Israel’s military has carried out its heaviest airstrikes so far on Lebanon with a reported 10 massive bombings overnight in Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs. Lebanon’s health minister reports at least 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including at least 127 children, most of them in the past two weeks. On Thursday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Israeli attacks had made it impossible for the WHO to deliver a large shipment of trauma and medical supplies to Beirut. He said Israeli strikes have killed 28 health workers in just one 24-hour span, while shuttering dozens of hospitals and clinics.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “In southern Lebanon 37 health facilities have been closed, while in Beirut three hospitals have been forced to fully evacuate staff and patients, and another two were partially evacuated. … Many health workers are not reporting to duty, as they fled the areas where they work due to bombardments.”

A Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday U.S. military leaders were consulting with their Israeli counterparts on a response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this week on Israeli military bases and other security sites.

Sabrina Singh: “We continue to engage the Israelis, you know, very frequently. We are certainly talking to them about their response. But what their response might be, I’m just not going to speculate further on.”

At the White House, President Biden acknowledged he had spoken with Israeli leaders to discuss possible attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructure.

Reporter: “Mr. President, would you support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities, sir?”

President Joe Biden: “We’re discussing that. I think — I think that would be a little — anyway.”

Biden had said that he did not support Israel striking Iran’s nuclear facilities. Biden’s comment rattled energy markets, causing an immediate spike in crude oil prices.

Iran has threatened an “unconventional response” to any Israeli retaliation, including attacks targeting Israeli infrastructure. Earlier today, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers in Tehran for the first time in nearly five years as he commemorated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel last week in Lebanon. Khamanei called on Muslim leaders to band together to confront Israel.

Yemen’s Houthis have released video showing what appears to be an attack earlier this week on the British oil vessel the Cordelia Moon in the Red Sea. The Houthis have vowed to maintain a naval blockade until Israel halts its war on Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Israel continues its relentless attacks on Gaza, with Israeli forces blowing up residential buildings near the Nuseirat camp and civilian homes in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. The Palestinian Health Ministry reports at least 14 people were killed and 50 wounded over the last 24 hours.

Here in the United States, a group of nearly 100 physicians, nurses, surgeons and midwives have sent a letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris detailing “crimes beyond comprehension” they witnessed in Gaza. They’re calling on the U.S. to support a ceasefire, to end support for Israel’s military and to back an international arms embargo on Israel. Part of the letter reads, “We wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them.”

An Israeli airstrike on the occupied West Bank has killed at least 18 Palestinians. On Thursday, Israeli fighter jets targeted a crowded cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp, leaving behind twisted piles of wreckage and flaming debris. This is Nimer Fayyad, the brother of the cafe’s owner who was killed in the attack.

Nimer Fayyad: “The missiles targeted a civilian building. A family was wiped from the civil registry. What was their fault? The family was asleep in their house. There’s no safe place for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves.”

Israel’s military claimed the bombing targeted the head of Hamas’s infrastructure in Tulkarm. It was the largest and deadliest airstrike in the occupied West Bank in more than two decades.

Union dockworkers along the East Coast and Gulf Coast have ended a three-day strike and will resume negotiations for a new contract. A tentative agreement on pay for some 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will see workers’ wages increase by 62% over the life of the contract. The union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance will extend the existing contract until mid-January to give negotiators more time to finalize a deal.

Boeing has revoked healthcare benefits for some 33,000 aerospace workers who went on strike three weeks ago. In a statement supporting the workers, Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders wrote, “Boeing’s greed offers another perfect example of why we need Medicare for All.”

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has climbed to 213, making it one of deadliest hurricanes to hit the United States since modern record-keeping began, after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria. Hundreds remain missing and are feared dead. More than half of the deaths were in North Carolina, where on Thursday private helicopter companies joined efforts to bring aid to mountain communities cut off by flood damage. This is pilot Brook Barzyk, who delivered food, water and other supplies to the hard-hit Swannanoa Valley.

Brook Barzyk: “It’s absolute devastation. Even just this valley through here is decimated. And I think the one thing that stands out the most is, even after it had been several days since it had happened, there still was no aid here at all.”

Vice President Kamala Harris rallied supporters on Thursday in the city of Ripon, Wisconsin, known as the birthplace of the Republican Party. Harris was joined on stage by Republican and former Wyoming Congressmember Liz Cheney, who has endorsed Harris for president.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “Liz Cheney really is a leader who puts country above party and above self, a true patriot. And it is my profound honor — my profound honor — to have your support.”

Harris also thanked the Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney — Liz Cheney’s father and one of the most influential architects of George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq — for his endorsement. Speaking to Harris’s supporters, Liz Cheney took aim at Donald Trump, calling him “petty,” “vindictive,” “cruel” and “depraved.” During her three terms in Congress, Cheney voted against an assault weapons ban, earned an “A” rating from the anti-abortion group Pro-Life America and expressed support for plans by Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Melania Trump has spoken publicly in favor of the right to have an abortion. The former first lady made the remarks in a video teasing the release of her new self-titled memoir.

Melania Trump: “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom. What does 'my body, my choice' really mean?”

Melania Trump’s statement puts her at odds with most of the Republican Party, including her husband Donald Trump, who has boasted about overturning the constitutional right to an abortion.

On Saturday, Trump is planning to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, to rally supporters at the site of July’s assassination attempt against him. Trump will be joined on stage by billionaire Elon Musk.

In Tennessee, three former Memphis police officers have been acquitted of violating the civil rights of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father who died after the officers brutally beat him during a traffic stop in January 2023. The jury found just one of the officers, Demetrius Haley, guilty of the lesser charge of violating Nichols’s civil rights, causing bodily injury. Haley along with former officers Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith were all found guilty of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the deadly beating. Two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges ahead of the trial. Click here to see our coverage of Tyre Nichols.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at least 78 people were killed after a ferry boat capsized in the eastern Lake Kivu, though local authorities say the death toll could be significantly higher as rescue efforts continue. The disaster comes as an increasing number of people have been forced to cross Lake Kivu, often in overcrowded vessels, as they attempt to reach Goma while avoiding travel across territory plagued by fighting between Congolese government forces and M23 rebels.

Santos Bulangalire: “Since there’s no longer a road between Goma and Minova, many people are suffering. What happened is the government’s fault. Only one boat, instead of two, left Minova today, and it took on double its usual load. If the road was operational, vehicles could have transported some of the people and goods.”

Mexican authorities have arrested several soldiers involved in the fatal shooting Tuesday of six asylum seekers who were aboard a truck with over a dozen others when the soldiers opened fire. At least 10 people were injured. The group, many from Egypt, India and Pakistan, had recently crossed into the southern Mexican state of Chiapas from Guatemala. Mexico’s newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack as “deplorable” and called for an investigation. Mexican soldiers and police have been widely accused of human rights violations, including the massacre of asylum seekers, as Mexico collaborates with the Biden administration in a crackdown on people seeking refuge in the United States.