In the Gaza Strip, at least 11 Palestinians were killed and 40 others wounded today when Israeli forces bombed al-Mawasi, an area sheltering displaced families near Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Separately, Gaza’s Civil Defense agency said three of its medics were killed and a dozen others wounded by Israeli airstrikes as they searched for survivors of Israel’s assault on the Bureij refugee camp.

The attack on medical workers came as Israeli authorities continue to bar many Palestinians from leaving Gaza to seek medical treatment. This is Kamela Abu Kwaik, mother to 5-year-old Fayez, who urgently needs treatment for cancer after lumps spread throughout his body. On Thursday, the boy was finally granted permission to leave Gaza for treatment in Egypt, but his parents were not allowed to travel with him.

Kamela Abu Kwaik: “Why is there suffering like this? Are people’s hearts blind? Are they blind or deaf that they don’t hear or see? Have they lost their feelings? Is it OK for them to see us suffering like this? Do they not feel for these children? Malnourishment, lack of food, no capabilities, no treatments, no medication. There is no milk. There is nothing. There’s nothing. Do they want to kill us slowly? Why?”

The Biden administration is defending the pace of its arms shipments to Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of slow-rolling military assistance. This week, the White House boasted that it had supplied Israel with $6.5 billion in military aid since last October. The disclosure came as senior U.S. officials held talks with an Israeli delegation headed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who on Wednesday told reporters in Washington, D.C., that Israel was prepared to bomb Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” unless Hezbollah halts cross-border attacks. On Wednesday, Gallant was confronted by a peace activist with CodePink after meeting with key members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

CodePink activist: “Gallant, you are a war criminal! How dare you enter our city and our country? You’re a war criminal! You have literally killed thousands of Palestinians, carrying out the genocide in Palestine! Shame on you! And shame on you for letting them in here! Shame on all of you for protecting a war criminal!”

In more news from Capitol Hill, lawmakers have barred the U.S. State Department from citing death toll figures provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health. Ahead of Thursday’s vote, Congress’s lone Palestinian American lawmaker, Democrat Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, read into the Congressional Record the toll of Palestinians killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza: more than 37,700 dead, 15,000 of them children.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “But Palestinians are not just numbers. Behind these numbers are real people — mothers, fathers, sons, daughters — who have had their lives stolen from them and their families torn apart. And we should not be trying to hide it. These are innocent children and babies who have been bombed in their tents, burned alive, dismembered and deliberately starved to death. Where is our shared humanity in this chamber? There is so much anti-Palestinian racism in this chamber that my colleagues don’t even want to acknowledge that Palestinians exist at all, not when they’re alive and now not even when they’re dead. It’s absolutely disgusting. This is genocide denial.”

President Biden and former President Trump took to the stage Thursday for their first debate of the 2024 election, hosted by CNN at its Atlanta headquarters. Over the 90-minute debate, Trump repeatedly lied and referenced misinformation as he blasted Biden’s immigration policies and inaccurately linked asylum seekers and immigrants to rising crime. Trump also falsely asserted Democrats have advocated for abortion legislation that would allow doctors to kill newborn babies. CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash failed to challenge or fact-check Trump during the debate. President Biden was halting and disjointed, muffled his lines and often appeared to lose his train of thought. We’ll have more on this later in our broadcast.

The United States Supreme Court has rejected a bankruptcy settlement that would have protected members of the Sackler family from lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic. In a 5-4 ruling, justices found the settlement between Purdue Pharma and states, tribes and local governments violates U.S. bankruptcy law by exempting the Sacklers from future litigation.

The Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority ruled in a 6-3 decision that the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot use administrative law judges to assign penalties to violators, who must instead be granted a jury trial. The ruling sets a precedent that severely curtails the power of the federal government to impose fines for violations across a range of agencies. In a scathing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the ruling a “power grab” that will have “momentous consequences.” She wrote, “The constitutionality of hundreds of statutes may now be in peril, and dozens of agencies could be stripped of their power to enforce laws enacted by Congress.”

On Thursday, Supreme Court justices voted 5 to 4 to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s Good Neighbor Plan, which allows the EPA to regulate air pollution that drifts across state lines. In a statement, Earthjustice wrote, “The Court’s order puts thousands of lives at risk, forces downwind states to regulate their industries more tightly, and tells big polluters that it’s open season on our environmental laws.”

In Texas, the former Uvalde schools police chief and another former officer have been indicted over their role in the botched response to the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School. Pete Arredondo, the former Uvalde schools police chief, and Adrian Gonzales, a former officer, were charged Thursday with multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. Arredondo was fired three months after the mass shooting. Three hundred seventy-six law enforcement officers responded to the mass shooting that day, but it took 77 minutes for anyone to enter the classroom where the gunman was slaughtering children. Nineteen children were killed, as well as two teachers.

Polls have opened in Iran, where voters will select a new president, one month after Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. There are four candidates on the ballot, all of them men qualified to run by Iran’s Guardian Council. Some polls suggest voter turnout could be at a record low — below 50% — with voters still reeling from a violent crackdown on widespread anti-government protests in 2022.

The European Union has agreed to a long-term security agreement with Ukraine to provide military, financial, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the deal Thursday during a visit to Brussels where he met with European leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen. Zelensky’s trip came one day after the European Union formally opened accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. The process of joining the EU could take years or even decades.

Meanwhile, CNN is reporting the Biden administration is preparing to lift a de facto ban on Pentagon contractors deploying to Ukraine that’s been in place since Russia’s 2022 invasion. The policy shift would bring U.S. military personnel closer to a direct confrontation with Russia while speeding the work of technicians who maintain and repair U.S.-provided weapons, including F-16 fighter jets.

The United States Pacific Fleet played host Thursday as the world’s largest maritime war games kicked off in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, international maritime exercise brings together 25,000 military personnel from 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, India, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and seven European nations. Israel will also be participating.

Israel’s inclusion has further angered peace activists, who say there’s a direct connection between Israel’s assault on Gaza and the exploitation of Hawaiian lands by the U.S. military. Rose Elovitz is with Jewish Voice for Peace-Hawaiʻi.

Rose Elovitz: “Palestine is a weapons testing ground for Israeli weapons that are exported throughout the world to buyers like Japan, France, Brazil, Australia and more, all of whom are active participants in this year’s RIMPAC. Like Gaza, Hawaii, too, is a testing ground for weapons and trainings. The bombs that are tested in the sacred Mākua Valley are the same bombs dropped in Gaza. The white phosphorus responsible for choking and burning innocent Palestinians to death is the same white phosphorus discharged in Mākua.”