Israel has rejected a possible ceasefire as it continues its assault on Lebanon. The U.S., France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia had called for a 21-day ceasefire as the death toll in Lebanon topped 620 people, at least 72 of those killed on Wednesday. Despite resounding international warnings against escalating attacks, Israel is doubling down, with its military chief Herzi Halevi telling troops Wednesday, “You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day. This is both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”

Half a million people in Lebanon are now believed to be displaced. Hospitals are overrun with victims of Israeli attacks. This is Dr. Adel Raee, director of the Raee Hospital in Sidon.

Dr. Adel Raee: “Since Monday until today, we have received 136 wounded, including 36 martyrs. Among those 36 martyrs, 18 were torn to pieces. There are still bodies in the morgue that require DNA testing for identification.”

We’ll go to Lebanon for the latest later in the broadcast.

Here in New York, Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati pleaded with the U.N. Security Council Wednesday to intervene to stop Israel’s bombardment during an emergency session. Mikati said, “Israel is violating our sovereignty by sending their warplanes and drones to our skies.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke from the sidelines of the Security Council meeting Wednesday.

Abbas Araghchi: “The Security Council must act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire, and by that, to save innocent lives. If not, the region risks full-scale conflict, and history will hold Israel’s enablers, especially the United States, responsible. … Iran will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon. We stand with the people of Lebanon with all means.”

This comes as a new Oxfam report is calling for urgent reform of the “colonial and archaic” Security Council. Oxfam says the UNSC’s five permanent members — the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K. and France — are “failing people living in conflict” as they consistently abuse their veto power in their own interests, blocking opportunities for peace around the world.

In Gaza, displaced Palestinians are expressing solidarity with Lebanese people under Israeli attack.

Umm Muhammad Abu Shaqfa: “What is happening to us in Gaza is happening to Lebanon now. I have been displaced from the north for the last five months. And the world is quiet and is still standing by Israel. How is it the world is standing by it? In what viewpoint are they standing by them? How did they see the oppressor, and how did they see the oppressed? I don’t understand how. I don’t know how to comprehend this in my head, this mass genocide, the massacre of children, women, elderly, and making us live in tents and crisis that have no end. And now they are doing the same to Lebanon. But the war will not end unless it ends in Lebanon. If it ends in Lebanon, it will end in Gaza.”

In Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry refused to receive an Israeli truck filled with the unidentified remains of 88 Palestinians killed by Israel. A distraught mother searching for her missing son went to meet the truck.

Umm Tamer Yassin: “I got a call telling me there are dead bodies coming from Israel. I came running to see if my son is fine or dead. I want to know if he is among the dead bodies. … Look! These are dead bodies being thrown. They throw it to the people, left them to the streets, and their families cannot identify their bodies. Here is the truck. The bodies are inside. We cannot see them.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank over the past year. CPJ has documented a total of 54 such arrests since October 7; 36 remain jailed, including 14 held without charges under Israel’s “administrative detention” policy. Among them is Palestinian journalist Mujahed al-Saadi, who was beaten along with his wife by Israeli soldiers during a violent raid on their home in the early hours of September 19. He has since had no contact with his lawyer or family.

The Sudanese military has launched airstrikes and artillery attacks in Khartoum as it undertakes a major offensive to retake control of the capital city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

This comes as Sudan’s Health Ministry announced more than 430 people have died of cholera in the past month. Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders reports pregnant people and newborn babies are dying in “shocking” numbers after the conflict led to the collapse of Sudan’s health system. Sudan’s military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York today.

Federal agents searched the official residence of New York City Mayor Eric Adams early Thursday morning, just hours before prosecutors were expected to reveal details of a federal criminal indictment against the mayor. This morning the indictment remained sealed in Manhattan federal court.

The New York Times reports investigators are looking into whether Adams conspired with the Turkish government to funnel illegal foreign donations into his campaign. They’re also probing his ties to five other countries: China, Israel, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Qatar.

A growing number of Democrats have called on Adams to resign, including New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We’ll have the latest on the federal corruption probe into Mayor Eric Adams and his administration after headlines.

The Congressional Black Caucus is calling for Louisiana Republican Congressmember Clay Higgins to be censured after he posted — then deleted — a racist diatribe criticizing Haitian immigrants as “thugs.” On Wednesday, Higgins mocked the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance after it filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and JD Vance in Ohio for their repeated lies that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating their neighbors’ pets. Higgins wrote on social media, “Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters… but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP. All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th.” Lawmakers are set to vote on the censure resolution when the House returns from its recess in November.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution honoring Wadea al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian American boy from Illinois who was murdered in a hate crime last October, shortly after Israel launched its assault on Gaza. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said, “His murder is a painful reminder of the deadly consequences of anti-Palestinian hate and Islamophobia.” Congressmember Delia Ramirez, one of the resolution’s authors, is calling on her colleagues to swiftly pass the companion House resolution. Click here to see our recent interview with Congressmember Ramirez.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has endorsed a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ban Ki-moon: “The world has come together many times to tackle significant threats: saving the ozone, banning landmines, negotiating a nuclear ban treaty. Now we must do it again, this time for fossil fuels – an industry that fuels the climate crisis, wars, biodiversity loss and air pollution.”

To learn more about the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, click here to see our interview this week with its president, Kumi Naidoo.

In Mexico, protesters are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College. Family members continue to demand justice and accountability for the members of Mexico’s armed forces and police who worked with a local drug cartel to abduct the students in Guerrero state on September 26, 2014. This is a lawyer for relatives of the disappeared.

Vidulfo Rosales: “Here we are present. The movement will continue. Whoever governs, we will continue to demand the return of our comrades alive. Whoever governs, we will continue to demand punishment for those responsible. Whoever governs, we will continue to demand the whereabouts of our 43 comrades.”

In Thailand, same-sex couples will be able to get married starting in January, after the Thai king signed a recently passed bill into law. Thailand becomes the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriages. Activists celebrated the milestone in Bangkok.

Thawiteeya Buranakeattisuk: “Finally, it’s official. Even though it’s something that humans should inherently have, we just feel relieved more than anything. I believe that many people who have fought for this bill have experienced a wide range of emotions — stress, intensity or joy — as they waited. There have been many feelings from the beginning up until this very moment.

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has won a News and Documentary Emmy for her AJ+ report “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive.” A group of Hollywood celebrities and pro-Israel groups unsuccessfully attempted to disqualify Owda’s widely acclaimed report, which chronicles her family’s forced evacuation of their home in Beit Hanoun after Israel launched its assault on Gaza.