The United Nations is urging Israel to open the Rafah border crossing to allow urgently needed aid into the Gaza Strip. This comes as 41 aid organizations, including Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have published an open letter accusing Israel of “arbitrarily” rejecting aid deliveries into Gaza. The letter says, “Aid denied by Israeli authorities includes tents and tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, food and nutrition supplies, hygiene kits, sanitation materials, assistive devices, and children’s clothing, all of which should be unrestricted during the ceasefire.” The World Food Programme warned it was falling short of its target of sending 2,000 tons of food into Gaza. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization described Gaza’s starvation crisis as “catastrophic.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “There is increase in amount after the ceasefire, but what is entering Gaza is significantly below the required target. Significantly below the required target. And that I also can explain the second — can be an answer to the second question: Is there a dent in hunger level? So, if the Gaza that — if the aid that’s entering Gaza is significantly low, it cannot dent the hunger level. And the situation still remains catastrophic, because what’s entering is not enough.”

In Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with senior Israeli army officials and held a news conference in Kiryat Gat, the site of a new international command center with troops from the U.S., U.K., Jordan and the UAE. Rubio said that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, cannot have a role in the Gaza Strip; Rubio called it a “subsidiary of Hamas.” Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect on October 10, Israel has killed nearly 100 Palestinians and wounded 230 in Gaza.

President Trump responded Thursday to the Israeli Knesset’s vote advancing legislation that would annex the occupied West Bank.

President Donald Trump: “The West Bank is — don’t worry about the West Bank. Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank, OK? Don’t worry about it. Is that your question? They’re not going to do anything with the West Bank. Don’t worry about it. Israel’s doing very well. They’re not going to do anything with it.”

This follows a Time magazine interview in which Trump firmly opposed Israeli annexation, saying, “It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.” Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called annexation in the West Bank a “threat to the peace process.”

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera is reporting that a child has died after being wounded by Israeli forces during a raid in Nablus. UNRWA reports more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in settler and Israeli army attacks in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023. We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast.

Members of the Israeli opposition are slamming far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for his “harmful” comments about Saudi Arabia. Smotrich resorted to stereotypes when he said he wouldn’t agree to a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia if it required Israel to recognize a Palestinian state.

Bezalel Smotrich: “If Saudi Arabia says to us 'normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,' friend, no, thank you. Continue riding camels on the sand in the desert. And Saudi Arabia, we will continue to develop, really, with economy and society and state and all the great and wonderful things that we know how to do.”

Smotrich has since apologized for his comments. This comes as President Trump is set to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next month. It will be the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to the U.S. since the 2018 murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Trump asserted Thursday that he had the authority to continue to launch airstrikes against alleged drug boats in international waters without a congressional declaration of war. Since September, the Pentagon says it’s struck nine alleged drug boats, killing 37 people.

President Donald Trump: “Well, I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them. You know? They’re going to be, like, dead. OK.”

Trump also denied reports by The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. is sending B-1 bombers near Venezuela. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced he’s deploying armed forces along the country’s coastline.

Vladimir Padrino López: “No attempt to destabilize the Venezuelan nation will pass through here. They may send however many CIA-affiliated units in covert operations from any flank of the nation, and any attempt will fail, as they have failed so far.”

President Trump says he’s suspended trade talks with Canada over an advertisement produced by the government of Ontario that criticizes tariffs. The ad features excerpts of a 1987 address by then-President Ronald Reagan warning of the dire consequences of high tariffs, like the 35% tariff Trump has imposed on most Canadian goods not covered under a trade agreement.

President Ronald Reagan: “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse. Businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.”

In a social media post, Trump lashed out at the one-minute ad, calling it ”FAKE,” writing, “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”

A group of civil and human rights organizations is calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end the jailing of pregnant people and to immediately investigate reports of severe medical neglect in ICE jails in Louisiana and Georgia. A joint letter signed by the National Immigration Project, the American Civil Liberties Union and others describes the shackling of pregnant people during transport; solitary confinement; the denial of prenatal vitamins; inadequate food; and delayed or substandard medical care. They say one woman experienced a dangerous infection after a miscarriage due to ICE’s medical neglect.

Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy in order to construct a sprawling network of migrant detention centers in Louisiana, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Utah. A source tells CNN that facilities could hold as many as 10,000 people each.

The federal government shutdown has entered its 24th day. It’s now the second longest in U.S. history, rivaled only by the 2018-2019 shutdown during Trump’s first term. On Thursday, the Senate rejected competing partisan bills to compensate some federal workers who’ve gone without pay since early October.
This comes as at least 36 states are warning they’re preparing to suspend November payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities warns that would leave about one out of every eight people in the U.S. without food assistance, including some 16 million children, 8 million older adults and 4 million people with disabilities.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is set to appear in federal court in Virginia today. She’s expected to plead not guilty to charges that she lied in her mortgage application. James has said that she plans to ask the federal judge to dismiss her case on the grounds that the U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed by President Trump. Last month, Trump forced out Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, after he refused to bring indictments against James and the former FBI Director James Comey.

The Trump administration finalized plans Thursday to open more than a million-and-a-half acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The Interior Department also announced the first oil and gas lease sale with the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska since 2019, and it approved a more than 200-mile industrial road through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

Environmentalists condemned the announcements. In a statement, the Alaska Wilderness League wrote, “Opening the entire coastal plain of the Arctic refuge to drilling would destroy one of the most ecologically significant landscapes on earth — the birthing grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, vital habitat for polar bears and migratory birds, and sacred land for the Gwich’in people who have stewarded its resources for millennia.”

President Trump on Thursday pardoned the convicted founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while he was CEO of Binance. According to The Wall Street Journal, Binance struck a business deal with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto startup, which has generated $4.5 billion since Trump returned to office. Binance also reportedly hired lobbyist Charles McDowell, who is a close friend of Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. Republican Senator Thom Tillis blasted the pardon, saying it sends “a bad signal.” When asked about Zhao’s pardon, President Trump said, “I don’t know, he was recommended by a lot of people.”

The Trump administration has released a list of wealthy donors and corporations funding President Trump’s $300 million construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House. Among the donors are Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, Lockheed Martin and more. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is contributing $22 million, after settling a lawsuit Trump filed against YouTube for banning him from the platform after he incited his followers to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

On Thursday, the Secret Service shut off public access to the Ellipse, a public park adjacent to the White House and one of the only spots to view the demolition. Photos show the entire East Wing has been knocked down.

President Trump says he’s canceled plans to send federal forces into San Francisco. On Thursday, Trump wrote on social media that he’d been talked out his plans for what he called a “surge” after he spoke with his “friends” — the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff. Trump’s sudden reversal came as protesters rallied outside a U.S. Coast Guard base on the San Francisco Bay, where more than 100 federal agents were reportedly preparing to ramp up immigration raids. Police used flash-bang grenades to drive protesters away from an entrance as Customs and Border Patrol vehicles drove through. Separately, city officials joined protests at San Francisco City Hall. This is Laura Valdez, director of Mission Action, which works on behalf of low-income and immigrant communities.

Laura Valdez: “Please remember that this might be the start of mass enforcement in our communities, and we need to prepare adequately. And even if it is not the start, we still need to be prepared. And this community is here to back you up.”

Meanwhile, former House speaker and longtime San Francisco Congressmember Nancy Pelosi is warning federal agents they could face arrest by local police if they break California law while carrying out immigration sweeps. In a statement, Pelosi wrote, “While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not. Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.” In response, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X, “Stand down or face prosecution. No one threatens our agents. No one will stop us from Making America Safe Again.”