In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 95 Palestinians since Thursday morning as Israel intensifies its attacks on Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Associated Press has revealed a shocking story about a Palestinian ambulance worker who was transporting a corpse wrapped in a bloody sheet. Once he arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, he learned the body was of his own mother who had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders has confirmed one of its own orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Mohammed Obeid, has been detained by Israeli forces along with other medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

In the occupied West Bank, the death toll from an Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp has risen to at least five. Israeli troops destroyed roads, water infrastructure and a health clinic run by UNRWA, the U.N. refugee organization. UNRWA said their office was a hub to deliver services to 14,000 Palestinian refugees in the camp. Israeli forces also reportedly detained and beat a number of Palestinians during the deadly raid. One Palestinian named Usama Shaheen said Israeli troops wrote numbers on the forehead of each prisoner.

Usama Shaheen: “At the time of dawn prayers exactly, they raided the house. They broke down the door and damaged everything in the house. Nothing was left in the house. I was beaten from the moment I left the house to when we went to Majnoune. They brought me back here. All sorts of beatings, all sorts of beatings, on my chest, on my head. It was severe. … Each one got a number on his forehead. And in the army jeep, everyone there hits you. Everyone hits you. Most of the beating is to the head, mostly to the head.”

The Washington Post is reporting Israel’s bombing campaign in southern Lebanon has now damaged or destroyed nearly 5,900 buildings near the Israeli border. That’s about 25% of all buildings in the area. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported six medics were killed Thursday in Israel’s ongoing attacks. Israel bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, destroying dozens more buildings. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati blasted Israel over the latest attacks, saying it is a sign that Israel is rejecting efforts to secure a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Hezbollah responded with rocket attacks on northern Israel Thursday that killed seven people, including four agricultural workers from Thailand.

In Britain, pro-Palestinian activists have called off protests targeting Barclays after the banking giant revealed it had sold its shares in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company. The British group Palestine Action had organized over 50 direct action protests targeting Barclays over the past year.

In election news, Kamala Harris campaigned in Arizona on Thursday and blasted Donald Trump for saying he is going to protect women “whether the women like it or not.”

Vice President Kamala Harris: “And this is not the first time he has told us who he is. He does not believe women should have the agency and authority to make decisions about their own bodies. This is the same man who said women should be punished for their choices. He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what’s in their own best interests and make decisions accordingly.”

During Harris’s speech in Arizona, she was repeatedly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Donald Trump was also in Arizona on Thursday, where he campaigned with Tucker Carlson. Trump suggested former Republican Congressmember Liz Cheney should face a firing squad. Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, have both backed Harris in the race.

Donald Trump: “And I don’t blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb. She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Liz Cheney responded by writing, “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

Donald Trump is heading to Dearborn, Michigan, today, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, where many former Biden voters have vowed not to back Harris over her support for Israel’s war on Gaza. Harris has not yet campaigned in Dearborn.

Earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Harris in Michigan and sparked outcry after he said Israel was being “forced” to kill civilians in Gaza.

Bill Clinton: “Hamas makes sure that they’re shielded by civilians. They’ll force you to kill civilians if you want to defend yourself.”

Spain has declared three days of national mourning after the death toll from devastating flash flooding soared to 158. Most of the deaths were in Valencia, where flooding uprooted trees, downed power lines, demolished bridges and roads and left hundreds of cars strewn about like toys half-buried in mud. The disaster struck as unprecedented storms brought a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours.

Patricia Villar: “Well, it’s all destroyed — shops, supermarkets, schools, cars. It’s all destroyed. These caravans come from the 27th neighborhood, almost in Valencia. They went all the way down until here. And just here on the right, there’s a boat. It has been incredible, mind-blowing.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is warning that devastation caused by flash flooding is “not finished,” as Spain’s weather agency warned a fresh round of storms will bring more heavy rain today. Climate scientists warn human activity is driving global heating that makes extreme weather events more frequent and more destructive.

Papua New Guinea’s leaders have withdrawn from this month’s COP29 U.N. climate summit, after slamming pledges by the world’s biggest polluters as “empty talk.” Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said, “We will no longer tolerate empty promises and inaction, while our people suffer the devastating consequences of climate change. … If we must cut down our forests to sustain ourselves and develop our economy, so be it.” Papua New Guinea says it will instead seek to forge bilateral climate agreements with other nations.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui is visiting Moscow as about 10,000 North Korean forces have arrived near Ukraine’s border to fight alongside Russian troops. Meanwhile, North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, demonstrating its ability to launch nuclear attacks that could reach the mainland United States.

Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted under oath that he oversaw a “death squad” of gangsters he used to target people while he served as mayor of the southern city of Davao. Duterte made the admission during testimony Monday to a Philippines Senate inquiry into widespread extrajudicial police and vigilante killings carried out under Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.

Rodrigo Duterte: “I have a death squad. A death squad. Seven of them. But they are [not] the police. They were gangsters. I command one of the gangsters, 'Kill that, because if you don't, I will kill you.’”

A United Nations report found at least 8,600 people were killed in the drug war unleashed by Duterte, with some estimates suggesting the true toll could be three times higher. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating Duterte for possible “crimes against humanity” committed under his rule.

Botswana’s president has conceded defeat after his long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since Botswana won its independence from Britain in 1966. President Mokgweetsi Masisi had been seeking a second five-year term in Wednesday’s election. Opposition leader Duma Boko of the Umbrella for Democratic Change party is expected to become Botswana’s new president.

In Brazil, two former police officers who confessed to assassinating Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver in 2018 were sentenced on Thursday to long prison terms. Ronnie Lessa, who admitted to firing the fatal shots, was sentenced to nearly 79 years. Élcio de Queiroz, who drove the getaway car, received a nearly 60-year sentence. Following Thursday’s verdict, Marielle’s sister, the Black activist, journalist and educator Anielle Franco, spoke out. Since 2023, Anielle has served as Brazil’s minister of racial equality.

Anielle Franco: “Since the beginning, we said we would not stop until justice was made. It was a lot of nights, days, years, taking care of my parents. Yesterday I said it, and today I repeat it: Marielle’s biggest legacy to the country is the evidence that women, Black people who live in slums, when they get to positions, they deserve to remain alive.”