed by Israel in Gaza, report says. Israeli soldier filmed joining settler mob attack on West Bank town of Huwara. Trump pushes back on rate hike expectations. Pentagon elevates Israel espionage threat to “critical.” Trump pardons former Indiana congressman convicted of insider trading. Flesh-eating parasite threatens Texas cattle herd as beef prices hit record highs. Sudanese army drone strikes kill at least 13 civilians at North Kordofan market. Russia strikes Chernobyl spent nuclear fuel facility. Israeli forces kidnap five Syrian civilians. Peru presidential runoff too close to call as quick count shows statistical tie. Bolivia’s legislature grants president authority to deploy military against protesters. Nigerian army rescues 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in Borno State. Xi visits North Korea for first time in seven years. Magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills 32 in southern Philippines. Pashinyan claims victory in Armenia election.
Iran and ceasefire
- Iran and Israel exchange fire: Iran and Israel exchanged strikes overnight and early Monday in the most serious escalation of fighting since a ceasefire was declared on April 8.
- Iran launched a wave of strikes on northern Israel after Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday without warning, enforcing, for the first time, its demand that Israel abide by a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the deal. Three houses were damaged after a projectile struck a residential neighbourhood in an illegal settlement in the northern West Bank, according to Israeli monitoring account MB Insider. No casualties were reported.
- Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran and hit a petrochemical factory in the city of Mahshahr. The Security Deputy of Khuzestan Province said the strike caused partial damage. Iranian state television also reported the sound of explosions in Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz, and Tehran.
- Iran fired again in response, with the IRGC claiming it struck Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases and targeted a petrochemical facility in Israel.
- Israel closed all crossings into Gaza and halted the entry of humanitarian aid on Sunday following the Iranian strikes (more in Gaza section below).
- Iran declares end to attacks against Israel: Iran’s armed forces announced on Monday the end of military operations against Israel but warned of “harsher” attacks if Israel resumed strikes on Lebanon according to the Fars news agency—including in southern Lebanon, where Israel is trying to maintain a permanent presence. Israeli military sources speaking to the state’s Army Radio reported Monday that while they have received an order to stop attacks on Iran, strikes on Lebanon will continue.
- Trump calls for both sides to “stop shooting”: President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that “Israel and Iran are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!” Writing on Truth Social, Trump said, “Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way. The Blockade will remain in place, and in full force and effect, until a ‘Final Deal’ is reached. Things should move quickly.” In an earlier Truth Social post, Trump said Israel and Iran must “immediately stop shooting.”
- In an interview with The Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have “no choice” but to accept any agreement the United States reaches with Iran. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots,” Trump said.
- Tehran blames Washington for escalation with Israel: After reporting on Sunday indicated that Trump had asked Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from striking Iran, and Israel subsequently carried out strikes anyway, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for Israel’s escalation. “No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Baghaei said at a press briefing in Tehran on Monday.
- Iranian official says nuclear deal “not really feasible”: An Iranian official told Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill on Sunday that reaching an agreement with Trump is “not really feasible” at this point.
- The official said a draft agreement has been on Trump’s desk for nearly 20 days, but Trump is “driven by his fear of the Israeli lobby and his hope that the naval blockade plan will prove effective,” adding that “Iran will no longer accept or tolerate his current position.”
- The two central sticking points, the official claimed, are Israel’s ongoing war against Lebanon and its expanded occupation of southern Lebanon, and Trump’s refusal to unfreeze Iranian funds for reconstruction.
- Ansarallah to resume attacks on Israel-affiliated vessels in Red Sea: Yemen’s Ansarallah claimed an attack on Israel on Monday and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be targeted in the Red Sea. The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on television. The group had previously targeted Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, causing global trade disruptions in the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
- U.S. forces shoot down two Iranian drones over Strait of Hormuz: U.S. Central Command announced Saturday, previous to these attacks, that American forces in the Middle East intercepted and destroyed two Iranian one-way attack drones in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran prosecuting over 3,000 people accused of collaborating with U.S. and Israel: Iran’s judiciary launched legal proceedings against 3,121 people for “cooperating with the enemy,” a spokesperson told Iranian media, saying those under prosecution are “traitors to the homeland and mercenaries” who collaborated with the US and Israel. Jahangir said over 2,400 of them have been arrested and remain in custody.
Lebanon
- Casualty count: At least 3,613 people have been killed, and 11,072 wounded, in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
- Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue following exchange of fire with Iran: Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Monday, following Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel in response to attacks on Beirut. The strikes hit multiple towns and villages in the Tyre, Zahrani, and Bint Jbeil districts, including Al-Samaiyya, Burj al-Shamali, Kfarhouna, Khirbet Dweir, al-Khiraib, and Qalawiyah.
- One person was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Al-Khiraib in the Tyre district.
- At dawn, four people were killed in a series of airstrikes on Zefta, including one attack that hit a shelter.
- Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs: Israeli forces struck the Dahiyeh district of Beirut’s southern suburbs Sunday, killing at least 2 people and wounding 11 in strikes on residential apartments, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
- Israel reportedly informed the United States of the strikes in advance, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, though two senior U.S. officials denied to Axios’s Barak Ravid that the White House approved the strikes.
- Iranian officials, who had previously warned against Israeli strikes on Beirut, responded to the attacks immediately with a wave of strikes on the northern parts of Israel. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, who leads Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, warned that the Beirut strike and the ongoing U.S. naval blockade had crossed a red line, and Iranian MP Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, warned of “a decisive and painful response,” adding: “Look at the sky over the occupied lands tonight.”
- Israel continues attacks on southern Lebanon over the weekend:
- Israel struck a residential building in the town of Saksakiyeh in Lebanon’s Saida district Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding several others, according to Cradle Media.
- Five Israeli attacks were reported Sunday in the Yater valley area of the Bint Jbeil District in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate.
- Lebanon’s army confirmed Saturday that Israel attacks had killed three of its personnel, including a brigadier general, a captain, and a soldier. An Israeli drone strike also killed a Lebanese paramedic on Saturday.
- Hezbollah denies direct contact with U.S.: Hezbollah parliament member Ali Moghaddad rejected Trump’s recent suggestion of direct communication with the group, saying Sunday that “there is no direct connection with the American side, whether with Trump or others.” Moghaddad said all communication runs exclusively through intermediaries—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
- Israel bombed Lebanon nearly 3,500 times during “ceasefire”: Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 airstrikes on Lebanon and demolished hundreds of structures since a “ceasefire” was announced by President Donald Trump on April 16, according to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. In comments published by his office, Salam said between April 17 and June 7, Israel carried out 3,491 airstrikes, 407 demolitions, and six “razing” operations to flatten entire villages in southern Lebanon.
- 29 Lebanese army soldiers killed by Israel since March: At least 29 Lebanese army members have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2, according to Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos. Marcos added that three police, one member of the General Security Directorate and 13 state security members have also been killed in Israeli attacks.
- Four Israeli soldiers wounded in southern Lebanon: Four Israeli soldiers were wounded in a drone attack in southern Lebanon on Sunday morning, the Israeli military said. Israel’s Channel 12 reported Sunday that 16 Israeli soldiers and officers have been killed since the Lebanon ceasefire was announced on April 16, 2026.
Palestine
- Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, nine Palestinians were killed and 43 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,980 killed, with 173,171 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 970 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,063, while 782 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
- At least five killed in Gaza early Monday: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least five Palestinians early Monday, according to WAFA. Three people were killed in an Israeli attack on Jabalia, while two others were killed and several more injured, some critically, when Israeli forces targeted a group of people in the al-Attar area west of Khan Younis. Separately, an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in northwestern Khan Younis wounded three people, with several more Palestinians reported injured after Israeli aircraft struck Gaza City.
- Israel reimposes full siege on Gaza following Iranian strikes: Israel closed all crossings into Gaza and halted the entry of humanitarian aid on Sunday following Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes, cutting off supplies to roughly 2 million Palestinians in the territory. Israel has imposed similar blanket closures during previous periods of regional escalation, including immediately after the outbreak of war in late February.
- Israeli strikes kill at least 13 on Sunday: Israeli attacks across Gaza, which began at dawn on Sunday, killed at least 13 Palestinians and wounded more than 35 others.
- Five people were killed, and 17 were injured when an Israeli airstrike struck a police post at Al-Nass Junction in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, and four more were killed when a vehicle near Al-Buraq School in western Gaza City was targeted.
- Israeli navy kills Gaza teenage fisherman off Deir el-Balah coast: Israeli naval vessels opened fire with machine guns on a fishing boat off the coast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday, killing a 16-year-old fisherman, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
- At least 238 fishermen have been killed by Israel since October 2023, with more than 20 killed or detained since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza’s Fishermen Syndicate.
- Israel has banned the entry of fishing equipment into Gaza since October 2023, crippling a sector that once supported roughly 5,000 fishermen, with total losses estimated at over $70 million and more than 90% of fishing infrastructure destroyed.
- Strikes on Saturday: Israeli attacks killed 10 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry.
- An Israeli strike on a tent sheltering displaced families west of Gaza City killed seven Palestinians, including a woman, and wounded at least 15 others Saturday, according to local reports.
- A child was receiving treatment on Saturday after being shot in the head and arm by Israeli sniper fire in the Al-Mahatta area east of Gaza City.
- At least 3,189 ceasefire violations committed by Israel in Gaza, report says: Israeli forces have carried out at least 3,189 ceasefire violations in Gaza since the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement took effect in October 2025—an average of around 13 violations per day—according to the latest ceasefire monitoring report shared by the Palestinian side and obtained by Drop Site. Only 36.3% of the agreed volume of aid and commercial trucks and 14.8% of fuel deliveries have entered Gaza since the ceasefire came into force, the report says—and at the Rafah crossing, only 34.5% of scheduled travellers have crossed.
- Israeli soldier filmed joining settler mob attack on West Bank town of Huwara: An Israeli soldier was filmed assaulting Palestinian men alongside masked settlers during a violent mob attack on the occupied West Bank town of Huwara that left at least nine residents wounded, the Times of Israel reported Saturday. Dozens of settlers arrived in pickup trucks, beating residents, hurling stones, smashing vehicles and buildings, setting fire to an auto repair shop, and stealing livestock, with one Palestinian suffering serious head injuries. The Israeli military acknowledged the footage, called the soldier’s conduct “serious,” and said it had opened an investigation, though no arrests have been reported.
- Israeli forces arrest Palestinian academic and parents in pre-dawn Hebron raid: Israeli forces arrested Dr. Bilal al-Shobaki, head of the Political Science Department at Hebron University, in a pre-dawn raid on his home Sunday, also detaining his parents Samira and Mahmoud Al-Shobaki at their residence earlier in the night. Al-Shobaki’s wife Zein Asqalan told The New Arab that a large force of soldiers stormed their building around 2 a.m., searched the home, damaged property, and took Al-Shobaki to an unknown location. Al-Shobaki had returned from an academic exchange program in Italy only hours before his arrest.
- Medicine shortages push West Bank healthcare toward collapse: More than a third of essential medicines stocked by the Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank have completely run out, according to a report by Ultra Palestine—including 50 of 97 drug types used to treat cancer patients. Health officials warned that more than 4,000 cancer patients and thousands of kidney dialysis patients are at immediate risk, and that around 11,000 surgeries could be delayed due to shortages. The crisis has been driven in part by Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, compounded by years of underinvestment and mounting debt, with drug suppliers reporting the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian governing body in the occupied West Bank, owes them roughly 1.35 billion shekels (approximately $385 million).
- Leaked documents reveal AI-powered mass surveillance built into Israeli drones: Internal Israeli military documents obtained by Haaretz reveal artificial intelligence and mass-surveillance capabilities built into the Israel Defense Forces’ drone fleet operating over Gaza and Lebanon. The documents show Israeli Hermes 450 and 900 drones, manufactured by Elbit Systems, have flown around the clock since October 7, 2023 using systems to automatically detect, classify, track, and pass targets to command centers, pilots, and ground troops.
