Israeli strikes have killed at least another 51 people in Gaza as the official death toll nears 46,000, though that is believed to be a vast undercount. Earlier this morning, a 15-day-old baby was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. At least five displaced Palestinian children were also killed in Israeli strikes on tents in al-Mawasi, which had been designated a “safe zone” by Israel. Families in Gaza are building grave-like pits below their tents to protect children from the relentless strikes. This is Tayseer Obaid, whose family is sheltering in Deir al-Balah after they were displaced nine times by Israel’s forced evacuation orders. 

Tayseer Obaid: “The tent, given that it has a pit with high walls surrounding it, protects my children from random strikes. … My children, how were they in the past, and how are they in the present? They were dignified. We, thank God, were in our homes and lands, with our dignity, let’s say. Currently, we live underground, as if in a grave. Surely, this is not easy.”

In the occupied West Bank town of Tamun, an Israeli drone strike has killed three Palestinians, including two boys — 8-year-old Reda Ali Ahmed Basharat and 10-year-old Hamza Ammar Ahmed Basharat. Israeli forces have also detained 45 Palestinians in the West Bank as part of a sweeping crackdown after Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis on Monday. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded to Monday’s attack by calling for cities in the West Bank to “be turned into another Jabalia” — a reference to the destroyed refugee camp in Gaza. Israeli settlers have also attacked several West Bank towns, burning cars, ransacking homes and setting crops on fire. The Palestinian news outlet WAFA reported Israeli troops fired at Palestinians in the village of Amatin as they tried to confront violent settlers.

Ireland has become the latest country to formally join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice. Last month Israel closed its embassy in Ireland to protest after Ireland initially said it would join the case.

Meanwhile, Israel is blocking the United Nations from investigating reports of sexual crimes committed by Hamas during the October 7 attack. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports Israel blocked the probe because it feared it would open the door to the U.N. investigating the sexual abuse of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

The Biden administration has announced new sanctions against Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces after concluding the paramilitary group committed genocide. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Tuesday he’d made the determination “after reviewing the horrifying information of suffering inside Sudan,” where more than half the population — some 25.6 million people — has faced crisis-level hunger over the past year. The U.N. says more than 150,000 people have been killed since fighting erupted in April 2023; 11 million have fled their homes. The New York Times reports the Biden administration had been reluctant to admit that the Rapid Support Forces were committing genocide in Sudan, for fear it would highlight Biden’s refusal to make the same determination about Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza. 

President-elect Trump has renewed his threat to respond with violence if Hamas does not release hostages held in Gaza. 

President-elect Donald Trump: “If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.”

Reporter: “Can you elaborate?”

President-elect Donald Trump: “And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.”

Trump made the remarks during a wide-ranging and rambling news conference at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday in which Trump repeatedly lied, aired grievances about the many legal cases against him and threatened to use the Pentagon to expand U.S. territory. In an extraordinary exchange, Trump refused to rule out military action to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

President-elect Donald Trump: “We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military.”

Reporter: “[inaudible] that you will not use military [inaudible]?”

President-elect Donald Trump: “I’m not going to commit to that now. It might — it might be that you’ll have to do something.”

Trump threatened to use “economic force” to absorb Canada into the United States. He continued his push later in the day on social media, posting maps showing Canada as part of the U.S. In reply, Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded there’s not a “snowball’s chance in hell” the two countries would merge.

Trump also hinted at pardons over the January 6 insurrection, repeating the lie that none of the rioters carried guns into the Capitol. And Trump proposed changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as he continued his attacks on immigrants. We’ll have more on Trump after headlines.

Pope Francis has appointed an outspoken Trump critic, liberal Cardinal Robert McElroy, as the next archbishop of Washington, D.C., just two weeks ahead of Trump’s inauguration. Cardinal McElroy has condemned Trump’s anti-immigrant positions, including his vow to carry out mass deportations. McElroy has also called for the Catholic Church to be more welcoming to LGBTQ members. Meanwhile, Trump has tapped Brian Burch, the leader of the right-wing Catholic advocacy group CatholicVote, to be U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

The House of Representatives has approved the first bill of the 119th Congress, legislation that would require federal immigration authorities to detain undocumented immigrants arrested for certain nonviolent crimes. Forty-eight Democrats sided with Republicans Tuesday voting in favor of the Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan immigrant last year. Rights groups have condemned the legislation. The Haitian Bridge Alliance called it a “devastating blow to human rights and the core values of compassion and asylum,” adding, “This cruel legislation targets vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers, denying them safety and dignity.”

Los Angeles is under a state of emergency after three fast-moving wildfires exploded in size Tuesday, prompting evacuations affecting some 30,000 people. Over 1,400 firefighters are battling the massive fires in L.A.'s Pacific Palisades neighborhood; north of San Fernando; and in Altadena. Forecasters are warning of “near perfect” fire conditions today with wind gusts nearing 100 miles per hour. Much of the region hasn't seen significant rainfall in over eight months, and last summer was among Southern California’s hottest on record.

Meanwhile, a major winter storm brought snowy and icy conditions to the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, with at least seven deaths blamed on the storms. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced an end to fact-checking initiatives on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Zuckerberg announced the change in a video posted online Tuesday.

Mark Zuckerberg: “After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth. But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the U.S.”

Nicole Gill, the head of Accountable Tech, called Meta’s move a “gift to Donald Trump and extremists around the world.” Wired reports Meta has also loosened its policies on what can be posted on its platforms. Wired reports Meta users will now be allowed to say gay and trans people have mental illness. CNN reports Facebook will also permit users to call women “household objects.” Meanwhile, Meta has appointed a close Trump ally, Dana White, to the company’s board. White is the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Washington Post announced Tuesday it will lay off 4% of its workforce, or nearly 100 people. The layoffs come just weeks after the Post’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos blocked an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the November election. By The Washington Post’s own count, Bezos’s decision prompted 250,000 readers to cancel their subscriptions in protest. 

The Biden administration has approved new rules that would wipe out an estimated $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of roughly 15 million people. The rules were finalized Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — an agency that billionaire Trump megadonor Elon Musk has said he hopes to “delete” after Trump installs him as co-leader of the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE.

Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and other dignitaries gathered at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday for a lying-in-state ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter. Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a eulogy.

Vice President Kamala Harris: “He was a president who, between the years of 1977 and 1981, appointed more Black Americans to the federal bench than all of his predecessors combined and appointed five times as many women.”

Carter will be buried following a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday and a private funeral at home in Georgia.