The United Nations has paused aid operations in Gaza after Israel ordered another mass evacuation from Deir al-Balah, where the U.N. had been forced to move its operations center after Israel attacked Rafah. This comes as medical staff have been forced to evacuate patients from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in central Gaza. This is Louise Wateridge of the U.N. agency UNRWA speaking from Deir al-Balah.

Louise Wateridge: “To describe the situation here, it’s just catastrophic. The last couple of weeks, we have had relentless forced displacement orders in the middle area, in the southern area and also in northern Gaza Strip. And what we’re seeing here is hundreds of thousands of people forced to move on a daily basis. … The humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders, and the humanitarian response here is being completely strangled and limited our ability of what we can do.”

The Israeli military has revealed that the United States has sent over 50,000 tons of arms and military equipment to Israel since October 7. The weapons have arrived in more than 500 transport planes and over 100 ships — that’s an average of almost two arms shipments a day for the past 10 months, during which time Israel has killed over 40,400 Palestinians, including 20 Palestinians this morning.

In the occupied West Bank, an Israeli airstrike has hit the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm. Five deaths were reported. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers shot dead one Palestinian and wounded six others in an attack near Bethlehem.

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has sparked outrage after he repeated his call to allow Jewish worshipers to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. He also said he would build a synagogue on the site of the mosque if he could. The Foreign Ministry of Jordan decried Ben-Gvir’s remarks as a “violation of international law and an unacceptable incitement.”

Fears are growing of an environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea. A Greek-flagged crude oil tanker has been on fire since August 23 after being attacked by Houthi fighters from Yemen. The tanker is carrying 150,000 tons of crude oil — that’s more than 1 million barrels of oil. The Houthi movement has vowed to continue targeting ships as long as Israel continues to attack Gaza.

Russia has launched another wave of strikes on Ukraine, killing at least four people. This comes a day after Russia launched one of its biggest air attacks of the war targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to respond to the Russian strikes, which come three weeks after Ukrainian ground troops launched a surprise incursion inside Russia.

In Pakistan, the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army has taken responsibility for a series of attacks that killed more than 40 people in southwestern Pakistan. The coordinated attacks targeted police stations, railway lines and highways. More than 20 separatist fighters also died in the attacks — the deadliest by the group in years.

Major polluting nations including the United States are facing new calls to pay for their role in causing the climate crisis. At a major summit in the Pacific, the message from low-lying Tuvalu was: “If you pollute, you should pay.” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres spoke in Tonga and said ocean temperatures are rising in the Pacific Islands at three times the rate worldwide.

Secretary-General António Guterres: “The world must look to the Pacific and listen to science. This is a crazy situation. Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making, a crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety. But if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. The world must act and answer the SOS before it’s too late.”

In Uganda, security forces violently cracked down on climate activists in the capital Kampala as they protested the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, or EACOP. At least 21 people were arrested. Last week, the Ugandan government said it might forcibly take over land from over 100 people for the pipeline construction, some of whom have already refused compensation and resettlement. EACOP is a 900-mile pipeline which is set to transport oil from Uganda to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Tanga. France’s TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation are behind EACOP, working with Ugandan and Tanzanian state-owned oil firms

In eastern Sudan, at least 60 people were killed when the Arbaat Dam collapsed, washing away entire villages. At least 130 people in Sudan have been killed in recent days from torrential downpours and flooding. The Arbaat Dam supplied drinking water for the coastal city of Port Sudan, where Sudan’s military is based.

Abu Ali Ahmed: “The situation is catastrophic, to be honest. We have children, families, elderly and others that need continuous medication, and this is the fourth day. The issue is not just the food that we need to send. The water came in to them and destroyed all the villages, and we don’t know the circumstances they are going through now. We call on the state’s government and the Sovereignty Council to quickly intervene.”

Today marks 500 days since Sudan’s civil war broke out, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis. More than 10 million have been displaced, tens of thousands killed and injured. There have been widespread reports of sexual violence, and famine and cholera have been reported in camps for displaced people. Recent international peace talks quickly petered out, as the Sudanese army and their rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary refuse to negotiate.

French President Emmanuel Macron is refusing to name a new prime minister and government led by the progressive New Popular Front coalition, launching a fresh round of talks while France remains at a political impasse. The New Popular Front coalition, which quickly came together to stave off a possible far-right victory, gained the largest number of seats in July’s legislative elections — a snap election called by Macron. The leftist France Unbowed party, a member of the New Popular Front, is calling for mass demonstrations on September 7.

President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan is in China meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi. Sullivan is the first U.S. national security adviser to travel to China since 2016.

In related news, Canada has announced it will impose a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electrical vehicles following a similar move by the Biden administration. China condemned the move, saying it was in violation of World Trade Organization rules.

In campaign news, Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance are attempting to downplay their anti-abortion record. On Friday, Trump claimed he “will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” Meanwhile, JD Vance claimed on Sunday that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban. He made the comment in an interview with Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”

Kristen Welker: “Senator Graham said to me, ’I’m going to keep saying that there should be a federal ban.’ If such piece of legislation landed on Donald Trump’s desk, would he veto it?”

Sen. JD Vance: “Well, I think it would be very clear he would not support it. I mean, he’s said that explicitly.”

Kristen Welker: “But would he veto it?”

Sen. JD Vance: “Yes, I mean, if you’re not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it.”

Kristen Welker: “So he would veto a federal abortion ban?”

Sen. JD Vance: “I think he would. He’s said that explicitly, that he would.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren later appeared on “Meet the Press” and responded to Vance’s claim.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country.”

Special counsel Jack Smith has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the criminal case against Donald Trump for illegally keeping classified national security documents after his presidency ended. The case was dismissed last month by federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled Attorney General Merrick Garland had no authority to appoint Smith as a special counsel. In a brief, Smith argued Cannon’s decision ignored decades of Supreme Court precedent and misconstrued the statutes that authorized the special counsel’s appointment.

The League of United Latin American Citizens has asked the Justice Department to open a probe after Texas officials raided the homes of a number of Latino elected leaders, candidates and political operatives in South Texas. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing accusations he is using his office to harass and intimidate Latino voters in an effort to suppress their votes.

In other voting news, the Democratic National Committee and the Georgia Democratic Party have sued to halt new election rules in Georgia that Democrats fear could be used to block certification of election results if Democrats win in November. Under the new rules, local election officials could delay certifying election results until they conduct what’s described as a “reasonable inquiry.” The Democratic lawsuit warns this new rule could “invite chaos” after Election Day. Journalist Ari Berman recently wrote, “5 alarm fire for democracy in Georgia: MAGA majority on state election board laying groundwork not to certify election if Trump loses again. They’re telegraphing exactly how they’re planning to try to steal the election this time.”

In other news from Georgia, a 12-foot statue of the late civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis has been unveiled outside the historic Decatur courthouse in outer Atlanta. The statue replaces a Confederate obelisk that was taken down in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd.

In immigration news, a federal judge in Texas sided with 16 Republican-led states, halting a Biden administration policy that would give spouses of U.S. citizens legal status without having to first leave the country. The policy would prevent families from being separated — possibly for yearslong stretches — and could offer a path to citizenship for up to half a million people.

The mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, is calling on city lawmakers to pass four new public safety policies in response to a series of Nazi gatherings in the city. One policy creates buffer zones around public buildings. Another prohibits the placement of signs over highways. A third bans the distribution of handbills before sunrise or after sunset.

The pioneering climate journalist Peter Dykstra has died at the age of 67. After 17 years at CNN, he became the publisher of Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate. Prior to his time at CNN, he spent over a decade working for Greenpeace. He appeared on Democracy Now! in 2014 and talked about corporate media coverage of the climate crisis.

Peter Dykstra: “Well, I would ask people, sometime soon, watch a half-hour of network news one of the next few evenings. What you won’t see, in all likelihood, is serious discussion of climate change. What you will see are one or two or three commercials from the oil and coal industry talking about generating jobs and keeping the lights lit and keeping America prosperous and keeping us away from foreign oil.”

The pioneering climate journalist Peter Dykstra, speaking in 2014. He died on July 31 at the age of 67.