Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Israel today meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues for a 95th day. Blinken is on a multination trip across the Middle East. On Monday, he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Health officials in Gaza say it has been another devastating 24-hour period. The bodies of 57 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes have been taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, the only remaining hospital in central Gaza. The hospital also took in 65 injured Palestinians as the hospital’s few remaining doctors struggled to treat the wounded. Over the weekend, Doctors Without Border and other NGOs pulled staff from the hospital due to concern for their safety amid heavy Israeli attacks.
Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Israel of purposely starving the people of Gaza. In a new report, the group said starvation is “not a byproduct of war but a direct result of Israel’s declared policy.”

In Rafah, displaced Palestinians denounced Tony Blinken and the United States for supporting Israel’s assault.

Mohammed al-Qassas: “We hold America and Blinken accountable, as they helped Israel kill children and provided weapons. So, whether Blinken comes or not, he will never change anything. We will remain steadfast, and victory will be for us. We will show America and Israel something that they have never seen.”

Israel has also carried out a number of military raids in the occupied West Bank. On Monday, Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinian men in the city of Tulkarem. Video has emerged showing an Israeli military vehicle running over one of the men who had been shot. More than 340 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting 70 lawmakers in the Israeli Knesset have signed a motion to expel Ofer Cassif from the legislative body after he signed a petition supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Cassif, who is Jewish, denounced the move to expel him, pointing out that no action has been taken against lawmakers who have called for the complete destruction of Gaza or backed the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza.
Earlier today, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Tony Blinken and criticized South Africa’s genocide case.

President Isaac Herzog: “On Thursday, a proceeding will start in the International Court of Justice in The Hague whereby the South Africa has sued Israel for, supposedly, genocide. There’s nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim. … Where we are doing our utmost and under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties.”

On Monday, Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, called on Britain to back South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice.

Jeremy Corbyn: “Twenty-two thousand people have already been killed, 1.9 million displaced, thousands dying in the rubble, thousands of children dying because of lack of medical care and food, people dying of starvation and thirst and hunger in the Gaza Strip at the present time. Cannot the government understand the anger around the world when they watch this in real time happening and why so many people are very pleased that the government of South Africa has taken an initiative in going to the International Court in order to hold Israel to account for the deaths of so many wholly innocent people in Gaza? Can’t the government understand that and at least support the South African process?”

So far just a handful of countries have publicly supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel: Bolivia, Turkey, Malaysia and Jordan.

Israel has reportedly carried out another targeted strike inside southern Lebanon, killing three members of Hezbollah earlier today. This comes one day after an Israeli drone strike assassinated Wissam al-Tawil. He was the most senior Hezbollah figure killed by Israel in recent months. The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. officials are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees expanding the war to Lebanon as “key to his political survival.”

President Biden denounced the poison of white supremacy on Monday during a speech at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where the white supremacist Dylann Roof shot dead nine Black parishioners in 2015. Many analysts say the speech was part of an effort by Biden to shore up support from Black voters. Biden’s speech was disrupted when a group of activists started chanting “ceasefire now.”

President Joe Biden: “Without light, there’s no path from this darkness.”

Protester: “If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine!”

Protesters: “Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now! Ceasefire now!”

As the protesters calling for a ceasefire were removed from the church, supporters of Biden started chanting “four more years.” President Biden then addressed the protest.

President Joe Biden: “I understand their passion. And I’ve been quietly working — I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. I’ve been using all that I can to do that.”

Here in New York, at least 325 protesters were arrested Monday morning when they blocked the entrances to three major bridges and a tunnel in Manhattan. Demonstrators were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mon: “I’m part of a large group of people who are shutting down downtown Manhattan. We’re taking four sites. We’re taking Brooklyn Bridge, where we are now, Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and the Holland Tunnel, in solidarity with Palestine and against the war in Gaza. … We’re hoping that with this action we can inspire others to keep agitating, keep escalating and keep disrupting until we have like shown that we will not stop until the U.S. supports a permanent ceasefire.”

Organizers of the protest included Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement and Democratic Socialists of America.

Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets remain grounded after a refrigerator-sized fuselage door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane near Portland, Oregon, on Friday. Officials with Alaska Airlines and United Airlines say they have found loose bolts and other problems on some of the grounded jets. Meanwhile, the online news outlet The Lever is reporting employees at a Boeing subcontractor were told to falsify records after inspection teams found an “excessive amount of defects” in parts being made for Boeing. Spirit AeroSystems reportedly manufactured the door that blew out on the Alaska Airlines flight. The Lever reports a group of Spirit shareholders filed a federal complaint last year saying Spirit executives had “prioritized production numbers and short-term financial outcomes over product quality.” Spirit was established nearly two decades ago as a spinoff of Boeing.

Donald Trump is expected to be inside a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., today as his lawyers argue that the former president has absolute immunity from prosecution from charges that he tried to overthrow the 2020 election. Trump is claiming his actions were part of his official duties as president. But in a legal brief, special counsel Jack Smith has warned that granting Trump immunity from criminal prosecution would be “particularly dangerous” due to his efforts to try to remain in office beyond his term. On Monday, Trump’s legal team also filed a request to dismiss state charges in Georgia over election interference, citing presidential immunity. Trump’s court appearance in Washington comes less than a week before the January 15 caucus in Iowa.

In Brazil, rallies in defense of democracy were held Monday marking one year since thousands of supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro stormed several government buildings in an attempt to topple newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula spoke Monday, hailing the “victory of democracy over authoritarianism” after the January 8 insurrection.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: “If the coup attempt had been successful, much more than glass, furniture, works of art and historical objects would have been stolen and destroyed. The sovereign will of the Brazilian people that was expressed at the ballot box would have been stolen, and democracy would have been destroyed.”

Scientists with the European Union have confirmed 2023 was the hottest year on record — and likely the warmest in the last 100,000 years. Monthly heat records were broken every month last year from June to December. The head of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said, “This has been a very exceptional year, climate-wise … in a league of its own, even when compared to other very warm years.”

In Bangladesh, more than 7,000 Rohingya refugees have been left homeless after a fire destroyed about 800 shelters in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, where nearly a million Rohingya refugees live after fleeing Burma.

In Tacoma, Washington, dozens of asylum seekers from India jailed at the Northwest Detention Center have been on hunger strike for nearly a week demanding their release and a fair due process. Strikers are denouncing their indefinite detention and other dangerous conditions at the detention center. Many of the asylum seekers told the advocacy group La Resistencia that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had threatened them with forced-feeding unless they ended the peaceful action. Northwest is run by the for-profit prison corporation GEO Group and has seen a wave of recent hunger strikes, most recently one that lasted over 50 days.