Israel’s army has dropped leaflets across Gaza City ordering all residents to leave their homes and shelters immediately, setting off a fresh wave of panicked evacuations. On Tuesday, at least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced people near Khan Younis. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli attack resulted in body parts flying through the air; most of the dead were women and children.

Mohammad al-Asaly: “Suddenly, and without prior warning, rockets were fired toward a number of people who were connecting to an internet hotspot. They are not fighters. They did not have any weapons and were not involved in any resistance operations. They were civilians, and mostly children. I was there at the site, and most of the people were killed or critically wounded. None of us had any weapons or anything related to the resistance. It was in Khan Younis, in Abasan, at the gates of a school used as a shelter.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza decried the attack as a “heinous massacre against displaced citizens.” It was the fourth Israeli attack on a school over the past four days in Gaza. 

On Tuesday, a panel of United Nations independent experts declared in an open letter that Israel has engaged in a campaign of starvation and genocide in Gaza. Michael Fakhri, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, and nine others write, “We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. We call upon the international community to prioritize the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege, and establish a ceasefire.” After headlines, we’ll go to Gaza to speak with journalist Akram al-Satarri.

In the occupied West Bank, mourners laid the body of 13-year-old Palestinian Ghassan Gharib Zahran to rest on Tuesday. The boy was killed when Israeli troops fired live ammunition at several children during a raid in Ramallah. The boy’s death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since last October to more than 570, of whom 137 are children.

Members of the United Nations Security Council have condemned Russia’s assault on civilian sites across Ukraine Monday morning that killed at least 42 people and injured 300 others. Among the dead were two adults killed when Russia bombed Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv, and seven people who died when Russia struck a maternity and fertility clinic in Kyiv. This is U.N. emergency relief coordinator Joyce Msuya.

Joyce Msuya: “Let me remind this council that hospitals have special protection under international humanitarian law. Intentionally directing attacks against a protected hospital is a war crime, and perpetrators must be held to account.”

Russia’s U.N. ambassador, who chaired Tuesday’s Security Council meeting, blamed Ukrainian air defenses for the explosion at the children’s hospital. That’s a finding contradicted by a U.N. human rights monitor. The U.N. says more than 11,000 civilians across Ukraine have been killed and 22,000 injured since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Healthcare facilities and medical workers have faced nearly 1,900 attacks.

President Biden has welcomed heads of government from NATO member nations to Washington, D.C., for talks marking the 75th anniversary of the nuclear-armed military alliance. Biden opened the three-day summit Tuesday evening with a speech that celebrated NATO’s expansion — from 12 member states in 1949 to 32 members today. And Biden pledged further NATO support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

President Joe Biden: “The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems. And in the coming months, the United States and our partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air defense systems. The United States will make sure that when we export critical air defense interceptors, Ukraine goes to the front of the line.”

On Tuesday, President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, to outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We’ll have more on the NATO summit later in the broadcast.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wrapped up a two-day visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was Modi’s first visit to Russia since Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Modi has so far refused to condemn Russia’s actions and has abstained from U.N. votes denouncing the invasion. India remains the second-largest purchaser of Russian oil, after China. After the talks, Modi offered limited criticism of Putin’s attacks on Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “When it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity feels pain when they see death, especially when innocent children are killed. The sight of innocent children dying shatters your heart, and that pain is very terrifying. I had a detailed discussion on this issue with you.”

On Tuesday, Putin awarded Modi the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Russia’s highest civilian award. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted Modi for his literal embrace of Putin. On social media, Zelensky wrote, “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has joined Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a new conservative coalition in the European Parliament. The alliance, dubbed “Patriots for Europe,” is the largest-ever far-right bloc in the parliament’s history. This comes just days after a newly formed leftist coalition defeated Le Pen’s National Rally party in Sunday’s final round of a heated snap parliamentary election in France. Jordan Bardella, who was poised to be the National Rally’s candidate for prime minister, is now president of the new EU far-right bloc. Italy’s far-right leader Matteo Salvini also announced plans to join the alliance, which includes members of Spain’s Vox party.

This comes as French prosecutors have launched an investigation into Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign finances over accusations of embezzlement, forgery and fraud.

The West African bloc ECOWAS says the region is facing “disintegration” after three military-ruled countries established their own bloc over the weekend. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — which all experienced military takeovers in recent years — have formed the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES, holding their own weekend meetings as a counterpoint to the ECOWAS summit in Abuja, Nigeria. This comes amid further moves to cut military and other ties with former colonizer France and other Western powers. On Sunday, the U.S. military withdrew from Niger’s air base in the capital Niamey ahead of its upcoming withdrawal from a $110 million U.S. drone base. Niger ordered U.S. troops to depart the country in March.

Two top Democratic senators have called on the Justice Department to open a criminal probe into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on potential violations of ethics, false statements and tax laws. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Thomas’s failure to disclose lavish gifts, luxury travel and other perks gifted to Thomas by wealthy friends, including billionaire conservative megadonor Harlan Crow. “No government official should be above the law,” the senators said in a statement.

Another Democratic congressmember has called on President Biden to bow out of the presidential race following his disastrous performance in a debate against Donald Trump last month, when Biden appeared disjointed, confused, and frequently lost his train of thought. On Tuesday, New Jersey Congressmember Mikie Sherrill said in a statement, “[B]ecause I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country, I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for reelection and will help lead us through a process toward a new nominee.” It was at least the 10th such call by a House Democrat.

Meanwhile, members of the “uncommitted” movement of Democratic voters have asked the Democratic National Committee to adopt a statement critical of Israel’s war on Gaza. The movement will be sending 29 uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month and is preparing to back a Democratic presidential candidate who supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel’s war and occupation. This is Elianne Farhat, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota.

Elianne Farhat: “People of all faiths and backgrounds got into the uncommitted movement is because what we saw was, because of a flawed policy in Gaza, with incredible pain and suffering and death and horror on Palestinian people, the multiracial, multigenerational coalition we need to beat Donald Trump is fraying. And the stakes of the November election are too high for anyone to sit this one out.”

In Wisconsin, a federal judge has banned protesters from marching through a security zone at the Republican National Convention, which will be hosted in Milwaukee next week. The ACLU and the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 filed the lawsuit against Milwaukee, saying the city’s restrictions on protesters violated free speech rights. The suit was dropped following news of the ruling. Democracy Now! will be in Milwaukee next week. Watch our extended daily two-hour broadcast, “Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency.”

In more news from Wisconsin, community advocates are demanding justice for Dvontaye Mitchell, a 43-year-old Black father who died last month after he was violently pinned to the ground by four security guards outside a hotel in downtown Milwaukee. Footage shows the security guards pressing Mitchell down on his stomach with their hands and knees as Mitchell is heard crying out for help. The incident came after Mitchell was pushed out of the Hyatt Regency hotel located just a few minutes from where thousands of Republicans will gather to nominate Donald Trump for president at the RNC next week. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Mitchell’s family, said a witness reported seeing one of the guards also striking Mitchell on the head with an object. Mitchell’s death has been compared to the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. Mitchell’s family said he suffered from mental health issues and depression following his father’s death in 2016, and described him as “loving.” The medical examiner’s office determined the preliminary cause of death is homicide, but the investigation is ongoing.