Israel has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Over one-third of those — more than 16,000 Palestinians — were children. But that grim milestone is still believed to be a vast underestimate, with many buried under rubble and large numbers of Gazans facing life-threatening health emergencies.

Among the dead are twin newborns, their mother and their grandmother, who were killed in an Israeli attack this week on Deir al-Balah as their father went to retrieve their birth certificates.

Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan: “I was going to get the birth certificates for the children. My wife gave birth the day before yesterday. I went to get the birth certificates. I got two babies, twins. I got a call telling me that the house we were staying in got bombed. People from the neighborhood called me. My wife is gone, with my two babies and my mother-in-law.”

The babies were named Asser and Ayssel. Their mother was Dr. Jumann Arfa, a pharmacist. This comes as critical ceasefire and hostage release talks are now underway in Doha.

More than 100 media workers, news outlets and press freedom groups are calling on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to immediately stop arming Israel. Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has killed at least 160 journalists since October 7, the largest death toll of media workers in any conflict including World War II. Journalists, including Pulitzer Prize winners Laura Poitras and Spencer Ackerman, along with groups including the Courage Foundation, Defending Rights & Dissent and Roots Action, write in a joint letter, “Israel’s deliberate targeting of these journalists seems intended to impose a near blackout on coverage of its assault on Gaza. … By providing the weapons being used to deliberately kill journalists, you are complicit in one of the gravest affronts to press freedom today.”

The embattled president of Columbia University has stepped down after just one year on the job. Minouche Shafik’s resignation comes in the wake of her widely condemned crackdown on campus protests against the war on Gaza, during which she called in the NYPD to violently clear tents and arrest scores of peaceful student protesters. Shafik said, “I have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.” She plans to return to the U.K. to work in international development for the Labour government.

In response to the news, the Columbia chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace said, “The students of Columbia will never forget the sheer violence unleashed upon us by Minouche Shafik, and we will not be placated by her removal as the university’s repression of the pro-Palestinian student movement continues.”

Click here to see our coverage of the student uprising for Palestine at Columbia and colleges across the country.

Five University of Chicago graduates who participated in Palestinian rights protests finally received their diplomas more than two months after graduation. The five graduates were notified that the disciplinary cases against them had been dropped. The students were never told why they were the subject of disciplinary cases.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz has agreed to debate JD Vance in a CBS-hosted debate on October 1. Vance has refused to fully commit, saying only he “strongly suspects” he’ll participate.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump launched more attacks against Kamala Harris during a North Carolina rally his presidential campaign billed as “a major economic address.”

Donald Trump: “What happened to her laugh? I haven’t heard that laugh in about a week. That’s why they keep her off the stage. That’s why she’s disappeared. That’s the laugh of a crazy person. … We’re not going to let this incompetent socialist lunatic keep breaking our economy for four more years. It’ll destroy our country.”

In more election news, The Washington Post reports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought a meeting with Kamala Harris to ask for a cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement. The offer was rebuffed. RFK Jr. reportedly met with Trump in July to offer his endorsement in exchange for a high-level public health position.

A top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied a report in The Wall Street Journal that his government approved a plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines in September of 2022. According to the Journal, a six-member crew of Ukrainian civilians and active-duty soldiers used a small rented yacht, satellite navigation, sonar and seabed maps to reach the Nord Stream pipelines on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, where divers used an explosive known as HMX and timer-controlled detonators to rupture the pipelines, triggering a massive release of methane gas. The blasts severed three of the four pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe. Zelensky reportedly approved the plan but later sought to halt it after a Dutch intelligence agency learned of the plot and informed the CIA. Zelensky’s commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, who was leading the effort, reportedly forged ahead with the plan despite Zelensky’s U-turn.

In Tanzania, senior opposition leaders have been freed on bail after their arrest alongside more than 500 young activists who were barred on Monday from staging a rally marking International Youth Day. Among those detained in the crackdown was Freeman Mbowe, a presidential candidate and leader of the Tanzanian opposition party Chadema. Earlier this year, Tanzania’s President Samia Hassan lifted a ban on opposition gatherings that had been in place since 2016, but on Monday authorities said they would not allow protests to continue, citing weeks of youth-led anti-government demonstrations in neighboring Kenya.

The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency after an outbreak of the viral disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to a dozen other African countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the threat of cross-border spread remains high.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “It’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives. A public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm under international health law.”

Workers with the United Farm Workers, the Union of Southern Service Workers, Starbucks Workers United and others are organizing around the country under the banner of “Heat Week,” demanding protections from extreme heat. Earlier this month, a 36-year-old sanitation worker in Baltimore, Ronald Silver II, collapsed and died while on the job as the heat index reached 105 degrees.

Here in New York, a climate protester was taken to the hospital Wednesday after a Citibank security guard punched him in the face while he was documenting a peaceful demonstration as part of the “Summer of Heat” campaign. Climate activists have been taking peaceful actions at Citibank’s Manhattan headquarters all summer. Citibank has invested nearly $400 billion into fossil fuel projects since the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted in 2015.

Half of Puerto Rico was left dark Wednesday after Tropical Storm Ernesto downed power lines and dumped more than 10 inches of rain on some parts of the island. Thousands have been left without access to running water amid soaring temperatures, with the heat index approaching 110 degrees. The for-profit company operating Puerto Rico’s grid, LUMA Energy, said it was focused on restoring power to hospitals and essential services like water and sanitation. It’s the latest in a series of power outages since Puerto Rico privatized its electrical grid in the wake of 2017’s devastating Hurricane Maria. Despite the persistent blackouts, Puerto Ricans pay some of the highest electricity rates in the U.S.

In Afghanistan, Taliban rulers held a military parade in Kabul, marching through Bagram, the former U.S. airbase, to mark three years since their return to power. The U.N. has warned of a worsening humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan and a “gender apartheid,” where women and girls have largely disappeared from public life. Meanwhile, Afghans are calling on the U.S. and Europe to release billions of dollars of frozen Afghan assets.

Naseebullah Zahid: “These billions of dollars that are frozen are not related to the Emirate government but belong to the entire Afghan nation. The Western powers ruled over us for 20 years, did bomb blasts and killed Afghans. They did not hesitate. And now they want to destroy us through poverty.”