Good morning.
The UN World Food Programme warned yesterday that the Gaza Strip now faced a “massive” food gap and widespread hunger, and nearly the entire population of the Palestinian enclave was in desperate need of food assistance.
“Civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation,” said the WFP executive director, Cindy McCain.
In northern Gaza, the Israeli operation in al-Shifa hospital continued, with the Israeli military saying late Thursday that it had found a Hamas tunnel shaft and “a vehicle containing a large number of weapons” at the hospital complex. Also near the hospital, the Israel Defense Forces said they had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage. Yehudit Weiss, 65, was abducted from the Be’eri kibbutz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October that killed 1,200 people.
In southern Gaza, Israel has dropped leaflets telling Palestinian civilians to leave four towns on the eastern edge of Khan Younis, raising fears that its war against Hamas could spread to areas it previously said were safe.
The news agency AFP is reporting that a large deployment of Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank overnight. The IDF did not immediately comment.
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike on Jenin, the head of the Palestinian ambulance service told Reuters on Friday. It is unclear if this was part of the raid on the refugee camp.
Meanwhile, as tensions over Gaza build behind the scenes between Israel and the US, its strongest military and diplomatic ally, here’s a look at the history of Washington’s support of Israel.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of rape and severe physical abuse
The singer Cassie has filed a lawsuit against Sean Combs accusing the hip-hop icon and founder of Bad Boy Records of rape and abuse. Cassie alleges that he used his powerful network to keep her trapped in a violent relationship with him.
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, said in a statement to the New York Times that after “years in silence and darkness”, she was “finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships”. A representative for Combs, who has gone by the names Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy and Love, denied the claims, writing that the allegations were “offensive and outrageous” and came after Ventura had demanded $30m from the mogul.
In other news …
The rightwing conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home was convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault.
Donald Trump’s trial on charges that he retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club is running about four months behind schedule after the federal judge presiding in the case in Florida declined to set a crucial filing deadline until at least next March.
TikTok is “proactively and aggressively” taking down videos boosting a letter written by Osama bin Laden attempting to justify the September 11 terrorist attacks, the company said on Thursday.
SpaceX has delayed its second test flight of the world’s largest rocket until Saturday, leaving expectations high for a big show after April’s launch.
Stat of the day: US industry has disposed of at least 60m pounds of ‘forever chemical’ waste in the last five years
New analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency found that US industry has disposed of at least 60m pounds of PFAS “forever chemical” waste over the last five years – an estimate that is likely to be a “dramatic” undercount because PFAS waste is unregulated in the US and companies are not required to record its disposal.
“These data show that we are steadily poisoning ourselves, our waters and our food chain with extremely persistent toxic chemicals,” said Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA attorney.
Don’t miss this: Republicans working to overturn Ohio’s abortion rights victory
Abortion rights activists celebrated a huge win on 7 November when Ohio voters overwhelming voted in a constitutional amendment guaranteeing its citizens the right to abortion access. But a group of rightwing Republican lawmakers are already trying to reverse that result. “I don’t think the public should start thinking that it is going to become law,” said Mike DeWine, the Republican Ohio governor.
… or this: the impact of pollution on a generation of children in Delhi
For most of the year, Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world. In this city, one in three children is already asthmatic, and many more are at risk of organ damage from breathing noxious air. “Cases have peaked since Diwali,” said Renu Das, a nursing officer. “It’s 3pm now and we’ve seen 30 children who need nebulizing since the morning. When it spikes like this, you know it’s the pollution.”
Climate check: the UAE and routine gas flaring
The United Arab Emirates is hosting the UN Cop28 summit later this month, and a Guardian analysis of data found that state-run oil and gas fields in the UAE have been flaring gas virtually daily despite having committed 20 years ago to a policy of zero routine flaring. The World Bank has called flaring – the burning of extracted gas that is not captured and sold – “wasteful and polluting”.
Last Thing: André 3000’s surprise flute album
As one half of Outkast, André 3000 helped invent southern hip-hop, with hits such as Hey Ya!, So Fresh, So Clean, and Ms Jackson. His much-anticipated debut solo album is a rap-free epic of new age and ambient music for woodwind. “I’m always interested to see where I am going. I’m watching it happen, too,” André told the Guardian. “It’s not like I won’t rap ever again, but this naturally blew this way and felt worthy to share. It’s the most honest thing I can be doing.”
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