Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip. On Monday, at least 10 civilians were killed when a pair of Israeli missiles struck a crowded tent cafe west of Khan Younis, an area Israel had designated as a so-called safe zone. That followed Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed 20 people, some of whom were reportedly shot as they tried to flee the onslaught. Meanwhile, Palestinian health workers say three medical staffers were injured in an Israeli attack near the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahia. It’s been just over 400 days since Israel began its assault on Gaza. For thousands of displaced Palestinians forced to live in makeshift camps, life has become a daily struggle for survival.

Ibtissam Sobh: “The 400 days that have passed feel like 400 years, maybe even more. If there was no war, we wouldn’t have known such hunger and displacement. Before, we were living decently. We were fine and happy, receiving aid packages twice a month. Now there’s no food, no water, no medicine. There’s nothing. We are deprived of everything, even the air we breathe.”

Israel has failed to meet a 30-day deadline set by the Biden administration to end its starvation campaign in northern Gaza, where the U.N. says a famine is imminent. Despite the deadline, the Biden administration still has not triggered U.S. laws requiring it to withhold military support to Israel over gross human rights abuses. In a report co-signed by Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children, relief groups write that Israel entirely failed to meet 15 of 19 U.S. demands, warning the situation in northern Gaza is “in an even more dire state today than a month ago.”

Israel’s military has bombed Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik after warning residents to flee the area. Today’s attacks came after Lebanese officials reported one person was killed and four injured after an Israeli airstrike targeted the town of Hermel in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel governorate. On Monday, Israel’s newly appointed Defense Minister Israel Katz ruled out even a temporary peace deal, declaring, “There will be no ceasefire and no pause.”

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israeli lawmakers he has ordered work to begin so that Israel can annex the occupied West Bank.

Bezalel Smotrich: “Year 2025 will be, with God’s help, the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”

Smotrich, who is himself a resident of an illegal Israeli settlement in Palestine’s West Bank, said he hopes the incoming Trump administration will back his plans, which violate international law.

Here in the United States, Decision Desk HQ is projecting Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives, cementing their party’s control of both houses of Congress and all three branches of government. Other major news organizations have not yet called the House contest for either party. On Monday, Democrats flipped a congressional seat in Louisiana, where state Senator Cleo Fields won the recently redrawn 6th Congressional District, which is Louisiana’s second majority-Black district. That district is under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which said a day before the election it will review a lower court ruling striking down Louisiana’s new congressional district map.

President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, according to multiple news outlets. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who has fought to maintain the U.S. embargo on Cuba. He’s a staunch supporter of Israel’s assault on Gaza and has called for the “complete eradication of Hamas.” Rubio has also called for U.S. military action against Iran. If Rubio is confirmed as secretary of state, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will name a temporary replacement to fill his Senate seat until a 2026 special election. 

Trump has chosen New York Republican Congressmember Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik is a Trump loyalist and the only woman in the House Republican leadership. She recently joined congressional hearings over free speech and support for Palestinian rights on campus, where her grilling of two Ivy League presidents over allegations of campus antisemitism led to their resignations. 

Trump has nominated South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security. Noem supports new oil and gas developments on federal lands, has refused federal funding for energy efficiency and environmental programs and infamously sent the South Dakota National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year she signed legislation banning gender-affirming treatment for young South Dakotans. 

Trump has selected Florida Congressmember Mike Waltz to serve as national security adviser. Waltz is a former Green Beret and retired colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard who served multiple tours in Afghanistan. He’s known as a foreign policy hawk on China and Iran and supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Waltz regularly appears as a pundit on Fox News and has attacked the U.S. military for teaching critical race theory to officers. 

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie will lead Trump’s transition efforts for the Pentagon. In 2020, a whistleblower’s report found then-Secretary Wilkie discredited and smeared a House aide who reported a sexual assault at work. Despite calls that he resign by 20 veterans’ groups and more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers, Wilkie only left office after Trump’s first term expired.

Trump has named Stephen Miller as White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller is the architect of Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies, including family separations, and has a well-documented history of promoting white nationalist theories. Miller co-authored President Trump’s 2017 inaugural address, which painted a dark picture of “American carnage.” Just ahead of the election, Miller declared at a Madison Square Garden rally for Trump, “America is for Americans and Americans only!” The slogan echoed the Nazi slogan, “Germany for Germans only.” 

Trump has nominated former Congressmember Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The Long Island Republican served four terms in the House of Representatives, where he earned a score of just 14 out of 100 from the League of Conservation Voters after consistently voting against critical environmental protections and clean energy job investments. Zeldin’s nomination came after The New York Times reported Trump’s transition team is discussing moving EPA headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. Nate James of the American Federation of Government Employees told Politico many career EPA officials would leave the agency if it moves, adding, “it could be advertised as a relocation, but really it would be decapitation.” 

Donald Trump still hasn’t signed an ethics agreement required for presidential transition teams. On Monday, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote, “Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law. Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.” 

Congressional Republicans have proposed legislation to grant Trump sweeping powers to crush his political enemies. The so-called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act would give the Treasury Department unilateral authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit deemed to be a “terrorist supporting organization.”

Haiti has shut down its Port-au-Prince airport after gangs opened fire at landing planes Monday. A flight attendant aboard a Spirit Airlines aircraft was struck and suffered minor injuries. A JetBlue plane was also hit. Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines have temporarily suspended flights to and from Haiti. The shooting came as a new interim prime minister, businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, was sworn in Monday, after Haiti’s transitional council ousted his predecessor Garry Conille. Fils-Aimé, the son of a prominent activist, vowed to restore security in Haiti and usher in long-awaited elections for a new president.

Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé: “We are reminding all Haitians, men and women, from the country within and from abroad, businesspeople big and small, the duty of the government is to organize elections that will not be contested. Everybody has to help.”

The U.N. Human Rights Office said nearly 4,000 people have been killed and another 1,800 injured in Haiti this year due to gang violence.

Back in the U.S., wildfires are raging on both the west and east coasts as recent data shows all but two states are facing historic drought conditions. An 18-year-old firefighter, Dariel Vasquez, died Saturday while battling the Jennings Creek fire in New York and New Jersey. Air quality alerts were issued in New York City over the weekend as smoke and haze from multiple fires filled the skies, including a brushfire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Fire crews have also been battling flames in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned “the clock is ticking” as he took the stage earlier today at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.

Secretary-General António Guterres: “This is almost certain to be the hottest year on record and a master class in climate destruction — families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes, biodiversity destroyed in sweltering seas, workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat, floods tearing through communities and tearing down infrastructure, children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops. And all these disasters and more are being supercharged by human-made climate change. And no country is spared.”

As talks get underway at COP29, activists at the summit held a silent protest Monday after organizers barred them from chanting or making speeches on the streets outside the conference halls. After taking part in the protest, Filipino climate activist Lidy Nacpil addressed the challenges of the incoming U.S. administration.

Lidy Nacpil: “The U.S. is more of a problem than helping in any solution. This is going to get worse under Trump. We’ve seen it in his first presidency. So, I think the rest of the world needs to step up even more, if we’re going to have this very uncooperative United States.”

A Dutch court dealt a devastating blow to climate activists today as it ruled in favor of Shell, which had appealed a landmark decision that forced the oil company to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Activists vowed to continue their fight to protect the planet. This is Donald Pols, director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands, one of the groups which brought the case against Shell.

Donald Pols: “It’s too early to announce new steps. We’re going to take the time to read the court judgment. But it’s clear in the summary. The judge stated that the more than 800 oil and gas projects that are planned by Shell, that they are contradictory to the responsibility of Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions in accordance with international climate agreements and contribute to human rights violations.”