Israel’s two-week siege on northern Gaza continues. Rescue workers say dozens of bodies remain buried under collapsed buildings in Jabaliya, where Israeli strikes earlier today on a U.N.-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 25 people, including children. Hospitals warn food and fuel is running out. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, recorded this video late last night.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya: “The nursery is full of cases. They are critical cases in nature. This baby here was only a few hours old when his mother was targeted right after giving birth, so his mother, father and grandmother were martyred. This baby is now alone and has an injury to his head, which led to a secondary infection, and now he is receiving the needed treatment.”

At the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield suggested the U.S. would start to demand evidence from Israel it is not intentionally starving Palestinians.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield: “A policy of starvation in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law. The government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off. And we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement.”

This comes as a new report by Politico reveals a top Biden administration official told aid groups in late August that the U.S. would not restrict arms and funding to Israel, even if Israel blocked food and other aid from entering Gaza. Lise Grande, Biden’s special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, reportedly told the heads of over a dozen aid groups the U.S. would never “hold anything back that [Israel] wants.”

Inside Gaza, Palestinians say Israel’s deliberate, man-made famine has been evident for months. This is Karam Safi, a displaced Palestinian in Khan Younis who has been working with aid groups to provide food to up to 16,000 people.

Karam Safi: “Due to the closure of the aid crossings and the permanent siege of the north and south, we were compelled to distribute these lentils, and with very simple resources and capabilities so that we can serve these people. … I expect a very big catastrophe. A very big catastrophe. I mean of a special kind. Why? Because most of the adults and children will die of hunger. And the Israelis are doing this intentionally. They are carrying out this siege to kill the people one way or another, not by strikes, but by famine. The goal is to humiliate the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, UNRWA, which has been defunded by the U.S. since January, is warning it may soon no longer be able to function.

Philippe Lazzarini: “And I will not hide the fact that we might reach a point that we won’t be able anymore to operate. And if we cannot operate anymore in Gaza, it’s not just UNRWA as the main provider of services, but you have also the rest of the U.N. system, which very much relies and depends on the platform that the agency has offered so far. So, we are very near to a possible breaking point. When would it be? I don’t know. But we are very near of that.”

Israeli airstrikes have hit eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley shortly after Israeli forces warned residents it will attack the region. Before the latest warning, 25% of Lebanon was already under forced evacuation orders from Israel. Meanwhile, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon reports its peacekeepers have once again come under “direct and apparently deliberate fire” in southern Lebanon. We’ll go to Beirut to speak to journalist Rania Abouzeid after headlines.

Meanwhile, Syrian media reports at least two people were injured when Israel launched an airstrike on the port city of Latakia.

The Pentagon announced U.S. B-2 bombers launched so-called precision strikes against five Houthi targets in Yemen. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attacks are in response to Houthis’ “destabilizing behavior.” Houthi fighters have attacked vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, and vowed to continue until Israel ends its assault on Gaza and Lebanon.

Kamala Harris has appeared for the first time on Fox News, just weeks ahead of the November election. In what was widely described as a “combative” interview with Bret Baier on Wednesday evening, Harris asserted her administration will break from the Biden presidency.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency. And like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership.”

On foreign policy, Harris called Iran the greatest threat to the U.S. and touted ongoing U.S. weapons shipments to Israel. Harris also defended her hard-line stance on immigration.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings, and I have not done that as vice president, and I will not do that as president.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has laid out a so-called victory plan in a speech to Ukraine’s parliament, proposing to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by late 2025. The five-point plan calls for an immediate and unconditional invitation to Ukraine to join NATO. It would also guarantee weapons sent to Ukraine by its allies could be used for attacks on Russian soil, and would see Ukrainian troops replace U.S. troops in Europe after the war. Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Zelensky’s plan as an escalation and warned it could push Russia into direct conflict with NATO.

This comes as President Biden heads to Germany today, where he will discuss U.S. and European support for Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal recently reported the number of Ukrainians and Russians killed or wounded since Russia’s invasion in early 2022 has topped 1 million people.

An Italian naval vessel carrying 16 asylum seekers who were intercepted in international waters docked in Albania Wednesday, the first in a highly contested new plan by Italy to transfer refugees to Albania while their cases are processed. Rights groups say the policy likely violates international law. This is Giorgia Linardi, with the rescue organization Sea-Watch.

Giorgia Linardi: “The Italy-Albania plan is a way to circumvent responsibilities on asylum. It’s yet another attempt to militarize borders and to delegate responsibilities over the protection of people on the move to other states to make sure that the eyes of the justice system and of the civil society cannot monitor, denounce, and protect those people. It’s clearly not a question of space. There is no need for Italy to go and build extremely costly detention centers in another state.”

In Nigeria, at least 153 people were killed Tuesday when a fuel tanker exploded in the northern town of Majiya. Another 100 people were injured. The blast occurred as people gathered around an overturned tanker to collect the spilled gasoline. It was one of the deadliest road-related accidents ever recorded in Nigeria.

In Mexico, the mayor of Candelaria Loxicha in Oaxaca state died after he was attacked outside his home Tuesday. Román Ruiz Bohórquez is the second Mexican mayor to be assassinated this month. Mexico’s recently inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to tackle violent organized crime. Community members mourned Bohórquez at his funeral Wednesday.

Gabriela Arellano Reyes: “Today they killed a leader who only had the aspiration to make his community shine, his town, Candelaria Loxicha. On behalf of all of my colleagues, I ask for justice for his death, that it does not go unpunished.”

Here in New York, a federal district judge on Wednesday sentenced Mexico’s former top security official to more than 38 years in prison, following his conviction last year for accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the drug cartels he had been tasked with prosecuting. Genaro García Luna served as Mexico’s secretary of public security under former President Felipe Calderón, the architect of Mexico’s U.S.-backed so-called war on drugs, which has led to the killing and disappearance of tens of thousands of people. García Luna also worked closely with U.S. counternarcotics and intelligence agencies.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied an 11th-hour request by death row prisoner Robert Roberson to halt his planned execution today — despite evidence his 2003 conviction for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter was based on “junk science.” Unless Texas Governor Greg Abbott or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Roberson is set to be executed at 6 p.m. this evening. The appeals court ruling came even after a bipartisan group of lawmakers requested a stay of execution, writing, “We believe it would be a stain on the conscience of the State of Texas for an execution to proceed while efforts are underway to remedy deficiencies in how the law was applied to this case.”

Roberson’s conviction was based solely on forensic testimony that cited the “shaken baby syndrome hypothesis,” which was popularized in the early 2000s but never scientifically validated.

The Supreme Court has left in place an Environmental Protection Agency rule curbing carbon dioxide emissions by coal- and gas-fired power plants. In a brief ruling handed down Wednesday, justices rejected an emergency request by states and fossil fuel industry groups to block the EPA from enforcing rules the agency says will prevent carbon pollution equivalent to the annual emissions of some 330 million gasoline-powered cars. The case now heads back to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In California, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to an $880 million settlement with 1,353 people who survived sexual abuse by priests. It’s the largest settlement of its kind in the U.S., made possible by changes to California law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil cases brought by survivors of child sexual abuse.

In Puerto Rico, Congressmembers Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez formally endorsed the candidates of the Puerto Rican center-left alliance, known as the “Alianza,” ahead of November’s election. The Alianza, which brings together the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizen’s Victory Party, has appealed to Puerto Ricans disaffected with the two main parties over corruption scandals, austerity policies and the disastrous privatization of the electrical grid.

New York Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, spoke Wednesday from Puerto Rico as she endorsed Alianza and its candidate for governor, Juan Dalmau.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez: “If political parties with different positions dare to make an alliance to fight for a change in Puerto Rico, the logical step for me is to support them. … Today, in front of the sun, I welcome hope and give my endorsement to Juan Dalmau for governor of Puerto Rico, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén for commissioner in Washington, Manuel Natal for mayor of San Juan, and the rest of the candidates of the alliance.”