Today in one sentence: Israel Defense Forces raided and seized the largest hospital in Gaza; the world’s two largest climate polluters agreed to work together to speed their transition away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy; climate change is “already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States”; Fulton County prosecutors asked a judge to jail one of Trump's co-defendants charged in the 2020 election subversion case for his alleged “effort to intimidate codefendants and witnesses”; and Trump asked for a mistrial in his $250 million New York civil fraud case, claiming that the judge and his clerk are biased against him.

1/ Israel Defense Forces raided and seized the largest hospital in Gaza in what they called a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas.” Israel and the U.S. have asserted that Hamas is using the hospital as cover for its military operations – an allegation that both Hamas and Al-Shifa hospital staff have denied. While the IDF reported they found “military equipment used by Hamas” at Al-Shifa, they offered no evidence of a vast tunnel network or military command center beneath the hospital. Prior to the raid, the White House warned Israel that “hospitals and patients must be protected,” saying “to be clear, we do not support striking a hospital from the air, and we do not want to see a firefight in the hospital.” The Biden administration has also reportedly grown frustrated that Israel isn’t doing enough to protect civilians, and that conversations with Israeli officials have largely been ignored. The U.S., however, is still fulfilling Israel’s weapons requests, and so far hasn’t threatened any consequences. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, condemned Israel’s raid on the hospital and adopted a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Gaza Strip. The resolution also urged the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children.” The U.S., Russia, and the UK abstained from the vote. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack Oct. 7, with 239 people still held hostage in Gaza. More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and children — have been killed since the war began, and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced. The United Nations’s humanitarian agency chief demanded that the “carnage” in Gaza “cannot be allowed to continue.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / NPR)

  • [Poll]: 32% of Americans said “the U.S. should support Israel” – down from 41% from a month ago. 39% said the U.S. “should be a neutral mediator,” 15% said the U.S. shouldn’t be involved at all, and 15% said the U.S. should support Palestinians. (Reuters)

2/ The world’s two largest climate polluters agreed to work together to speed their transition away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy. The U.S. and China agreed to “pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030” and to make “meaningful absolute power sector emission reduction.” The agreement comes two weeks before the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP28. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Politico)

3/ Climate change is “already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States,” according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated study compiled every four years by 13 federal agencies. The report warns that climate change will bring “substantial and increasing economic costs” to the U.S. that will most directly affect the elderly, children, and low-income populations. Overall, the report warns that the U.S. is warming about 60% faster than the world. Biden called climate change “the ultimate threat to humanity” and that “anyone who willfully denies the impact of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future.” Biden added that the report “shows us in clear scientific terms that […] more action is still badly needed. We can’t be complacent. […] None of this is inevitable.” In a separate study, the annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, heat-related deaths globally are projected to increase by 370% by mid-century, with an additional 524.9 million people expected to experience food insecurity if action is not taken to limit the effects of global warming. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / Axios / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / Vox / Wall Street Journal / NPR)

  • 🔍 What’s at stake? Climate change is not abstract or distant; it is immediate and personal. The findings highlight the urgent threat climate change poses to humans, especially for vulnerable groups like the elderly, children, and low-income populations. Rising temperatures threaten food security, disproportionately intensify existing inequalities, strain healthcare systems, and economically burden individuals and nations. Climate change is not just an environmental issue but a moral imperative: the decisions and actions taken today shape the world for future generations. If left unchecked, climate change will lead to global resource scarcity, population displacement, and increased conflicts.

  • Nations made bold climate pledges. They aren’t close to meeting them. “Today, countries are still far from meeting these much-hyped promises, even as the impacts of climate change intensify across the globe. Deforestation remains rampant, pushing the Amazon rainforest toward a tipping point. Levels of methane in the atmosphere continue to climb to new records. The planet just endured its hottest 12 months in the modern era — and probably the hottest in 125,000 years.” (Washington Post)

  • The Solar-Panel Backlash Is Here. “The growing backlash against net metering isn’t just a response to wasted solar power—it’s also about for-profit power companies wary of rooftop solar panels that don’t make them money.” (The Atlantic)

4/ Fulton County prosecutors asked a judge to jail one of Trump’s co-defendants charged in the 2020 election subversion case for his alleged “effort to intimidate codefendants and witnesses,” according to court filings. District Attorney Fani Willis said Harrison Floyd had “engaged in numerous intentional and flagrant violations” of his bond agreement, citing recent comments Floyd made on a conservative podcasts and posts on the social media that tag Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, former Fulton County poll worker Ruby Freeman, and others. Meanwhile, an attorney for another one of Trump’s co-defendants in the election interference case admitted to leaking witness proffer videos, saying “I believe they help my client and the public needs to know that.” Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Misty Hampton, made the confession during an emergency hearing for a protective order following the leak of depositions by Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and Scott Hall. The judge said he would issue a protective order barring the disclosure of certain discovery information by Thursday morning. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / NBC News)

5/ Trump asked for a mistrial in his $250 million New York civil fraud case, claiming that the judge and his clerk are biased against him. In the filing for a mistrial, Trump’s attorneys argued that Judge Arthur Engoron unfairly ruled against him, made comments during the trial that allegedly show bias, and accused Engoron’s law clerk of bias and “co-judging” the case. Engoron, who already issued a partial gag order prohibiting Trump from making disparaging remarks about his law clerk, has already signaled that he will deny Trump’s motion. (NBC News / CNN / CBS News)

Last year today: Day 665: "Managing risk."
Four years ago today: Day 1030: Rooting out corruption.
Five years ago today: Day 665: The envy of the world.
Six years ago today: Day 300: No plans.