Israeli troops have killed at least 30 Palestinians in the Gaza City neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa. The attack came a day after Israel ordered all civilians in Gaza City to leave despite them having no safe place to go. Al Jazeera reports Israeli snipers have been shooting at some Palestinians who have attempted to flee. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem decried the evacuation order of the city as “absolute madness.” The group said, “Based on Israel’s actions, it appears that it intends to continue fighting indefinitely, sowing destruction, and killing masses of people for the foreseeable future.”

This comes as Israeli troops have once again attacked the Gaza City headquarters of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. According to the agency, Israel has attacked UNRWA facilities 453 times since October.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops have pulled out of parts of the neighborhood of Shuja’iyya in Gaza City, leaving behind utter destruction. This is a resident of Shuja’iyya.

Hatem Tayeh: “We returned to Shuja’iyya after 15 days. You can see the destruction. They spared nothing, even trees. There was a lot of greenery in this area. What is the guilt of stones and trees? And what is my guilt as a civilian? There are bodies of civilian people. What is the guilt of the civilian? Who are you fighting? The people are who? The Israeli forces are destroying everything.”

Israeli officials have returned from Qatar after meeting Wednesday with CIA Director William Burns, as well as Qatari and Egyptian officials, as hostage and ceasefire negotiations are reportedly progressing.

Separately, Egypt’s foreign minister says talks are underway to prevent a wider war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

Badr Abdelatty: “We are intensifying our communications with our brothers, with various Lebanese parties, as well as the effective regional and international parties, to defuse the crisis and to avoid the scourge of engaging in all-encompassing confrontations that will lead to the ignition of the Lebanese front, which will have grave consequences and risks for Lebanon, the Lebanese people, the Arab area and the entire region.”

Hezbollah has said it will stop cross-border attacks if a Gaza ceasefire deal is reached.

The Biden administration is resuming the shipment of 500-pound bombs to Israel after a two-month pause and intense pressure by Israeli officials. This comes despite the continued Israeli carnage in Gaza, which has now killed close to 39,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health, though the true toll is much higher. The resumption of shipments of 2,000-pound U.S. bombs is reportedly still under review.

President Biden is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today on the final day of the three-day NATO summit in Washington. On Wednesday, NATO members formally declared that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership, but only after war with Russia ends. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced U.S.-built F-16 warplanes are headed for Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “And I’m also pleased to announce that, as we speak, the transfer of F-16 jets is underway, coming from Denmark, coming from the Netherlands. And those jets — those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine can continue to effectively defend itself against the Russian aggression.”

On Wednesday, NATO also accused China for the first time of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war. The military alliance called on China to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort.” China condemned NATO’s declaration.

Lin Jian: “The NATO Washington Summit Declaration plays up the tension in the Asia-Pacific region and is full of Cold War mentality and antagonistic rhetoric. The content concerning China is full of prejudice, smear and provocation. We are strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly oppose it.”

Russian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this year in a Siberian penal colony. Yulia Navalnaya left Russia in 2021 and has lived in Germany ever since. If she returns to Russia, she faces arrest and at least two months in jail.

Meanwhile, a court in Moscow has sentenced a playwright and a theater director to six years in prison after they were convicted on charges of “justifying terrorism.” Authorities objected to a play produced by Yevgeniya Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk about Russian women marrying Islamic State fighters in Syria. Many prominent artists have left Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, after authorities tightened censorship laws and launched a crackdown on antiwar voices.

A new U.N. report finds Uganda responsible for supporting M23 rebels in eastern Congo, while at least 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan troops are deployed in the region and operating alongside the armed group. U.N. experts say the presence of Rwanda’s forces violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and implicates the Rwandan government in crimes committed by the M23. The Congolese have long accused Rwanda of backing the M23, which has been accused of the mass killing of civilians.

A two-week humanitarian truce started last Friday in eastern Congo, but there have been multiple reports of violence since then. Over 5 million Congolese are internally displaced, with another million having fled the country.

Back in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden is holding his first solo news conference of the year to close out the NATO summit, amid a frenzied debate over the future of his candidacy for president. More Democratic defectors emerged over the past day despite Biden’s calls to move on from the issue. Vermont Democrat Peter Welch became the first senator to call for Biden to step aside Wednesday. Democratic Congressmembers Pat Ryan and Earl Blumenauer also joined at least nine other House members calling on Biden to withdraw. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighed in on the issue during an interview on MSNBC.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi: “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.”

Meanwhile, the nation’s top union leaders reportedly expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy at a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

In another blow for Biden, George Clooney, one of his highest-profile supporters in the entertainment world, publicly called for the sitting president to step down as the Democratic nominee. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Clooney wrote, “The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

House Republicans on Wednesday passed a bill that would require voters to prove their U.S. citizenship in order to vote in federal elections. Democrats and voting rights advocates blasted the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act. This is progressive Congressmember Summer Lee speaking from the House floor.

Rep. Summer Lee: “Let me be clear: They don’t want you to vote. They don’t want to hear Black voices, Brown voices, LGBTQIA voices, young voices. Our fundamental access to our democracy is being politicized. And this xenophobic attack that we’re debating today will make it harder for Americans to vote. My Republican colleagues will claim that requiring IDs is a small ask, but nearly 30 million people lack a valid driver’s license, and about 15 to 18 million adults don’t have access to documents proving their birth or citizenship. Americans don’t need more obstacles. It’s already hard enough.”

Summer Lee has introduced the Right to Vote Act, which would enshrine federal protections on voting and prevent Republicans from pushing such voter suppression measures.

Nevada’s secretary of state has requested the Nevada Supreme Court certify the vote recount of two primary races in Washoe County, after Washoe commissioners voted not to certify the results. The move came after a well-known Trump supporter and election denier claimed the results were rigged and demanded a recount by hand. Observers warn the election tumult in Washoe could be a sign of further chaos for the battleground state as November approaches.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a group of House Democrats in introducing articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for failing to disclose gifts they received, over decades, from right-wing billionaires.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Justices Thomas and Alito’s yearslong pattern of misconduct and failure to recuse in cases bearing their clear personal and financial involvement represents an abuse of power and threat to our democracy, fundamentally incompatible with continued service on our nation’s highest court.”

The impeachment effort is not expected to move forward in the Republican-controlled House.

This comes as more details emerged this week about gifts received by Justice Thomas from the conservative megadonor Harlan Crow and others, including a yacht trip to Russia in 2003. In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden called on Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Thomas, and said the justice may have committed tax fraud by not reporting the gifts.

A bipartisan group of senators announced the ETHICS Act Wednesday, which would ban members of Congress, their families, and the U.S. president and vice president from stock trading while in office. Democrat Jeff Merkley said, “We must be here to serve the public, not our portfolios.”

Jury deliberations are expected to begin today in New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez’s corruption case. The Democratic senator, his wife Nadine Menendez and three New Jersey businessmen are accused in the bribery scheme. Senator Menendez is also accused of abusing his official position to benefit interests in Egypt and Qatar. If convicted, Menendez could face years in prison.

Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson has spoken out after a spate of shootings over the July 4 holiday weekend, which injured more than 100 people and killed at least 19 people. Johnson called on federal authorities to intervene as he spoke at a Chicago Police public safety press conference.

Mayor Brandon Johnson: “We need to ensure that we are holding every single individual accountable for the pain and trauma and the torment that they have caused in this city. And there will be consequences. There will be consequences for the violence. We will not let criminal activity ruin and harm our city.”

In other gun news, vending machines have been installed in grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama that sell bullets. The Texas-based company American Rounds says it plans to expand its bullet vending machines to other states with lax gun laws.

Today marks the international day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. The remains of 14 more victims are being buried today at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. Some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the massacre after Bosnian Serb armed forces stormed the U.N. safe zone during the Balkan Wars — seen as the worst atrocity in Europe’s history since World War II.