Israeli strikes have killed at least 40 people across Gaza today as U.N. chief António Guterres is once again calling for an immediate ceasefire following Israel’s massacre at the U.N.-run al-Jaouni school which killed at least 18 people Wednesday, including six U.N. employees — the deadliest day in UNRWA’s history.

The World Health Organization said Thursday it had evacuated about 100 people in need of medical treatment from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates, and called for regular evacuations to resume after Israel’s assault decimated Gaza’s health system. This is a cancer patient awaiting evacuation.

Bayan Munir Abu Sultan: “I’m suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and this type of cancer spreads very quickly. In one or two months, it spreads throughout your entire body, unlike other types of cancer. My trip was extremely tiring, and I came here to the south so I can travel and get treated outside the country, by God’s will.”

In related news, the WHO says 25% of Palestinians in Gaza wounded by Israel’s ongoing assault have “life-changing” injuries.

The U.N. is warning the Palestinian economy — which was already devastated before October 7 due to Israel’s occupation and blockade — is “in freefall” and could completely collapse.

The body of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Turkish American activist who was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, has arrived in Turkey ahead of her funeral. On Thursday, Ayşenur’s father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, praised Turkey for investigating the killing and called on the U.S. to do the same.

Mehmet Suat Eygi: “America is a different country. When there is injustice or torment toward its citizens or they are killed in any country in the world, it lands on that country like the eagle on its emblem. But when the subject is Israel, there is more of an effort to dodge it. But I want to believe that people will listen to their conscience.”

Earlier this week, The Washington Post published an investigation corroborating eyewitness accounts that the protests Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi had been taking part in were already over when Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed her.

Meanwhile, three top Democrats from Ayşenur’s home state of Washington — Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Congressmember Pramila Jayapal — called on the Biden administration to investigate her killing. On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered at a Seattle beach for a vigil honoring the recent University of Washington graduate.

A North Dakota judge struck down the state’s near-total abortion ban Thursday, ruling North Dakota’s Constitution ensures the right to an abortion before fetal viability. While the ruling is a major victory for abortion rights, North Dakota no longer has any abortion clinics after the overturning of Roe v. Wade triggered the state’s ban. If the ruling is not overturned in an appeal or the state Legislature does not pass a new ban, North Dakota could join Minnesota as a haven for patients seeking abortion care in the Midwest.

Some 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington state and Oregon are walking off the job after overwhelmingly rejecting a new contract. It’s Boeing’s first strike in 16 years and will halt production on most of its aircraft, including its troubled 737 MAX. Workers are seeking pay raises of 40%; the tentative agreement only pledged to raise wages by 25%.

In related news, hotel workers in Boston, New Haven and San Diego have launched the second wave of a phased strike that started at hotels around the country on Labor Day.

A federal jury in Florida has found members of a pan-Africanist group guilty of conspiring with the Russian government to “sow discord” and “interfere” in U.S. elections. Activists with the African People’s Socialist Party face up to five years in federal prison. They plan to appeal. Prosecutors argued the group’s activities were not protected by the First Amendment since they were done at the direction of a Russian operative named Aleksandr Ionov. The defense argued the government aimed to censor the group after members criticized U.S. foreign policy. Jurors acquitted three of the activists, known as the “Uhuru Three,” on a more serious charge of “acting as agents of a foreign government.” Attorney Mutaqee Akbar spoke after the verdict.

Mutaqee Akbar: “We had 12 people from this community that probably don’t agree with most of the stuff that they heard but understood their right to do it, one, and then, two, their sovereignty in doing so, that they were doing it on their own behalf and for African people. So, I think that sends a message to the government that these political prosecutions probably won’t work.”

Click here to see our interview with one of those on trial, Omali Yeshitela, chair of the African People’s Socialist Party, about the trial of the Uhuru Three.

A judge in Georgia has dismissed two more charges against Donald Trump and one charge against some of his co-defendants in the state’s 2020 election subversion case. Trump now faces eight charges in the racketeering conspiracy, down from an original 13 counts.

In other Trump news, the former president says he will not take part in any more debates against Kamala Harris before the election.

In Springfield, Ohio, a bomb threat on Thursday prompted authorities to order the evacuation of City Hall and several municipal buildings. Mayor Rob Rue said the threat came in an email from someone who cited frustration over the city’s resettlement of Haitian immigrants. This comes after Springfield’s city manager denied false racist claims made by former President Trump and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s dogs and cats.

Several Democratic senators have criticized the Biden administration’s move to send $1.3 billion in military funding to Egypt, citing widespread human rights abuses by the authoritarian government of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. A portion of the money — less than a quarter — was conditioned on Egypt improving its human rights record. On Thursday, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy wrote, “It’s no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state, and I see no good reason to ignore that fact by waiving these requirements.”

This comes as press freedom groups are demanding Egyptian authorities drop all charges against four journalists recently detained and held incommunicado. The disappearances of Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida and Yasser Abu Al-Ela have sparked fear and trauma among Egyptian journalists. At least two of them have allegedly been tortured.

In Nigeria, people are searching for their loved ones after major flooding killed at least 30 people, submerged entire neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people in the northeast.

Aisha Muhammed: “I have one son, and I have not seen or heard from him in three days. We got out on Tuesday after the flood overpowered us. It was really hard for us to get out, but thanks to the soldiers who helped us to safety. Right now we are still searching for my son, no headway yet. We pray to God to help us in this situation.”

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday unveiled the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, that would force fossil fuel companies to pay into a fund that “addresses the harm and damages they caused.”

In related news, pressure is mounting for the Biden administration to cancel all new liquefied natural gas export licenses after a judge recently lifted a pause on new LNG export approvals and after a new study found that LNG has a 33% greater greenhouse gas footprint than coal.

Here in New York, Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned Thursday at the request of Mayor Eric Adams. Caban’s resignation came just days after federal agents searched his home and seized his cellphone. Agents also raided the homes of a top mayoral adviser, two deputy mayors and the New York City schools chancellor. It’s one of four separate corruption investigations by federal prosecutors targeting Adams’s inner circle.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric says he will push for the repeal of a highly contested amnesty law that has long barred investigations into crimes against humanity committed during General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship. On Wednesday, September 11, Boric attended a ceremony marking the 51st anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup, which overthrew elected President Salvador Allende and ushered in Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship, during which thousands of people were murdered, tortured and disappeared. This is Jaime Vivanco, a relative of some of the victims.

Jaime Vivanco: “Our society still does not assume that it is an historical duty to vindicate the disappeared detainees, the politically executed and the tortured people. We must learn from this and understand that if we do not assume this as a society, then 'never again' is not real and can be repeated.”