At least 17 Palestinians, including an 11-month-old baby, were killed today in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, as Israel once again attacked a school turned shelter in central Deir al-Balah.

In northern Gaza, Al Jazeera reports many Civil Defense rescue workers are refusing Israeli orders to evacuate, facing arrest and attacks as they continue their rescue missions, even as their capacity has been nearly wiped out by Israel’s assault. Israel’s siege on northern Gaza, now in its 20th day, has killed over 770 Palestinians. This is a displaced Palestinian woman who fled Beit Lahia.

Lina Issam Abu Nada: “I fled the intense bombardment in Beit Lahia. Martyrs and remains were all scattered on the ground. We do not know where to go. Truly, we don’t know what state we have reached. … We cannot take it anymore. We are being exterminated in Gaza. We are dying, and no one is standing beside us, nor is anyone able to solve our issue. We are innocent. We have nothing to do with everything that has happened. We are lost between a war and an extermination.”

Al Jazeera has blasted Israel’s “dangerous escalation” of its attack against the news network, after the Israeli military claimed six of its journalists are members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera responded, “These fabricated accusations [are] a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide.”

Israel is continuing its assault on Lebanon, carrying out 17 attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight, leveling at least six buildings. One strike destroyed the offices of the Lebanese news station Al Mayadeen. Israel also killed three Lebanese soldiers in a separate strike.

Meanwhile, health authorities are warning of a possible cholera outbreak among Lebanese children amid mass displacement, attacks on the health system and lack of clean water and food. The 400,000 displaced children in Lebanon are also at risk of other highly transmissible diseases like hepatitis A and measles.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron pledged a 100 million euro aid package for Lebanon as he opened a conference in Paris to rally support for Lebanon and reiterate calls for a ceasefire.

Here in the U.S., Jewish students across the country say college administrators have cracked down on their Gaza solidarity sukkahs, which have been set up over the past week to mark the holiday of Sukkot. In some cases, schools have destroyed the sukkah huts. Jewish Voice for Peace said in a statement, “These universities desecrate these students’ Jewish practice because their faith is intertwined with their solidarity with the Palestinian people. A university has no right to dictate what types of Jewish practice are legitimate.”

Here in New York City, faith leaders and other activists disrupted a city council meeting Wednesday to demand councilmembers take up a vote on a Gaza ceasefire resolution. Protesters cried out “City Council, you can’t hide! No more bombs for genocide!” as they held up their hands, covered in red paint, while being forcibly removed by security. Over 100 city councils across the country have passed ceasefire resolutions.

In Spain, over 300 academics, entertainers and artists, including the directors Pedro Almodóvar and Isabel Coixet, have signed on to a letter calling on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to enact a full arms embargo on Israel, writing, “As long as Spain maintains military relations with Israel, it will continue to be complicit in this massacre.” Sánchez has said Spain halted its weapons trade with Israel since October of last year, but investigations have revealed some military exports have still gone ahead.

Turkey’s military launched dozens of airstrikes across northern Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in what the Turkish Defense Ministry said were attacks on positions held by the Kurdish PKK militia. The strikes came hours after officials in Ankara blamed the PKK for setting off explosives at the state-run aerospace company TUSAS, then opening fire, killing at least five people and injuring 22 others. No group has claimed responsibility.

Aid agencies in eastern Chad are warning of deteriorating conditions in overcrowded camps for more than half a million Sudanese refugees who’ve fled fighting between rival military factions since the outbreak of war in April 2023. The conflict has uprooted more than 11 million people across Sudan, with 26 million facing severe food insecurity. About 25,000 refugees from Sudan crossed into Chad in the first week of October alone.

Those settling in refugee camps face poor living conditions, severe cuts to food rations and few job prospects. Meanwhile, the U.N. says Sudan’s warring factions continue to commit human rights violations including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.

Farhan Haq: “We continue to receive reports of civilian casualties and indiscriminate attacks impacting public infrastructure and residential areas, both in North Darfur and elsewhere, with many areas effectively cut off from humanitarian assistance.”

Kamala Harris’s campaign and allied groups raised $378 million in September, helping to break the record for the largest quarterly campaign fundraising haul in U.S. history, according to new Federal Election Commission data. Major Harris donors include Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Illinois’s billionaire Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen. The New York Times reports billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently donated about $50 million to a nonprofit backing Harris.

Donald Trump’s campaign reports it raised $160 million in September. That includes over $14 million from a handful of oil and gas industry executives, coming after Trump told fossil fuel companies he would roll back environmental protections in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions.

On Wednesday, Trump rallied supporters in Duluth, Georgia, where he was introduced by far-right TV personality Tucker Carlson, who compared Trump to an angry father whose children deserved to be spanked.

Tucker Carlson: “And when dad gets home, you know what he says? ’You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.’”

Trump was later welcomed to the stage as the crowd chanted “Daddy’s home.” At the Georgia rally, Trump did not mention recent statements from his former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, who told The New York Times Trump made admiring comments about Adolf Hitler and would govern like a dictator if allowed. On Wednesday, Kamala Harris said she agrees with Kelly that Trump is a fascist.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions.”

In other campaign news, the consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday over Elon Musk’s $1 million daily giveaway to swing state voters. So far, at least four people — two in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina — have received checks for $1 million. The Justice Department has reportedly sent a warning to Elon Musk’s super PAC over the scheme.

Meanwhile, the outlet The Lever reports Elon Musk could benefit from a massive tax benefit if Trump is reelected and appoints Musk to a government position. Trump has said he will create a new official role for Musk: “secretary of cost-cutting.”

This comes as a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that Kamala Harris’s tax proposals would overall increase taxes for the top 1% and lower them for everyone else, while Trump’s policies would cut taxes for the wealthiest 5% and raise them for everyone else.

Donald Trump is facing a new accusation of sexual misconduct. Stacey Williams worked as a model in 1993, when she says Donald Trump repeatedly groped her at Trump Tower. She was introduced to Trump by the now-deceased serial sexual predator and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Williams described the assault as a “twisted game” that had been orchestrated by Trump and Epstein. She detailed the encounter this week on a call organized by the group Survivors for Kamala, which also featured Hollywood actor Ashley Judd and Anita Hill. Trump’s campaign denied the allegations.

Boeing workers on the West Coast are extending their six-week strike after rejecting a proposed contract Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Boeing reported a $6.1 billion loss. The deal, which was rejected by 64% of voters, included a 35% wage increase over four years. Striking workers are demanding a 40% raise and the reinstatement of their defined-benefit pension plan. This is a Boeing machinist speaking ahead of the vote.

Myles Sims: “I think it’s a decent contract, but I think it’s not what we asked for. And I feel like the contract, it’s not going to push the company forward for longevity in the long run. There’s a lot of new hires that are struggling. There’s even — I just feel like Boeing, in this economy, could do a lot better with all the money that we’ve made for them over the years.”

A new study by Ohio State University finds the U.S. infant mortality rate spiked after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, with hundreds more babies dying after states moved to restrict or ban abortion access. The largest increase came among infants with congenital anomalies or birth defects. Researchers believe that’s because pregnant people living under abortion bans can no longer terminate pregnancies when fetal anomalies are detected in utero.

Gustavo Gutiérrez, the Peruvian priest known as the “father of liberation theology,” has died at 96. Liberation theology holds that ending poverty and helping those in need is an essential mission of the church. In his seminal 1971 book “A Theology of Liberation,” Gutiérrez wrote that poverty is “an attack on human dignity, and therefore, contrary to the will of God.” The school of thought was popularized in Latin America through the 1960s and 1970s. Despite pushback from the Vatican against liberation theology and its anchoring in Marxist principles, it continued to spread and played a role in political movements including the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.