Palestinians in Gaza are trying to identify the bodies of their relatives who were released by Israel. Many of the bodies showed signs of torture and summary execution, with gunshots to the head and marks from blindfolds and handcuffs. Here’s Ghada Musbeh, whose husband is still missing.

Ghada Musbeh: “The Red Cross has brought bodies, 90 bodies, and we have come to see if my husband is with them or not. The appearance of the martyrs, we do not know who they are, because they are disfigured, and the Israelis have tortured them. We don’t know anything about them. Their appearance — we don’t know where my husband is. It is not known.”

Israeli officials say they’re extending the detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya by six months. The pediatrician was kidnapped during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital last December. Meanwhile, Hamas returned the remains of two more dead Israeli hostages but reiterated that it will need specialized equipment to locate bodies still buried beneath the rubble. The U.N. estimates that 55 million tons of debris must be cleared before Gaza reconstruction efforts can begin.

This week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called on the military to prepare a “comprehensive plan” to defeat Hamas, should the Gaza ceasefire collapse. In Washington, President Trump repeated his threats against Hamas.

President Donald Trump: “They brought back bodies today, as you probably know. But they also said they’re going to behave. We’re going to find out if they behave, if they behave good. If they don’t behave, we’ll take care of it.”

In New Jersey, protesters led by Jewish Voice for Peace on Thursday occupied the lobby of a Newark high-rise that’s home to an office of Democratic Senator Cory Booker. Protesters wore shirts reading “Stop Arming Israel” and carried messages including “Booker Let Gaza Live” and “Booker Stop Funding Genocide.” They cited Senator Booker’s votes to send $26 billion to support Israel’s assault on Gaza last year and to eliminate funding to the U.N. relief agency for Palestinian refugees. Booker also voted against Bernie Sanders’s joint resolutions of disapproval to block U.S. arms transfers to Israel.

President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday on charges that he mishandled classified documents. Bolton is a prominent critic of President Trump and had published a book about his tumultuous time in the White House during the first Trump administration. In a statement, Bolton said, “Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.” It comes as President Trump’s Justice Department has secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James in recent weeks.

The U.S. launched another strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean on Thursday. A U.S. official tells Reuters it’s the first time there are survivors of the attack. Since September, the U.S. has reportedly killed 27 people in attacks against suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela.

This comes as Venezuela has requested the U.N. Security Council to declare that the U.S. strikes are illegal, calling on the body to back Venezuela’s sovereignty. Here’s Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Samuel Moncada.

Samuel Moncada: “What do we ask of the Security Council? First, that it investigates the series of murders that the government of the United States of America has been perpetrating in our region, and determines their illegal nature. Second, to confirm the threat that these illicit actions pose to the preservation of peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. admiral who commands military forces in Latin America, Alvin Holsey, will step down from his post at the end of this year. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the announcement on social media. It comes less than a year after Holsey took over the position, which normally lasts for three years. The New York Times reports a U.S. official said Holsey “had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”

This comes as a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel, Doug Krugman, published an op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday titled “I resigned from the military because of Trump.” After serving for 24 years, he writes, “I gave up my career out of concern for our country’s future.”

Meanwhile, a network of more than 340 former officers of the CIA, the NSA, the State Department and other national security agencies published a report detailing that the U.S. is “on a trajectory” toward authoritarian rule. The group, calling itself the Steady State, said in a statement, “We wrote [the report] because the same tools we once used to assess foreign risks now show unmistakable warning signs at home.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting President Trump at the White House today, where he’s expected to make his case for supplies of U.S. long-range missiles. Trump has hinted he may supply Ukraine with ground-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. Kremlin officials have repeatedly warned against providing the weapons, which can be used to carry nuclear warheads and were banned until 2019, when Russia and the first Trump administration withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

On Thursday, Trump said after a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the pair would discuss the war in Ukraine at an upcoming meeting in Budapest, Hungary. Trump described the phone call as “very productive.” Before winning the 2024 election, Trump repeatedly pledged from the campaign trail he’d end the war in Ukraine “on the first day.”

In Chicago, a federal judge ruled Thursday immigration agents will be required to wear body cameras, as she called on a senior official to testify in court to discuss an operation that’s led to 1,000 arrests. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was “startled” after seeing video of ICE agents tear-gassing protesters, saying, “I live in Chicago if folks haven’t noticed. And I’m not blind, right?”

A ProPublica report finds that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by ICE agents at raids and protests across the country. More than 20 citizens were held in detention without being able to contact their loved ones or a lawyer. ICE agents also arrested 130 citizens, including a dozen elected officials, for allegedly interfering with or assaulting officers; those cases were dropped.

A federal judge has lifted travel restrictions for Mahmoud Khalil, ruling the Palestinian activist and green card holder is free to attend speaking engagements around the U.S. as he fights the Trump administration’s attempts to deport him. The Columbia University graduate was the first pro-Palestinian campus protester to be jailed by the Trump administration over his advocacy work. During a court hearing Thursday, Khalil’s lawyer Alina Das said, “He wants to travel for the very significant First Amendment reasons that are at the bottom of this case.”

The federal government shutdown has entered its 17th day. On Thursday, the Senate failed to advance a Republican-sponsored stopgap funding bill for the 10th time, as Democrats continue to demand Republicans rescind deep cuts to Medicaid and restore tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable for millions of people. The Senate also failed to advance a Defense Department appropriations bill to fully fund the U.S. military for a year. Meanwhile, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP, has begun denying new applications in some places, with some 40 million low-income people at risk of losing benefits if the shutdown drags into November.

The Trump administration is preparing to install allies of President Trump at the IRS to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups and major Democratic donors. That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which reports the move would allow Trump’s allies to exert greater control at the IRS’s criminal investigative division, and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal probes. The changes are reportedly being spearheaded by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Shapley is said to be putting together a list of targets for the IRS to pursue, including billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and his affiliated groups.

Organizers of nationwide anti-authoritarian protests say they’re expecting millions of people to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories on Saturday. They say this weekend’s “No Kings” protests should far surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for “No Kings Day” events in June. Ahead of the protests, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he’s calling up the Texas National Guard. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson condemned the protests, using talking points repeated by Republicans and far-right pundits.

Speaker Mike Johnson: “I encourage you to watch. We call it the 'Hate America' rally that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see Hamas supporters. I bet you see antifa types. I bet you see the Marxists in full display.”

Here in New York, organizers expect Saturday’s protests to rival June’s “No Kings” events, when an estimated 175,000 people marched.

Hanna Stauss: “Honestly, what drew me to No Kings was the fear of what happens if we don’t stand up. I think we’re watching a slide into authoritarianism. And I think that if we don’t come together in massive numbers, if we don’t make it fun, and if we don’t make it enticing to be a part of the resistance, I really fear what this administration will do next.”

New York City’s mayoral candidates faced off Thursday evening in their first debate ahead of the November 4 election. Here’s New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani going after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Zohran Mamdani: “What New Yorkers need is a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver on that safety. When Donald Trump sent ICE agents on people in Los Angeles, Andrew Cuomo said that New Yorkers need not overreact. That is the furthest answer that New Yorkers are looking for. They are looking for someone who will lead, someone who will say that they will have their back, someone who will actually fight for the people of this city. And that’s who I am, because I’m not funded by the same donors that gave us Donald Trump’s second term, which isn’t something that Andrew Cuomo can say.”