Israel’s military is continuing to attack civilians across the Gaza Strip, with at least 93 Palestinians killed over the past 24 hours. Overnight, Israel bombed the Abu Halu School in the Bureij refugee camp, killing at least four people sheltering there; another three Palestinians died when Israel struck near the Imam Shafi’i School in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Gaza medics say two women were killed when an Israeli tank fired on the Holy Family Church in northern Gaza, where Christians and Muslims were sheltering. The attack injured several others, including a child with disabilities and Father Gabriel Romanelli, the Gaza parish priest who was close to the late Pope Francis. He suffered leg injuries.

The U.S.- and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has issued a statement blaming Hamas provocateurs — without evidence — for the deaths of 21 Palestinians killed at its aid distribution site in Khan Younis on Wednesday. Survivors blame GHF guards, who they say triggered a deadly stampede by firing tear gas into a crowd of starving Palestinians lined up for parcels of food.

Abdallah Alyan: “This aid, I swear to God, is a trap. This is not aid. They fire at us. They throw bombs at us, spray us with pepper spray to burn our eyes. … The alternative is to open the border crossing, let the goods in so the prices go down in the market. This is the alternative for this aid. This is the alternative. Open the crossing, and everything will be cheaper in the market. They’re depending on this aid for their livelihood at the trap, the trap of the Israelis.”

Syrian forces have withdrawn from the southern city of Suwayda after reaching a new ceasefire deal with armed groups in the Druze-majority region. Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said the deal seeks to end days of sectarian violence that was exacerbated when Israel attacked Syrian forces in Suwayda, siding with Druze fighters.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Israeli attacks on Damascus Wednesday rose to three people, with dozens of others wounded. The strikes blew up part of the Syrian Defense Ministry, sending a huge column of debris and smoke high into the air in scenes that were broadcast on live TV. Israel also bombed a facility near the presidential palace. President Sharaa condemned the Israeli strikes.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa: “Israel, which has been targeting our stability and creating discord among us since the fall of the former regime, is now seeking to once again transform our pure land into an arena of endless chaos. It seeks to dismantle the unity of our people and weaken our ability to move forward in the process of reconstruction.”

Political turmoil in Israel’s government is mounting after two ultra-Orthodox parties announced they’re leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, leaving him short of a 61-seat majority in parliament.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made an appearance Wednesday at the Tel Aviv court where Netanyahu is on trial for corruption. Ahead of his appearance, Huckabee joined President Trump’s call for prosecutors to drop charges against the Israeli leader, calling the judges overseeing his case “totally unfair.”

A group of 30 countries announced a series of measures aimed at halting Israel’s attacks on Palestine and ending the “era of impunity” as they wrapped up a two-day summit in Bogotá. Those measures include banning arms sales to Israel and reviewing ties with companies that profit from the occupation of Palestine. But only 12 countries have agreed to implement the steps so far. Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., called the Hague Group’s summit a “turning point.”

Riyad Mansour: “We are beginning the process in which will be a massive wave of countries, of civil society organizations, of companies, of individuals, of all who cherish international law and justice to start taking practical steps in order to force Israel to stop the genocide against our people, especially in the Gaza Strip.”

In related news, Brazil, a member of the Hague Group, recently confirmed to Al Jazeera it will soon announce it’s formally joining South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. This is Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

Mauro Vieira: “We made a huge effort to try to call for negotiations. And the developments, the last developments of the — of this war, made us take the decision to join South Africa at the ICJ.”

The Republican-led Senate has voted in favor of Trump’s plan to claw back $9 billion in already-approved funding for foreign aid and public media. The cuts would have a minimal impact on the national debt but could be a death knell to vital programs addressing global health, emergency food and shelter assistance, peacekeeping and economic development — as well as to public broadcasters. Two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, joined Democrats in opposing the rescissions bill in an early-morning vote of 51 to 48. The legislation now heads to the Republican-controlled House.

The U.S. and Indonesia announced a new trade deal Wednesday that would see Trump’s threatened tariff of 32% reduced to 19%. The U.S. will not pay any tariffs for its exports to Indonesia. Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto also said he’d agreed to purchase Boeing jets. Trump told reporters Wednesday he will soon announce a blanket tariff for 150 other countries, saying the rate will be “probably 10 or 15%,” adding, “We haven’t decided yet.”

The Trump administration has begun making a series of voting-related requests to states, stoking fears of federal interference ahead of next year’s midterm elections. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reports the Justice Department has asked at least nine states to turn over their voter rolls. Two states have reportedly complied so far.

Meanwhile, election officials in Colorado said a consultant who claims to be working with the White House has made an extraordinary request to directly examine voting machines.

In related news, Republican lawmakers are reviving a push to exclude non-U.S. citizens from the official headcount in the 2030 census, which would dramatically impact how congressional districts are drawn. Meanwhile, Trump is pressuring Republicans in Texas to gerrymander their state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms in ways that would yield five new Republican seats.

The U.S. has expelled five immigrant men to Eswatini in southern Africa, where local authorities say they are holding them in jail before they deport them back to their home countries of Vietnam, Laos, Jamaica, Cuba and Yemen. This comes after the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the green light to send immigrants to third countries. Under new rules, ICE can send people to countries they have no ties to with as little as six hours’ — or in some cases no — advance notice.

This comes as immigration lawyers in Hawaii say an increasing number of immigrants detained in the continental United States are being transferred to prisons in Hawaii and are being deprived of access to legal counsel.

In California, Narciso Barranco, a landscaper who was brutally beaten before being detained by ICE last month, was released on bond from the Adelanto Detention Center. He’s the father of three U.S. Marines and has been living and working in the U.S. for over 30 years.

A U.S. citizen and disabled Army veteran is demanding “a full investigation” after he was detained by ICE for three days without explanation. George Retes was arrested last week during an immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California, where he works as a security guard. He described the ordeal following his release.

George Retes: “They had no coordination going on whatsoever. They were just kind of cuffing people and just sending them away without any information at all. So, they arrested me. They asked — they just asked what I was doing, eventually, and they asked me if I was a citizen, and I told them yes. … They didn’t allow me to shower. They didn’t give me a phone call. They didn’t let me speak to an attorney. They never told me what I was arrested for.”

Meanwhile, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government is considering filing a legal complaint against Trump and ICE over the death of Jaime Alanís, a farmworker who died after falling from the roof of a greenhouse during that immigration raid in Camarillo.

The Trump administration said Wednesday it had fired longtime U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who helped lead the successful prosecution of serial sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maurene Comey is also the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, who became a prominent critic of the president after Trump fired him in 2017.

On Wednesday, Trump dismissed questions about whether he would order the release of Justice Department files on Epstein as “boring,” and said he backed the release of any “credible” documents related to Epstein’s case. Trump later lashed out against members of his own MAGA movement over their demands he release the Epstein files, writing on social media, “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support any more!”

A federal judge has struck down a Biden-era rule that would have removed $49 billion in medical debt from credit reports. The rule affected some 15 million people and would have allowed roughly 22,000 people burdened with medical debts to still be able to access a mortgage.

A group called Writers Against the War on Gaza has published a dossier accusing The New York Times of pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian bias. The coalition’s research builds on decades of analyses showing how many high-ranking New York Times editors, journalists and executive officers hold material and ideological ties to Israeli occupation and apartheid; they also report Times editors have ordered reporters to avoid so-called inflammatory terms including “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “occupied territory” — and even to avoid saying “Palestine.”

In Iraq, a massive fire broke out at a newly opened mall in the eastern city of al-Kut, killing at least 69 people. The cause of the fire has not been confirmed, but authorities said legal proceedings have been launched against the owners of the building and the mall.

Protests are planned across the United States today under the banner “Good Trouble Lives On” — a reference to the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, who died five years ago today. The coordinated actions will protest the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LGBTQ+ community, free speech and his cuts to education and social programs.