In northern Gaza, more than 50 Palestinians were killed or are presumed dead following an Israeli airstrike that leveled a four-story home in Jabaliya. Civil Defense workers described a horrific scene, with rescue operations severely hampered due to a lack of heavy machinery.

The attack came as Gaza officials said at least 29 children and seniors starved to death over the past two days amid a worsening hunger crisis brought on by Israel’s near-total blockade. On Thursday, there were chaotic scenes as crowds scrambled to receive the first freshly baked bread in weeks from a handful of bakeries in south and central Gaza. Israel’s army said it granted access Thursday to 107 humanitarian aid trucks carrying limited supplies of food, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals; aid groups say at least 500 aid trucks are needed every day for two months to alleviate Gaza’s hunger crisis. This is U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

Stéphane Dujarric: “The shipment from yesterday is limited in quantity and nowhere near sufficient to meet the scale and scope of Gaza’s 2.1 million.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned a series of Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley. Israel’s military said a drone strike killed a Hezbollah operative late Thursday, part of what Lebanese officials described as Israel’s heaviest attacks since reaching a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in November, which Israel has repeatedly violated.

In Jerusalem, a member of the Arab-Jewish coalition Hadash party was forcefully removed from the podium of Israel’s Knesset Thursday as he condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza. This is the lawmaker, Ayman Odeh. 

Ayman Odeh: “After a year and a half of war in which you killed 19,000 children, 53,000 residents of Gaza, you destroyed all the universities and the hospitals. And for you, there is no political win. You feel there is no political win. That’s why you go crazy.”

The Trump administration on Thursday barred Harvard University from enrolling international students by revoking its Student Exchange and Visitor Program certification. The news sent shockwaves through Harvard and beyond, with legal experts warning the move is likely illegal. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited “antisemitism” for the move, an accusation the Trump administration has also wielded against other universities when withdrawing federal funds. Noem also accused Harvard of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” In April, Harvard refused to abide by Trump’s list of demands related to DEI and free speech on campus. Harvard also challenged a Trump administration order to hand over the records of its current international students. Over a quarter of Harvard’s student body is international. Unless courts block the Trump administration’s order, current students would have to transfer out of Harvard or lose their visas.

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate abducted by ICE, testified in court Thursday that he faces possible “assassination, kidnapping, [or] torture” if he were to be deported, after being “mislabeled … a terrorist sympathizer” by the U.S. government. Khalil has been locked up in an immigration prison in Jena, Louisiana, for over two months, after he was taken from his New York home in March. Just hours before his testimony on Thursday, Mahmoud Khalil was permitted to hold his 1-month-old son Deen for the first time since he was born. Hundreds of people rallied in Jena Thursday to demand justice for Khalil. Amy Greer, one of his lawyers, spoke to reporters after the court hearing.

Amy Greer: “As long as this genocide is unfolding and the ethnic cleansing happening in the West Bank continues to unfold to the silence of the Western part of the world, he will keep speaking. And this administration can keep throwing people away, keep trying to silence our communities, but we see what’s happening. Mahmoud sees what’s happening. And he is willing to exercise his voice and protect all of our rights.”

We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast with another member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team, Ramzi Kassem.

Here in New York, alumni from Columbia and Barnard ripped up and burned their diplomas outside their alma mater Wednesday to protest the repression of free speech and persecution of pro-Palestinian student protesters on campus. This is Jeanie Dubnau, a Barnard graduate from the class of 1960.

Jeanie Dubnau: “My parents came here to escape the fascism in Nazi Germany. And now I’m finding that we are facing fascism here in the United States, and Columbia University is opening its arms to this fascist government.”

In related news, students and staff at the University of Oregon have joined hunger strikers across the country, demanding their school divest from Israel and protect free speech on campus. Hunger strikes are also ongoing at Yale, Stanford and at California State University schools.

In New York, a coalition of military veterans and other rights activists have begun a 40-day “Fast for Gaza.” The hunger strikers are gathering at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. for their action. They spoke in front of the U.N. Thursday as they launched their fast. This is 74-year-old Mike Ferner, former national director of Veterans for Peace.

Mike Ferner: “Our demands are full humanitarian aid under the authority of the United Nations, no more weapons to Israel, to stop the genocide, stop the killing and start treating this Earth as though it were sacred.”

The Senate has voted to block California’s landmark law phasing out gasoline-powered cars by 2035 in a bid to combat air pollution and the climate crisis. The vote was 51 to 44, with Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan joining Republicans, who used a procedural maneuver to avoid the Senate’s filibuster rules, a process Democrats described as a “nuclear” option. California Governor Gavin Newsom called it an “unconstitutional attack on California” and said the state would sue in federal court to block the federal mandate. Eleven other states were set to follow California’s lead with similar phase-outs of fossil fuel vehicles, accounting for 40% of the U.S. auto market.

In more climate news, a new study from University of Maryland researchers finds the world’s forests were destroyed at the fastest rate ever recorded last year, with an area the size of Italy lost to fires, as well as agriculture, logging and mining.

The Supreme Court has granted an emergency request by the Trump administration allowing the president to fire leaders of most independent government agencies. The court’s 6-3 ruling clears the way for Trump to terminate National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, as well as Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which protects the rights of federal workers. The ruling includes a narrow carve-out protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve. Earlier this month, Trump rattled markets when he mocked Fed Chair Jerome Powell as a “fool” and a “major loser,” asserting he had the power to terminate him.

A split three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., has cleared the way for President Trump’s executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights. The Center for American Progress reports the order affects four out of five federal workers represented by unions at more than a dozen federal agencies — more than 1 million people.

The Supreme Court has narrowly rejected Oklahoma’s bid to use federal funds to pay for what would have been the first religious charter school. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from Thursday’s ruling, leaving the court deadlocked in a 4-4 decision, leaving intact an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that the proposed Catholic charter school violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

Protesters gathered outside President Trump’s Virginia golf club Thursday evening as he hosted a private dinner for 220 top spenders on his $TRUMP memecoin. Altogether, the dinner attendees spent close to $400 million combined to gain access to Trump — many of them foreign nationals. Among attendees were Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire, and Korean crypto executive Sangrok Oh. Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren called the gathering “an orgy of corruption.” Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley joined protesters outside Trump’s golf club. 

Sen. Jeff Merkley: “This is like the Mount Everest of corruption. Now, our founders were very worried about people buying influence with our country, because they knew you can’t have We the People government, if its government’s being sold to others.”

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., have filed murder charges against the Chicago man accused of fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staff members outside the Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday evening. Elias Rodriguez made an appearance in federal court on Thursday afternoon. He may also face hate crime and terrorism charges and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged heavy volleys of attack drones overnight, with Ukraine’s Air Force saying it downed 112 of 128 incoming Russian drones, while officials in Moscow grounded planes at several major airports amid attacks from Ukrainian UAVs. Elsewhere, Russian officials said a Ukrainian strike injured 12 people in Russia’s Kursk region.

This comes as Germany announced it has stationed a heavy combat unit of 4,800 soldiers in Lithuania — the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since the Second World War. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said during a ceremony in Vilnius on Thursday the troops would help protect NATO’s eastern flank.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz: “We know that security doesn’t begin at our borders. It begins where our allies and partners have to defend it. That’s why Lithuania’s security is also our security.”

Lithuania is a former Soviet Republic that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad, as well as Russian ally Belarus. It joined NATO in 2004.