Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are reporting seven new deaths due to “famine and malnutrition” as Israel continues its starvation campaign against the Palestinian territory. Gaza’s hunger-related death toll is now at 154, with at least 89 children among the dead. Palestinian officials say Israel allowed just 109 aid trucks to cross into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday — with most of them looted amid escalating security chaos. The U.N. says 500 to 600 truckloads of aid are needed each day to meet the basic needs of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents.

On Tuesday, displaced Palestinian mother Jihan al-Quraan was forced to collect scattered pasta from the dirt for her seven family members to eat, after she returned from a soup kitchen in Nuseirat Tuesday empty-handed.

Jihan al-Quraan: “We’re in a great famine. I’m in a famine now. I’m in a famine because the meal they give isn’t sufficient for me at all. I only have this meal for an entire day, until the following day when I come back to look for the soup kitchen to get food for my children. I only have this meal. Look at me. I have malnutrition from the lack of food. I feel dizzy when I walk.”

Meanwhile, Israeli forces are continuing deadly attacks on Palestinians, with at least 21 people killed since dawn, 13 of them while seeking aid.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state in September — unless Israel takes steps to end the starvation of Gaza and agree to a ceasefire with Hamas.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “So, today, as part of this process towards peace, I can confirm the U.K. will recognize the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”

Some British activists and politicians criticized Starmer’s announcement as performative and disingenuous. A member of the Scottish Parliament, Ross Greer, wrote on social media, “Starmer wouldn’t threaten to withdraw UK recognition of Israel, but he’s made recognition of Palestinian statehood conditional on the actions of their genocidal oppressor?”

Separately, Malta announced Tuesday that it will also recognize a Palestinian state in September. One hundred forty-seven of the United Nations’ 193 member states currently recognize the state of Palestine.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands has banned two key figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition: the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The European Union also proposed suspending Israel from a tech investment program in response to the starvation of Gaza.

A new report finds Canada continued to arm Israel despite pledging to halt arms shipments back in January of last year. Researchers from World Beyond War, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and Independent Jewish Voices uncovered Israeli import data and publicly available shipping records showing the Canadian government had sent weapons parts and ammunition to Israel.

Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders plans to force a vote to block U.S. arms sales to Israel. In a statement, Senator Sanders said, “U.S. taxpayers have spent tens of billions of dollars in support of the racist, extremist Netanyahu government. Enough is enough. We cannot continue to spend taxpayer money on a government which has killed some 60,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 143,000 — most of whom are women, children and the elderly.”

Forty-four members of the Senate’s Democratic caucus have signed on to a letter urging President Trump to stop funding the shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was created to take over aid deliveries in Gaza, replacing the United Nations.

Meanwhile, far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has become the first Republican congressmember to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

In more news from Capitol Hill, over two dozen rabbis were arrested Tuesday as they occupied the office of Republican Majority Leader John Thune while nonviolently protesting the Israeli government’s blockade of Gaza. The protesters represent 750 rabbis and Jewish clergy, and over 23,000 Jews who signed a statement calling for immediate food aid to Gaza. They come from all denominations of the Jewish faith. Activist Deborah Zavos spoke as she was led away from Tuesday’s protest in handcuffs.

Deborah Zavos: “Stop this forced starvation! We are here as Jews, because our religion demands that we be here and stand up!”

An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Russia’s far east early Wednesday, sending tsunami waves to Japan, Hawaii and the West Coast of the U.S. Initially, millions of people were in the path of the tsunami and were told to take steps to move away from the shore and seek higher ground. But no major damage has been reported so far.

The Senate has confirmed Emil Bove to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Just two Republicans sided with Democrats in Tuesday evening’s 50-49 vote, despite complaints about Bove’s conduct as a senior Justice Department official. Two whistleblowers report he told subordinates to ignore court orders blocking Trump’s deportation orders; another whistleblower claimed Bove lied to senators about his role in dismissing charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Bove was formerly Trump’s lawyer, defending him in three criminal trials. New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker spoke ahead of his confirmation.

Sen. Cory Booker: “This is a sad day for our democracy. This is a sad day for the judiciary and a sad day for the United States Senate, whose constitutional obligation is to advise and consent, to look at all of the evidence, especially when you have whistleblowers standing up with courage and wanting to speak the truth.”

The Trump administration has removed two top officials from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, which promotes competition and sues to prevent monopolies. Bill Rinner and Roger Alford were fired for insubordination amid disputes over recent corporate mega-mergers, including T-Mobile’s purchase of UScellular and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. CBS News reports the HP merger was approved only after Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff overruled the head of the Antitrust Division, Gail Slater. Democrats are demanding an investigation into the firings. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote, “The Antitrust Division has long worked to enforce the law to fight monopoly power, but these attorneys may have been fired for doing just that.”

The Trump administration has formally proposed ending the Obama-era scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health. The finding is the basis of a 2009 rule that allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to set limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, power plants and other sources. On Tuesday, EPA chief Lee Zeldin used an Indianapolis truck dealership as a backdrop as he proposed ending the “endangerment finding,” calling it the “largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.” The Sierra Club condemned Zeldin’s move, writing, “As if any doubt remained, the Trump Administration has formalized climate denial as the official policy of the United States government.”

In more climate news, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is warning workers could face potentially lethal conditions as temperatures soar into the triple digits across much of the Eastern Seaboard and Great Plains regions. Tens of millions of people in 31 states were advised to stay inside Tuesday amid extreme heat warnings.

Meanwhile, the government of Greece has asked the European Union to help battle wildfires as the eastern Mediterranean region swelters under extreme heat. Turkey’s Environment Ministry recently reported a reading of 50.5 degrees Celsius, or 123 degrees Fahrenheit — an all-time high temperature record for Turkey.

The House Oversight Committee has ruled out granting Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator and convicted sex trafficker congressional immunity for her testimony. Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress if she’s granted immunity. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell to testify next month.

On Tuesday, President Trump once again referred to Epstein stealing his employees from his Mar-a-Lago club, admitting that one of them was Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s abuse survivors who met him when she was a teenager. Giuffre reportedly died by suicide in Australia in April.

President Donald Trump: “I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yeah. He — he stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.”

Here in New York, police have revealed new details about Monday’s mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan. Investigators say 27-year-old gunman Shane Devon Tamura used an M4 assault-style rifle in the attack, which killed a police officer, a security guard, a real estate associate and a senior executive at the investment firm Blackstone. However, the shooter appeared to be targeting the NFL’s corporate headquarters. In a three-page handwritten suicide note, Tamara wrote that playing football had left him with the neurodegenerative disease CTE, which is linked to head trauma. His note read in part, “Please study brain for CTE. I’m sorry. The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us.”

Virginia Commonwealth University has agreed to grant a diploma to Palestinian American student Sereen Haddad after withholding it until now. Haddad earned a four-year degree in psychology at VCU in just three years, earning the highest honors along the way. She was denied her diploma at her graduation this year after campus officials cited her participation in a peaceful memorial commemorating violent police arrests at a student encampment for Palestine in 2024. Sereen is the daughter of Dr. Tariq Haddad, a cardiologist who grew up in Gaza; they have lost more than 200 members of their extended family in Israel’s nearly two-year-long, U.S.-backed assault. Sereen Haddad spoke to Democracy Now! on Tuesday just after learning she would receive her diploma, following a monthslong appeal to the VCU Student Conduct Board.

Sereen Haddad: “One thing I want to make absolutely clear is that this was not VCU choosing to do the right thing or them waking up and realizing that they made an error. This was the result of pressure on a case that they could not defend. It was the result of truth prevailing, and they were left with no choice because the truth was always on our side. I cannot separate this small victory from the reality that at this very same moment millions of Palestinians are being starved in Gaza intentionally, systematically and with the support of the very systems that tried to silence me. And the fact that I had to fight for my own diploma, something that I rightfully earned, is a testament to the exact same systems that are upholding and enabling genocide.”

Click here to see our joint interview with Sereen Haddad and her father, Dr. Tariq Haddad.