Israeli ground forces have advanced deeper into Gaza City, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee under heavy fire from tanks, fighter jets and naval bombardment. The relentless strikes killed at least 79 Palestinians over the last 24 hours, according to Gaza health officials, with another 228 wounded. Among the dead are a mother and child killed in an air attack on a residential apartment in the Shati refugee camp and 13 people killed in an Israeli attack in front of Al-Shifa Hospital. This is Yasmin Zaqout, who narrowly survived an assault that collapsed her family’s home in Gaza City.

Yasmin Zaqout: “They pulled me out from under the rubble with my mouth filled with sand. They spent two hours trying to rescue me and my injured husband. My daughter suffocated under the debris. … The ruins of the house crushed my legs, and the columns were on my chest. My husband and son are in critical condition, and my daughter died.”

Gaza City is under a complete internet and communications blackout for a second straight day after Israel strikes destroyed infrastructure.

Meanwhile, an investigation by The New Humanitarian has documented the names of nearly 3,000 Palestinians who were killed while seeking aid and almost 20,000 others who were wounded by Israeli forces. That includes nearly 1,000 Palestinians killed at or near aid sites operated by the militarized U.S.- and Israeli-backed, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In Brussels, the European Commission on Wednesday submitted a proposal to suspend the EU’s trade agreement with Israel and to sanction far-right Israeli Cabinet members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as well as 10 Hamas members. This is Kaja Kallas, vice-president of the European Commission.

Kaja Kallas: “The aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. All member states agree that the situation in Gaza is untenable. The war needs to end, the suffering must stop, and all hostages must be released. We must use all the tools we have towards this outcome.”

In Washington, D.C., the families of U.S. citizens killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers gathered on Capitol Hill this week to demand the Trump administration investigate the killings. This is Ozden Bennett, whose sister Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was shot to death by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank a year ago.
bq. Ozden Bennett: “What will it take for the Department of Justice to live up to its name? Why are some American lives worth fighting for while others are not? Why is it that the U.S. government is swift to take — to act as long as the perpetrator isn’t Israel?”
Click here to see our interview with Ozden Bennett.
Joining the protest was Cindy Corrie, the mother of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to protect a Palestinian home in Gaza from demolition in 2003. The group was brought together by Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal.
bq. Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “Ambassador Huckabee, if you are listening, please step up and do what you said you would do, which is demand transparency, accountability, investigation into the deaths of U.S. citizens. Right now the Trump administration is continuing to allow U.S. citizens to be killed with impunity, even as the Israeli government commits genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders has denounced Israel’s assault and siege on Gaza as a genocide. Sanders wrote in an op-ed Wednesday, “over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas. Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. Many legal experts have now concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”

Ukraine and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation have announced that they would each invest $75 million to a joint fund to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. It’s part of a minerals deal Ukraine signed with Washington back in April.

This morning, Russia closed its airport in Volgograd and put oil refineries on alert in response to a Ukrainian drone attack. This follows Russia’s drone attack on several Ukrainian cities Tuesday, killing seven people.

On Wednesday, NATO conducted military exercises in Poland with tanks, helicopters and jets in response to Russian and Belarusian war games across the border.

ABC has suspended the late-night show of Jimmy Kimmel after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission threatened to take action against ABC for comments Kimmel made about the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The backlash followed Kimmel’s opening monologue on Monday night.

Jimmy Kimmel: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

The abrupt decision to “indefinitely” pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” reportedly came from Robert Iger, chief executive of ABC’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company, and Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden. It followed these remarks by FCC Chair Brendan Carr to podcaster Benny Johnson.

Brendan Carr: “You know, when you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible. … I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr’s comment contrasts with a tweet he wrote in 2022 reading, “Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.” In 2023, he wrote, “Free speech is the counterweight. It is the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.”

Kimmel’s removal comes amid a $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar — one of the biggest owners of ABC affiliates — and Tegna, which requires FCC approval. In a statement, the president of Nexstar called Kimmel’s jokes “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”

The largest of ABC’s affiliate groups, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, said it would suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” until formal discussions are held with ABC about “professionalism and accountability.” Sinclair also demanded Kimmel make a direct apology to Charlie Kirk’s family and for him to personally donate money to Kirk’s conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA.

This comes after CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” amid a corporate merger between Paramount and Skydance Media.

President Trump welcomed Kimmel’s suspension, writing on social media, “The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” He also attacked other late-night hosts, saying Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers should also be canceled.

In southern Pennsylvania, three police officers were killed and two others were seriously wounded by gunfire Wednesday as they were following up on a domestic investigation in rural York County. Investigators did not immediately identify the suspect, who they say was shot dead by the officers’ return fire.

The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Susan Monarez, told a Senate panel Wednesday how she was pressured by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to fire top CDC scientists and sign off on vaccine recommendations issued by a panel filled with his appointees. Dr. Monarez also recounted how RFK Jr. accused CDC employees of “killing children” in a meeting with her a week before she was fired. She warned that RFK Jr.’s actions could cause the return of preventable diseases such as “polio, measles, diphtheria and whooping cough.”

Susan Monarez: “The stakes are not theoretical. We already have seen large — the largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years, which claimed the lives of two children. If vaccine protections are weakened, preventable diseases will return. I was fired for holding the line on scientific integrity, but that line does not disappear with me. It now runs through every parent deciding whether to vaccinate a child, every physician counseling a patient, and every American who demands accountability.”

Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory committee is set to vote today and tomorrow on changing recommendations on shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox. Two former senior officials at the CDC say the panel could vote on delaying the hepatitis B vaccine currently administered to newborns to age 4. The panel could also vote on restricting access to the COVID-19 shot for people under the age of 75.

On Wednesday, the West Coast Health Alliance, comprised of California, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington state, issued their own COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccine recommendations. California Governor Gavin Newsom also signed a law allowing California to set up its own vaccine schedule, apart from CDC guidance.

The Federal Reserve has voted to lower interest rates for the first time this year, lowering them by a quarter of a percentage point. This comes as President Trump has tried to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and has repeatedly tried to pressure the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. White House adviser Stephen Miran was sworn in as a Fed governor just minutes before the central bank meeting; Miran voted to lower interest rates.

The Fed’s move to lower interest rates comes after the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised jobs numbers for 2024 through March of this year, finding that the U.S. economy added close to a million fewer jobs than previously reported. The report comes as President Trump politicizes the work of the BLS. Last month, Trump fired its commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, over revised jobs numbers. On Tuesday, McEntarfer made her first public remarks since her removal.

Erika McEntarfer: “Firing your chief statisticians for releasing data you do not like, it has serious economic consequences. The lists of countries that have gone down this route, it’s not a good list: Argentina, Greece, Turkey. The resulting loss of trust in economic statistics led these countries to worsening economic crises, higher inflation and higher borrowing costs.”

Here in New York, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday to improve conditions at the notorious ICE jail inside 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Immigrants have described being imprisoned for days or weeks at a time in overcrowded cells, without access to medication and proper sanitation, being forced to sleep on the concrete floor, and left hungry without outside contact. The ACLU’s National Prison Project said in a statement, “ICE’s conduct at 26 Federal Plaza is inhumane, illegal and a direct violation of the Constitution. No person should be denied medical care, access to a lawyer, or basic dignity when they are held in government custody.”

An immigration judge in Louisiana on Wednesday ordered the deportation of Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to Algeria or Syria, ruling that he failed to disclose certain information on his green card application. Khalil’s lawyers say they plan to challenge the order. Khalil remains free after a federal district court ordered the government not to deport him as his federal court case proceeds. Khalil played a prominent role in the Palestine solidarity protests at Columbia University last spring and was detained in an ICE jail in Louisiana this year for 104 days before being released in June. In a statement, Khalil wrote, “It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.” Click here to see our interviews with Mahmoud Khalil.

President Trump says he is designating the anti-fascist movement known as antifa to be a terrorist organization. Writing in the early-morning hours after a lavish dinner at Windsor Castle with the British royal family, Trump wrote on his social media site, “I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee rejected a request by Democrats yesterday to subpoena four major banks — JPMorgan, BNY, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank — about their connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The subpoena would have looked into $1.5 billion worth of suspicious transactions previously flagged by the banks. It comes as the committee’s ranking member, Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin, grilled FBI Director Kash Patel yesterday about the Epstein files.

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Wait, have you released all the stuff that the FBI has seized from Epstein’s house — the computers, the emails, the file cabinets, the documents?”

Kash Patel: “Every” —

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “What about the financial records? Have you released all of that?”

Kash Patel: “Everything the court has allowed us to release” —

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Which court are you talking about?”

Kash Patel: “Three separate federal courts have come in and said — there are three” —

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “We’re talking about the evidence you’ve got. It’s got nothing to do with what those courts have.”

Kash Patel: “Do you have any idea” —

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “We’re talking about the evidence” —

Kash Patel: — “how the law works?”

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Wait a minute.”

Kash Patel: “Do you want me to break the law and a federal judge’s order to satisfy your curiosity?”

Rep. Jamie Raskin: “No, I want you to follow your own word, Director Patel. You said up there it was under the direct control of the FBI director. He had the black book.”