Israel issued new forced displacement orders for residents of northern Gaza and parts of Gaza City as its genocidal assault on the Palestinian territory entered its 601st day. The order set off a panicked evacuation of staff and patients at the Al-Awda Hospital, which was the last functioning hospital in the region. Health officials say Israeli attacks on hospitals have killed more than 1,400 medical workers since October 2023.

On Thursday, Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 70 Palestinians; airstrikes since dawn today have killed a further 18 people, according to Gaza hospital officials. Al Jazeera reports Israeli troops shot and wounded 20 Palestinians trying to reach an aid distribution point set up by the controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It’s the third aid center set up by the group so far. The United Nations has said the foundation’s decision to open a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the Gaza Strip puts civilian lives in danger and encourages mass displacement by using aid as “bait.”

Gaza’s food crisis continues to worsen, as the trickle of aid now entering the territory is far too little for its population of over 2 million people. This is Khawla Abu Zeitar, mother of an 11-month-old child suffering from malnutrition, who said she did not manage to get a meal after waiting in line at a soup kitchen in Gaza City Wednesday.

Khawla Abu Zeitar: “This boy is suffering from extreme malnutrition. … The average weight for his age is 12 kilograms. Now he only weighs 3.9 kilograms. He has been granted a medical evacuation 20 days ago, but I’m still waiting.”

On Thursday, the White House said Israel had agreed to a U.S.-crafted Gaza ceasefire proposal and that Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted it to Hamas. Drop Site News reports the deal includes a 60-day initial truce, a “redeployment” of some Israeli occupation forces, and an exchange of captives, including 10 living Israelis held in Gaza. It would also require the “immediate” delivery of humanitarian aid, including by the United Nations and the Red Crescent. Hamas officials said they were studying the deal, but a member of the group’s political bureau told Reuters the proposal in its current form would result in “the continuation of killing and famine” in Gaza.

Israel’s military has intensified its airstrikes on southern Lebanon, in further violations of a ceasefire deal agreed to in November. On Thursday, an Israeli drone strike killed a municipal worker operating a water well near Lebanon’s border with Israel. Separately, one person was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Lebanese border town of Kfar Kila.

President Trump’s newly named envoy to Syria raised the U.S. flag over the ambassador’s residence in Damascus Thursday for the first time since its closure in 2012. Thomas Barrack’s visit to the Syrian capital comes just weeks after Trump lifted sanctions on Syria, prompting the European Union to follow suit.

Saudi Arabia’s defense minister warned leaders of Iran last month that they should accept President Trump’s offer to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with the U.S. — or face military action by Israel. That’s according to Reuters, which reports Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman personally delivered the message that Trump’s team would want to reach a deal quickly, that the window for diplomacy would close fast, and that an Israeli attack was possible if the talks broke down. Khalid bin Salman’s visit to Iran in April was the first by a high-ranking member of the Saudi royal family in more than two decades.

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily reinstated Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, staying a decision by a trade court that had blocked those tariffs one day earlier after finding Trump overstepped presidential authority by invoking emergency powers. Prior to Thursday’s stay, another federal court, this time in Washington, D.C., had also blocked Trump’s tariffs. The case is expected to make its way to the Supreme Court. Trump’s trade war has roiled global markets and already cost companies $34 billion, according to Reuters. A number of smaller businesses have been forced to shutter. We’ll have more on this story with the Brennan Center’s Elizabeth Goitein later in the broadcast.

Mexican voters are gearing up for the first-ever judicial elections Sunday after a contested reform last year ordered the elections, despite vocal objections from the legal sector. Critics warn it will make judges more vulnerable to corruption and organized crime. Ahead of the weekend vote, election observers warned of major concerns with the polling process.

Luis Fernández: “The dilemma is serious because the ballots were poorly designed. It is creating inequality in the polls, and it’s creating problems of real competition for the vast majority of candidacies.”

The founder of the private mercenary firm Blackwater is working with Haiti’s interim government on a plan to conduct lethal operations against the gangs that now control much of Haiti’s territory. The New York Times reports Erik Prince recently shipped a large supply of weapons to Haiti and is planning to send up to 150 mercenaries there this summer. Prince is reportedly part of a secret task force that has spent the past several weeks operating drones meant to kill gang members. A Haitian human rights group blames the drones for the deaths of over 200 people.

In Canada, authorities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency and ordered residents to evacuate as dozens of wildfires burn. The current forecast for dry conditions and high winds could further stoke the infernos, with smoke expected to drift into midwestern U.S. states.

The daughter of a woman who died during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave is suing seven oil and gas companies for her mother’s wrongful death. Juliana Leon died of hyperthermia, or overheating, as a “heat dome” choked the region and sent temperatures in Seattle skyrocketing to 108 degrees. Nearly 200 people died during the heat wave. The lawsuit is the first of its kind and accuses the fossil fuel companies of concealing their role in creating the climate crisis and failing to warn people of the dangers of their emissions.

This comes as a new report today found half the world population endured 30 additional days of extreme heat over the past year due to human-created climate change.

The Supreme Court has sharply limited the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act, a ruling that will accelerate the development of major infrastructure projects including highways, pipelines and liquefied natural gas export terminals. The court’s 8-0 ruling on Thursday will allow federal agencies conducting environmental reviews to take a more limited view of the impacts of major transportation and energy projects. Earthjustice said in a statement, “The Trump administration will treat this decision as an invitation to ignore environmental concerns as it tries to promote fossil fuels, kill off renewable energy, and destroy sensible pollution regulations.”

President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a plan to completely eliminate limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants. That’s according to internal agency documents seen by The New York Times, which reports the EPA has determined emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution.”

A court in Germany ruled against a Peruvian farmer who was seeking redress from the energy company RWE for its role in the melting of Andean glaciers, which has put the farmer and his community in Huaraz at risk of flooding. But climate activists are celebrating the ruling as a major victory, as the German court also found major polluters can be held responsible for the consequences of climate change, setting up a possible precedent as similar cases play out in other countries. This is German lawyer Roda Verheyen, who represented Saúl Luciano Lliuya in the landmark case.

Roda Verheyen: “But what is important is the legal obligation of companies like RWE has been established here today. The legal obligation to deal with the consequences of their actions and to bear responsibility for them is something that has never before been established anywhere in the world in this form.”

A major report on chronic health conditions by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was found to contain citations to nonexistent studies. According to the outlet NOTUS, the 73-page “Make America Healthy Again” document contains references to at least seven fabricated studies, while other studies are misinterpreted.
This comes as the Health Department has just canceled a $600 million contract with Moderna to develop mRNA vaccines protecting against flu subtypes which could develop into pandemics, including bird flu. RFK Jr. has expressed skepticism over mRNA technology, which was used in COVID vaccines that are widely credited with saving millions of lives and preventing millions of cases of severe disease.

The ACLU and other groups are suing to block a new Texas law that will require public schools to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to sign the bill, which the Texas Senate approved on a vote of 28 to 3 on Wednesday. The ACLU called the measure “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Here in New York, a judge extended a temporary restraining order protecting Columbia University student Yunseo Chung from deportation until a hearing on June 5. Chung, a South Korean national, is a green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7. She’s been targeted by immigration authorities for participating in Palestinian rights protests at Columbia. Community members rallied in support of Chung as her lawyers appeared in court Thursday. This is Yunmi from the group Nodutdol.

Yunmi: “She’s being attacked because she has views that go against the Trump administration and their desires in Israel and also against the general ruling class. So, by persecuting her on also baseless grounds — there’s no evidence against her — who can say what the Trump administration and the federal government are willing to do next to anyone, regardless of their immigration status?”

Longtime New York journalist and activist Tom Robbins died on Tuesday at the age of 76. For over four decades, Robbins’s work exposed the dark side of New York institutions, including corrupt politicians and landlords, and abuse inside prisons. He wrote for The Village Voice, City Limits, The New York Times and The City. Click here to see our interviews with him.

In Texas, Ronnie Dugger, the founder and longtime publisher of the Austin-based Texas Observer, died this week at the age of 95. The Texas Observer, which started in 1954, exposed political corruption and racism in Texas and championed antiwar and civil rights struggles. Dugger and his reporting has been credited with helping catalyze a progressive movement in Texas.

The renowned Kenyan author, playwright and professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has died at the age of 87. Over six decades, he chronicled Kenya’s transition from a British colony to independence. Thiong’o’s work landed him in jail and in exile as he wrote searing criticisms of colonial rule, as well as the emerging independent state, which he accused of benefiting elites at the expense of Kenyan society. In 2010, Democracy Now! interviewed him in our studio after he’d just released his memoir, “Dreams in a Time of War.”

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: “In all the settler colonies, like Kenya, Nigeria — not Nigeria — Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe — Mozambique is another example, Algeria is another example — independence was won through armed struggle. In all of those, there was armed liberation movements, and the land question was at the basis of the whole struggle. So, with Kenya, we had one of the earliest anti-colonial guerrilla movements. Ours was by the name of Mau Mau.”

Click here to see our interview with him in full.