Israel’s military stepped up attacks on the Gaza Strip Tuesday, bombing a school-turned-shelter and densely packed residential neighborhoods, killing 62 people over a 24-hour period. The intense Israeli artillery shelling has cut off electricity at the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza. In Rafah, an Israeli strike on a home killed five people, including a woman; four others were injured.

In Central Gaza, at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday on a home in Deir al-Balah. This is Kifaya Shaqoura, a displaced Palestinian who lost family members in the bombing.

Kifaya Shaqoura: “We were sleeping, and all of a sudden we received calls saying that the family had been martyred. They were renting Shahin’s house. My uncles had rented it. We started reading the news, one report after another, with all of the names coming in order. We were shocked by the news. Among them were my uncle, his wife, my uncle and his son, and his daughter, who was displaced with her children.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the latest attacks brought the official toll from Israel’s 15-month-long war on Gaza to more than 46,700 killed and 110,000 injured — though a recent study in the medical journal The Lancet puts the true death toll at 40% higher.

Tuesday’s stepped-up assault came even as mediators for a ceasefire said negotiations were at their “closest point” yet.

In the occupied West Bank, at least six Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy and three brothers, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Jenin refugee camp Tuesday. The Wafa news agency reported Israeli forces fired three missiles at a group of people, injuring several others. The attack came amid more intense Israeli raids across the West Bank in which at least another 12 Palestinians were arrested.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued near-daily attacks on southern Lebanon in violation of a November ceasefire with Hezbollah, with Israeli forces blowing up houses and bulldozing roads in several villages.

In the United States, the death toll from devastating fires across the Los Angeles area has risen to 25 people. Thousands of residents are preparing for more evacuation orders as officials warn of “particularly dangerous” weather, with a forecast of more powerful winds blowing through the region, which could strengthen to up to 70 miles per hour. Firefighting crews are racing to contain the largest blazes, the Palisades and Eaton fires, which have scorched and flattened entire communities. Dozens of people are still missing. President Biden said Monday the cost of recovery could be in the “tens of billions of dollars.”

President Joe Biden: “Although the federal government is going to cover 100% of the costs for the next 180 days, for things like firefighter overtime pay, debris removal, temporary shelters, it’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back to where it was. So we’re going to need Congress to step up to provide funding to get this done.”

Researchers at UCLA’s Climate and Wildfire Research Initiative say global heating contributed to the wildfires. They estimate L.A.’s hotter climate accounted for roughly 25% of the extreme fuel moisture deficit present when the fires exploded, fanned by intense Santa Ana winds.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined plans Tuesday to lay off 5% of the social media company’s global workforce — or about 3,600 people. The mass layoffs come just days after Zuckerberg announced Meta would end fact-checking across its Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram platforms. This comes as Zuckerberg is planning to co-host a black-tie reception Monday with Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson to celebrate Trump’s inauguration; Meta also gave $1 million to the Trump inaugural fund.

Zuckerberg will have a prominent position at Trump’s inauguration, seated near fellow multibillionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, among Trump’s Cabinet nominees and elected officials. Former first lady Michelle Obama said she would not be attending Monday’s inauguration. The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama refused to comment on her absence. A statement from the Obamas reads in part, “This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues. But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.”

Donald Trump’s pick to become defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, appears to be moving closer to securing enough votes to be confirmed in the Senate after Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa announced she would back Hegseth. Ernst is a veteran and survivor of sexual assault who had initially expressed skepticism over Hegseth. She reversed her opposition after she was targeted with a $500,000+ ad campaign in Iowa against her critical comments ahead of Hegseth’s confirmation hearings. His confirmation can only be rejected if three or more Republicans join Democrats in opposing the former Fox News host, who once served in the Army National Guard.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Senate Democrats grilled Hegseth on a number of issues, including his criticism of women in combat, allegations that he raped a woman in 2017, reports of public drunkenness and his record running two veterans organizations where he was accused of financial mismanagement. In an exchange with Maine independent Senator Angus King, Hegseth was unable to say whether he would abide by the international laws of warfare.

Sen. Angus King: “Are we going to abide by the Geneva Convention and the prohibitions on torture, or are we not? Is it going to” —

Pete Hegseth: “Senator, as I’ve” —

Sen. Angus King: — “depend on the circumstances?”

Pete Hegseth: “As I’ve stated multiple times, the Geneva Conventions are what we base ours. But we’re — what an America First national security policy is not going to do is hand its prerogatives over to international bodies that make decisions about how our men and women make decisions on the battlefield.”

We’ll have more on Pete Hegseth’s Senate confirmation hearings after headlines.

President Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. attorney general is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Pam Bondi served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and was in Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial. Bondi now works at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. As a lobbyist, her clients have included Amazon, GM, Uber and the nation of Qatar. Senators will confront Bondi over her pledge to support Trump’s campaigns to prosecute his political enemies using the Justice Department. In a 2023 Fox News appearance, Bondi said, “The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted — the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated.”

In Washington, D.C., outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken was interrupted by antiwar and pro-Palestinian protesters Tuesday as he delivered a keynote address at the Atlantic Council. It was Blinken’s final speech as the United States’ top diplomat. Protesters repeatedly interrupted the event, with one addressing the secretary of state as “Bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “We made clear there was a path to mutual return to compliance if Tehran was willing to take the steps necessary. At the same time, we strengthened America’s robust sanctions regime” —

Protester: “Secretary Blinken” —

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: — “on Iran” —

Protester: — “your legacy will be genocide!”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: — “and delivered on President Biden’s commitment” —

Protester: “You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide! You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands! We have spent a year” —

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “Thank you. I respect your views. Please allow me to share mine.”

Protester: “We have spent a year trying to” —

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “Thank you.”

Protester: — “appeal to your humanity, in front of your house! We brang you letters! We’ve held car rallies! The blood of innocent civilians, of children, is on your hands! We will not forgive!”

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today is holding confirmation hearings on President-elect Trump’s pick to succeed Blinken, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio. He’s a staunch supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza and has called for the “complete eradication of Hamas.” Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who has fought to maintain the catastrophic U.S. embargo on Cuba.

President Biden has announced plans to lift the state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba. The move came less than a week ahead of President-elect Trump’s inauguration, and nearly four years after Trump put Havana back on the terrorism list as one of his final acts in office during his first term.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote in response, “It is a decision in the right direction, although belated and with limited scope. The blockade and most of the extreme measures implemented since 2017 to suffocate the Cuban economy and cause shortages for our people remain in place.” After the announcement, the Cuban government said it would release 553 political prisoners.

U.S. House lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports. The bill would prohibit federal funding from going to K-12 schools that allow transgender students on girls’ sports teams. Just two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting in favor: Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar of Texas.

Yoon Suk Yeol has become South Korea’s first sitting president to be arrested, after he was taken into custody for questioning in multiple criminal investigations related to his short-lived martial law declaration in early December. South Korean authorities scaled walls and cut through barbed wire to enter Yoon’s residence in the capital Seoul, bringing an end to a dramatic weekslong standoff.

Yoon has also been impeached by South Korean lawmakers and suspended, but will remain in office until the Constitutional Court ratifies the impeachment. Protesters in Seoul braved the cold early Wednesday ahead of Yoon’s arrest.

Cho Sun-ah: “I believe the arrest should take place as soon as possible. In fact, the side of President Yoon Suk Yeol might argue that this concerns national dignity and that the status of the president should not be treated in this way. But regardless of all that, I think it’s wrong for the leader of a rebellion to not face any legal consequences and, even though an arrest warrant has been issued, continue to resist that. The law should be equally applied to all people, and no matter how high the president’s position, I firmly believe impunity is absolutely wrong.”