The U.N. is warning more than 1 million people in central and southern Gaza received no food rations in August, adding to a “beyond catastrophic” situation in the war-torn Palestinian enclave. Gaza’s Health Ministry, meanwhile, says Israel is hindering the delivery of polio vaccines as its military refuses to coordinate the entry of medical teams in southern Gaza.

This all comes amid ongoing Israeli aerial and ground attacks. Deaths were reported in Gaza City and the Nuseirat refugee camp earlier today. In Khan Younis, mourners grieved their murdered loved ones at Nasser Hospital, including this mother whose son was killed by an Israeli strike.

Palestinian mother: “A cry of pain comes from the depths of my heart. I want the whole world to hear it. The sound of my pain burns like fire from within. My heart is heavy, full of pain.”

As mass protests in Israel continue to demand a ceasefire and hostage release deal, Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of continuing to block a deal as he refuses to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza’s border with Egypt.

The U.S. Justice Department earlier this week indicted Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and five others with terrorism and other charges over the October 7 attack in Israel.

Israeli forces are continuing their deadly raids in the occupied West Bank, including in Nablus, Balata, Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah. In Jenin and Tulkarm, Israeli troops withdrew after a 10-day raid which killed a reported 36 people and left a trail of destruction. This is Wasfiya Rahaima from the Tulkarm refugee camp.

Wasfiya Rahaima: “This was the worst night. Everyone left their homes, but I did not, because I am disabled. My nephews told me they are going to leave, and I told them I will not go anywhere. Whatever God’s willing will happen. There was sounds of strikes here and behind the house. They razed everything. Look at it, the shooting and sound grenades. I was reading the Qur’an all night so that God will protect us. … Seventy-eight years, I have never witnessed anything like this, from 1948 to ’67 to all the intifadas and all that I have witnessed, but nothing was like this.”

Earlier today, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to include the defeat of Hamas and other groups in the occupied West Bank as part of Israel’s war objectives. Ben-Gvir has repeatedly called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.

In Georgia, authorities arrested the father of the 14-year-old suspected of killing two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in the city of Winder on Wednesday.

Chris Hosey: “He is charged with the following: four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Mr. Gray — these charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon.”

Earlier in the day, President Biden called for parents of underage shooters to be held responsible for gun deaths and reiterated his call on Congress to ban assault weapons and tighten gun control laws.

The Georgia shooter’s father had reportedly purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre as a Christmas present for his son last year, months after the teenager was questioned by authorities over online shooting threats.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, authorities have charged a suspect with first-degree murder over the shooting death of four passengers on Chicago’s L train Monday. Three of the victims were sleeping when they were killed.

Kamala Harris is calling for a 28% capital gains tax rate for Americans who earn over $1 million a year. While it’s an increase on the current capital gains tax of 20%, Harris’s proposal is more than 10% less than the nearly 40% capital gains tax rate President Biden has proposed. The Democratic nominee unveiled her plans while on a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Harris also announced plans for a $50,000 tax benefit for new small businesses, a tenfold increase on the current deduction of $5,000 for startup expenses.

The Justice Department has accused Moscow of backing a sweeping election interference scheme. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said his agency had seized 32 domains and indicted two Russian nationals for carrying out a $10 million online misinformation campaign to influence U.S. voters. The Justice Department says the state-owned Russia Today, or RT, television network bankrolled the influence campaign. CNN reports the funds were used to operate Tenet Media, which has published 2,000 videos across YouTube and other social media sites since it launched late last year. Tenet’s six far-right, Trump-supporting commentators have millions of online followers.

Anger is mounting over the murder of Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who died Thursday in Kenya of organ failure, four days after her boyfriend doused her body in gasoline and set her on fire. Activists in Kenya are demanding authorities respond to the crisis of gender-based violence. Government data shows 40% of married women in Kenya have experienced intimate partner violence. In 2021, Kenyan Olympic runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death by her partner, whose murder case is still ongoing. This is Milcah Chemos Cheywa, another professional runner and friend of Cheptegei.

Milcah Chemos Cheywa: “I can say we are still in shock and we are in pain, especially as athletes. And this thing happening in Kenya, this is the second time an athlete has been attacked. We remember the case of Agnes Tirop. Now it has come to Rebecca, so we are not happy.”

In public health news, the Democratic Republic of Congo received its first delivery of mpox vaccine doses Thursday as cases continue to surge. The organization Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, said it hopes the virus can be contained with the rapid distribution of vaccines, in order to prevent another global crisis on the scale of COVID-19.

Thabani Maphosa: “Mpox in particular is actually happening in conflict areas, and access in conflict areas is not always guaranteed. … Children are actually taking the highest hit, because you have to look at the case fatality. The case fatality for children is much higher. So, it goes without saying that children are actually then a high-priority group.”

Nicaragua’s government has freed 135 political and religious prisoners accused of supporting anti-government protests, following secret talks negotiated by the Biden administration. The prisoners were flown to Guatemala, where they’ll have an opportunity to apply for U.S. residency. Since 2018, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has ordered the arrest of hundreds of political opponents, including many Catholic priests and bishops, while shutting down more than 5,000 civic organizations.

The Biden administration is pressing Honduras to reverse its decision to end its long-running extradition treaty with the United States. Pressure on President Xiomara Castro has mounted since last weekend, when her brother-in-law, Carlos Zelaya, admitted to reporters he met in 2013 with the leader of a narcotrafficking operation who offered to support Castro’s failed bid for the presidency that year. His admission came just days after the U.S. ambassador criticized Honduras’s defense minister for meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart, who was indicted by the U.S. on drug trafficking charges in 2020. Last week, President Castro accused the U.S. and opposition groups of plotting a coup, like the U.S.-backed ouster of her husband, then-President Manuel Zelaya, in 2009.

President Xiomara Castro: “I want to tell you a plan against my government is being hatched. The people must know it.”

Click here to see our coverage of that coup.

Authorities in Haiti have expanded a state of emergency to the entire nation amid worsening gang violence. On Wednesday, acting Prime Minister Garry Conille said he distributed weapons to the Haitian Army and the National Police in order to retake territory controlled by gangs. The order came a day before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s arrival in Haiti. On Thursday, Blinken met with Conille, where he praised the Kenyan-led international security mission in Haiti and urged Haitian officials to prepare for Haiti’s first national election since 2016. Many Haitians have opposed the U.S.-backed mission, as past international interventions have contributed to political destabilization and humanitarian crises in Haiti.

Theodore Huguens: “Blinken is in the country to manage his interests and the interests of the United States, because the weapons with which the gangs operate come from the United States. He’s not going to do anything for us. His visit is a joke.”

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges Thursday, just hours before jury selection was set to begin in his trial. Though the surprise plea means he’ll avoid a lengthy trial, Hunter Biden still faces up to 17 years in prison and fines of up to $1.3 million for crimes including tax evasion, filing fraudulent tax returns and failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. Hunter Biden will be sentenced on December 16 by a Trump-appointed judge. Separately, Hunter Biden faces sentencing in November for convictions on three felony gun charges in Delaware. President Biden has repeatedly vowed not to pardon his son or commute possible prison sentences.

Here in New York, federal agents have raided the homes of at least four top officials with the administration of Mayor Eric Adams. On Wednesday, agents reportedly seized phones and other devices from First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice Philip Banks III, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, and Timothy Pearson, a former high-ranking police official and top adviser to Adams. It’s unclear why the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York ordered the raids; so far, Mayor Adams has not been charged with a crime. Last November, federal agents seized phones and a laptop from Adams’s home and raided the home of his campaign treasurer as part of an investigation into whether the campaign received illegal donations from Turkey.

In other news from New York, 50 activists were arrested Thursday at the final action of the “Summer of Heat” series of protests at the Citibank headquarters. Faith leaders, scientists, climate and peace activists gathered again in a joint protest to demand Citibank stop funding fossil fuel projects and an end to the war on Gaza. This is Maureen Stubblefield of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, speaking to the NYPD as she was being arrested.

Maureen Stubblefield: “Citibank is the largest funder of new fossil exploration and extraction in the world. That’s why we’re here. We’re here for you and your children. We’re here for our world.”