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Pete Hegseth in all his white supremacist glory.
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Look Ma I'm A Warfighter Leading the Warfighters

Less than astonishingly, grossly unqualified, historically untrustworthy, sexually assaulting, manic Secretary of Drunkenness and Defense Pete Hegseth evidently screwed up again, this time giddily spewing war plans in real time on his phone to his besties just minutes after a general sent them. Meanwhile, as insiders describe "total chaos" at the Pentagon - screaming, infighting, distrust - "G.I. Joke" says blame the media, deep state, "leakers" (pot/kettle) 'cause look he's so good at his job there's no trans folks in sight.

In the latest revelations, reported by NBC News, within 10 minutes of receiving detailed plans about last month's U.S. strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on a secure channel from Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, the former loose-lipped weekend Fox News host Hegseth spewed his cool intel on an unsecured Signal group chat to about a dozen people - his for-now-third-wife, his brother, his attorney, and for all we know his fave bartender, his Nazi buddies and the loser who makes his gunky hair gel. The piss-drunk guy with the white nationalist tattoos and history of leaking shared those plans about two hours before the airstrikes hit, even though an aide had specifically warned him not to use Signal to share sensitive information, which he'd already done with an Atlantic editor mistakenly included on another chat. Nothing to see here.

Confronted for his carelessness and stupidity by Dems calling for his ouster, Whiskey Pete did what was right, acknowledged his egregious error in judgment, and humbly resigned. Just kidding. Like any good MAGA, he defiantly lied, oh-yeahed?, deflected and whined that nothing is ever his fault. Online, he sputtered to critics, "Your agenda is illegals, trans & DEI - no longer allowed at the Defense Department." Totally relevant. Then he went to the White House Easter Egg Roll, where his kids cringed behind him as he loudly trashed Fake News "hoaxsters": "This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations....It’s not going to work with me, because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters." (And my relatives).

Then he went on Fox News, his safe place, where he used to work and show up drunk but they still feel for him and suggest his gross incompetence is just part of a "learning curve." Brian Kilmeade, bending low in deference - "Mr. Secretary, you take this job, you come in with war experience and all your great background" - asked if "deep state forces" are working against him. "They've come after me from day one," Pete whined, though he added it's nothing compared to his master the anti-Christ: "What he has endured is superhuman." "It's not hard for me to do this job. I know exactly why I am here," he said. "To bring war fighting and the war fighting ethos back to the Pentagon." Eagerly, Kilmeade chimed in, "I know the warfighters are happy to have a warfighter up top." A little intel-dropping is no biggie, boasted Hegseth: "I look at war plans every day," and besides, leakers gonna leak.

The new national insecurity scandal comes amidst oustings of multiple Hegseth advisers who question his judgment, cite his failures, warn there are "more shoes to drop" and say "the Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting (but) endless drama.” After he fired press secretary John Ullyot and three others, Ullyot has charged "unnamed" officials "have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door." "We have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks,"’ he said. "The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon." On "a month of hell," the New York Times likewisedescribes "a run of chaos that is unmatched" in the DoD's recent history, with sustained infighting, "screaming matches," paranoia about leaks and blame-games over the questionable success of the Houthi campaign.

Outside the Pentagon, military officials blast an unprecedented Defense Secretary "willfully divulging operational plans against a hostile military force in real time," especially bafflingly, to his wife and bro. It's more than what's called the occasional "spill," says one long-timer "Here he's knowingly using an insecure communication device and he's knowingly giving classified information to people who are not security clearance holders. It really gets more to the sort of willfulness that is typically prosecuted by the Department of Justice." Which is why Air National Gruardsman Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison for disclosing sensitive military information to impress his friends on Discord, unlike Secretary Pete "flag hankie" Hegseth who did pretty much the same thing to impresses his peeps on SIGNAL like it was a super-cool-lookit-me Happy Birthday greeting.

Pentagon spox Sean Parnell claims, "No classified material was ever shared via Signal," charging the hoopla is just "an attempt to sabotage" Trump and Hegseth, but try telling that to the families of guys in the air possibly put in danger. Hegseth himself lamely called the leak "informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination, other things." Harumph, says retired Marine Lt. Col. Mick Wagoner, a longtime military lawyer who deployed to four war zones. "There is just no-way, no-how, an American military operation starting off is going to not be classified," he retorts. "For Lord's sake." Just lookit this frantic, strung-out, high-on-something guy: Do the "warfighters" in the Pentagon really see/hear him and think, yup, that's a guy we wanna follow into battle 'cause wow he sure knows his stuff. He has, however, put a shiny (but manly) new make-up studio in the Pentagon.

“Do you think ... there's some type of deep state forces that want to make sure you don't stay there?"www.mediamatters.org

To date, GOP Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force General.on the House Armed Services Committee, is the only Republican member of Congress to say out loud, albeit mildly, that Hegseth should resign. "I had concerns from the get-go because (he) didn’t have a lot of experience," he said. "I liked him on Fox, but does he have the experience to lead one of the largest organizations in the world? That’s a concern." (You think?) Otherwise, MAGA officially still stands with him, with several suspects saying there's "no talk right now" of removing him. At least until the big fat guy sings: At the Easter Egg Roll, Trump insisted, as usual with zero evidence, "Pete's doing a great job, everybody's happy with him." Then he laughably added, because he's definitely the one to know this sort of thing, "There's no dysfunction.” And nothing's ever your fault.

Other MAGA-ites have been fiery in their support. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement," seethed Barbie Press Secretary. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin outdid her. "I will lead the breach. I will lay down cover fire. I will take the high ground. I’ll expose myself to enemy fire," he screeched. "We must bring back integrity, focus, and put the Warfighter first...I stand with Pete Hegseth." Sighed Josh Marshall: "They're just thirsty as fuck." Many noted in response that Mullin is a plumber. "YOU'RE A FUCKING PLUMBER. YOU'VE NEVER SERVED," wrote one. "You could have but you didn't. We had the longest war in US history and you sat that shit out (but) now you want to be a big tough guy for the idiot who can't keep a secret. Go clear a drain of your own bullshit."

So it went after WaPo ran a story,Hegseth Amps Up Criticism of 'Leakers' After More Scrutiny of Signal Usage. Responses ranged from skepticism to fury, with many ripping the notion that the problem isn't Hegseth being an inept, unstable disaster of a leaker but that a "leaker" is telling us about it. "Hegseth is a true Trumpist: never take responsibility," said one. "His whining is getting really old, like a kid telling a teacher for the 20th time, 'My dog ate my homework.'" Also: "Teenage girls are more reliable with secrets than Hegseth," "He's embarrassing on a global level," "Tough guy auditioning for a role," "He's posting war plans on Signal, doesn't that make him a leaker? What an utterly ridiculous man," "Clearly, Trump thinks 'diversity' means we need more clowns," "Whiskey Pete will be gone in the Friday news dump," and, "Leaker loses his shirt over leakers. Film at eleven." Bring popcorn.

Protester at recent anti-Trump rallyProtester at recent anti-Trump rallyBlueSky

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​U.S. Senator Alex Padilla
News

On Earth Day, Dems Push Bills to Ban Offshore Drilling 'Once and for All'

On Tuesday, to coincide with Earth Day, multiple Democratic senators renewed their effort to pass bills to protect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans from offshore oil and gas drilling—part of a broader legislative push by Democrats to safeguard U.S. coastal waters.

Sen. Alex Padilla of California has reintroduced the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, which would permanently end new oil and gas leases for offshore drilling off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington.

"We must end offshore oil drilling in coastal waters once and for all," said Padilla in a statement on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has reintroduced the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act, which would permanently prohibit the federal government from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of offshore oil and gas in the North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Straits of Florida planning areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) are leading companion legislation for the two bills in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"California's spectacular marine life—including complex kelp forests and charismatic sea otters—and vibrant coastal economies rely on healthy ecosystems," said Pamela Flick, Defenders of Wildlife California program director, in a statement on Tuesday.

The West Coast Ocean Protection Act "could, once and for all, block offshore drilling activities along the continental shelf, and protect critical marine habitats along California's iconic Pacific Coast," she said.

The legislation comes as environmental leaders warn that this Earth Day puts a focus on the need to resist the Trump administration's attacks on environmental regulation and programs.

On President Donald Trump's first day in office, he initiated plans to make federal land and waters open for oil drilling and mining, including in fragile wilderness in Alaska. Trump also declared a national energy emergency.

Beyond the West Coast Ocean Protection Act and the COAST Anti-Drilling Act, Democratic lawmakers in Congress have reintroduced several other bills in recent weeks aimed at safeguarding coasts.

Those bills include the Florida Coastal Protection Act, which would protect the coast of Florida and eastern Gulf of Mexico from offshore drilling, exploration, and production, and the New England Coastal Protection Act, which would protect the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, in addition to portions of the North Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, from offshore drilling.

Conservation groups said they welcome the suite of legislation.

"The path of so-called 'energy dominance' is paved with threats to American coasts," said Sierra Weaver, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, in a statement on Tuesday. "This set of bills offers real protections for coastal communities and wildlife against unwanted, unreasonable, and unsafe offshore oil drilling."

Weaver added that the bills are the kind of leadership and action that's needed on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest marine oil spill in history.

"Oceana applauds these congressional leaders for reintroducing pivotal legislation that would establish permanent protections from offshore oil and gas drilling for millions of acres of ocean," said Oceana campaign director Joseph Gordon in a statement on Tuesday.

"Earth Day is an important reminder that every coastal community deserves healthy oceans and oil-free beaches," he added.

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A customer shops for eggs at a grocery store in Illinois
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US Consumer Sentiment Falls to Second-Lowest Level in 70+ Years—And It's Likely to Get Worse

Consumer sentiment in the United States continued its sharp plunge this month under President Donald Trump as Americans grew increasingly concerned about the prospect of a job-destroying recession in the near future—fears fueled in large part by the administration's erratic tariff policies.

The University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers, released Friday, found that U.S. consumer sentiment plunged 11% at the start of April compared to last month, a decline that was "pervasive and unanimous across age, income, education, geographic region, and political affiliation."

That's according to the survey project's director, Joanne Hsu, who said that "sentiment has now lost more than 30% since December 2024 amid growing worries about trade war developments that have oscillated over the course of the year."

Friday's assessment shows that overall consumer sentiment has fallen to its second-lowest level since the early 1950s.

"Consumers report multiple warning signs that raise the risk of recession: expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation, and labor markets all continued to deteriorate this month," said Hsu. "The share of consumers expecting unemployment to rise in the year ahead increased for the fifth consecutive month and is now more than double the November 2024 reading and the highest since 2009."

"This lack of labor market confidence," Hsu added, "lies in sharp contrast to the past several years, when robust spending was supported primarily by strong labor markets and incomes."

"President Trump isn't executing an economic agenda, he's piloting a kamikaze mission."

Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement that "the scariest part of today's plunging consumer sentiment numbers is that we might be looking at the high-water mark."

"The president's reckless trade policies have roiled markets, shattered retirement accounts, and halted shipping orders. We could be looking at price spikes, shortages, and even a recession in the weeks and months to come," said Owens. "Worst of all, while consumers are bracing for impact, Congress is gutting the safety net they'll need to rely on if the economic devastation continues. President Trump isn't executing an economic agenda, he's piloting a kamikaze mission."

Trump himself has admitted that his tariffs, which he partially paused for 90 days earlier this week, could spark a recession.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the president "told advisers that he was willing to take 'pain'" and "privately acknowledged that his trade policy could trigger a recession but said he wanted to be sure it didn't cause a depression."

While Goldman Sachs withdrew its recession forecast after Trump announced the partial tariff pause, Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi toldFortune that he took "no solace in the president’s announcement to delay the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days."

"Even if the administration can cut a few deals during this period, it will leave us with significantly higher tariffs, which are tax increases on American consumers and businesses," said Zandi. "This will weigh heavily on the U.S. and global economies and likely result in a recession."

"To what end?" he asked. "There will be no boost to investment in the U.S. The trade deficit will be no smaller. And there won't be any reliable increase in government revenues. It is impossible to fathom why the world is being put through all this unnecessary drama."

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Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk
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'See How This Works?': Trump Drops Cases Against Corporations That Funded His Inauguration

An analysis released Monday in the wake of new Federal Election Commission filings shows that the Trump administration has dropped or paused federal enforcement cases against at least 17 corporations that donated to the president's inaugural fund, an indication that companies' attempts to buy favor with the White House are already paying off.

In the new analysis, the watchdog group Public Citizen cross-references FEC data released Sunday with its own Corporate Enforcement Tracker, which documents companies facing federal cases for alleged wrongdoing.

Public Citizen found that corporations facing federal investigations or enforcement lawsuits donated a combined $50 million to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee. Trump raised a record sum of $239 million for his second inauguration, the new FEC filings show.

"Corporations facing federal lawsuits and investigations aren't giving millions to Trump's inauguration out of the kindness of their hearts," said Public Citizen researcher Rick Claypool. "They are trying to buy good will. And when you're a corporation under investigation or facing prosecution, that means the government dropping enforcement actions against you. In some cases, it may even mean receiving pardons in cases in which guilty pleas have already been entered, or retractions of settlements already entered into."

Bank of America, Capital One, Coinbase, DuPont, and JPMorgan are among the corporations that donated to Trump's inauguration and subsequently had federal enforcement cases dismissed.

Public Citizen noted that Google, which donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee, could benefit from the Trump Justice Department's decision during an ongoing antitrust case to scrap part of a "proposed breakup plan requiring Google to sell off AI businesses."

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company, was among a number of high-profile corporate executives who were given prominent spots at Trump's inauguration ceremony in January.

"They really never miss an opportunity for some good old-fashioned corporate bribery."

Other inauguration donors have benefited differently from the Trump administration's actions.

As former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich noted on social media late Monday, the Trump administration is poised to end the Internal Revenue Services' free Direct File program after the private tax prep giant Intuit donated $1 million to the president's inauguration.

"Apple donated $1M. Trump exempted most of Apple's imports from tariffs," Reich added. "Coinbase donated $1M. Trump's SEC dropped a major lawsuit against them. See how this works?"

The appearance of pay-to-play corruption has been stark during the opening months of Trump's second term, with critics accusing the president of effectively placing a "for sale" sign on the White House.

CBS Newsreported that much of the White House's Easter Egg Roll on Monday was "sponsored by corporations, a change from the traditional sponsorship by the American Egg Board."

Amazon, Google's YouTube, and Facebook parent company Meta sponsored "various stations at the event," according to CBS.

"Nothing says Happy Easter in Trump 2.0 like having corporate sponsors at the White House Egg Roll," Public Citizen said Monday. "They really never miss an opportunity for some good old-fashioned corporate bribery."

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Protesters gather at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit, Michigan
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Pushing to Eviscerate Head Start and SNAP, Trump Wants to Give Parents Medals for Having More Kids

Political observers have warned that U.S. President Donald Trump has spent his first months in office "flooding the zone"—unleashing a torrent of executive actions and Republican proposals meant to overwhelm his opponents while furthering his right-wing agenda, including pushes to slash healthcare for more than 36 million children, eliminate funding for early childhood education, and weaken environmental justice initiatives.

But new reporting this week revealed that while taking significant actions that are expected to directly harm millions of children—and make the cost of living higher for parents across the country—White House officials have been considering a range of proposals aimed at encouraging people to have more children.

As The New York Times reported Monday, White House aides have met in recent weeks with policy experts and advocates for boosting U.S. birth rates, which have been declining since 2007.

Simone and Malcolm Collins, activists who founded Pronatalist.org, which they describe as "the first pronatalist organization in the world," told the Times that they have sent multiple draft executive orders to the White House, including one that would bestow a "National Medal of Motherhood" on women who have six children or more—a scheme with history in numerous fascist regimes, including those of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Other proposals aides have discussed would reserve 30% of Fulbright scholarships for people who are married or have children; grant a $5,000 "baby bonus" to families after they have a baby; and fund programs that educate women on their menstrual cycles so they can use "natural family planning" and determine when they are able to conceive.

"Just so we're clear: Instead of teaching kids about birth control and sexual health, the government would fund programs that teach little girls how to get pregnant," wrote Jessica Valenti at the Substack newsletter Abortion, Every Day.

The latter proposal would likely be offered without offering women any information about contraception or other comprehensive sex education, which President Donald Trump vehemently opposed in his first term.

The administration's "pronatalist" push has been steadily building since before Trump won the presidency. During the campaign last year, Vice President JD Vance provoked an uproar when he doubled down on his comments from 2021 when he had said the Democratic Party was run by "childless cat ladies." He said last summer that people without biological children "don't really have a direct stake in" the future and defended his previous remarks that the government should "punish the things that we think are bad"—meaning not having children.

"For years, proposals and debates have separated having children from raising children. But parents aren't dumb. They'll look around and ask whether this is a world where it's good to have children."

Vance's claim that the Democratic Party is "anti-family and anti-child" was based largely on his belief that politicians on the left are too negative about the future—frequently expressing concern about the scientific consensus that continuing to extract fossil fuels, which Trump has promised to ramp up, will cause more frequent and devastating extreme climate events.

Since Trump took office, he has pledged to be a "fertilization president"—touting his support for in vitro fertilization even as federal researchers in reproductive technology were dismissed from their jobs—and his transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, told staffers to prioritize infrastructure projects in areas with high birth and marriage rates.

But the Republican Party, including Trump, has long scoffed at concrete policy proposals meant to make raising children—not just birthing them—more accessible for American families.

The Michigan Republican Party penned a memo in 2023 saying a paid family leave proposal was a "ridiculous idea" akin to "summer break for adults," and a budget proposal by Trump in 2018 claimed to require states to provide paid parental leave, but it was derided as "phony and truly dangerous" by one policy expert.

Senate Republicans last year blocked legislation that would have helped lift 500,000 children out of poverty by expanding eligibility for the child tax credit.

According to a leaked draft for the Health and Human Services Department's budget, Trump is now proposing eliminating federal funding for Head Start, which provides early childhood education and other support services for low-income children and their families, helping nearly 40 million children since it began six decades ago.

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus on Children, said of the proposed cuts to Head Start last week that it was "shocking to see an administration consider a proposal that will impose such widespread harm on children."

"Rarely has there been such a clear, targeted attack on children," said Lesley. "Parents already have trouble finding available childcare and early learning programs, and even when they do, they struggle to afford them. The average annual cost of center-based childcare for an infant is over $15,000, more than in-state college tuition in many states. And who has the least access and greatest financial challenges to care? The children served by Head Start.

Meanwhile, the federal budget proposal passed by House Republicans earlier this month would help pay for "huge tax giveaways for wealthy households and businesses," said the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, by cutting health coverage for 72 million people who rely on Medicaid and food assistance for an estimated 13.8 million children who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Responding to the reports of Trump's potential "pronatalist" proposals, Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, told the Institute for Public Accuracy that the White House "can't just encourage people to have children. You have to think about what happens to those children after they're born."

"The countries that have been more successful in [raising children] have given family allowances, parental leave, and focused on who will teach and take care of children," said Galinsky. "The more children you have, the more likely it is you'll need to work and bring in a salary. Do parents have flexibility at their workplace?"

"For years, proposals and debates have separated having children from raising children," she added. "But parents aren't dumb. They'll look around and ask whether this is a world where it's good to have children."

Republicans' proposed cuts to essential services for families demonstrate that they "don't care about making the world better, safer, or healthier for American families and children," wrote Valenti. "They just want women to have more babies."

"What happens after that?" she added. "They couldn't care less."

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People sort through rubble of hospital in Gaza.
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'We Are In Complete Shock': Israel Bombs Last Fully Functioning Hospital in North Gaza

Israeli forces bombed the last fully functioning hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday morning, killing at least three people, including a 12-year-old boy.

The missile attack on al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City is the latest in what has been described as Israel's "campaign of genocide" to systematically attack Gaza's healthcare infrastructure, which has damaged 33 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals.

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which manages al-Ahli hospital, said in a statement Sunday that it condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms."

"The Diocese of Jerusalem is appalled at the bombing of the hospital now for the fifth time since the beginning of the war in 2023—and this time on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week," the diocese said. "We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions. We pray and call for the end of this horrific war and the suffering of so many."

According to the diocese, patients and health workers were only given 20 minutes to evacuate before two missiles struck, destroying the hospital's genetic laboratory and damaging the pharmacy, emergency department, and the neighboring St. Philip’s church.

"We are in complete shock," Dr. Yousef Al-Haddad, a physiotherapy specialist at the hospital, told Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). "As I speak to you, I'm surrounded by piles of rubble and destruction. The laboratory was the only one in Gaza that provided a range of tests unavailable in any other hospital—and now it's been entirely lost. Emergency and reception services were shared between the al-Ahli Hospital and al-Shifa Hospital, with our hospital taking the lead as it was the only hospital equipped with a CT scanner. Now, following last night's attack, these services have entirely ceased. This will undoubtedly increase the pressure on al-Shifa Hospital, which is already operating with a smaller capacity."

In the rushed evacuation, critically ill patients had to be moved into the streets in the cold. While no one died in blast itself, the hurried evacuation resulted in three deaths, including that of a 12-year-old boy who was being treated for a head injury.

"He was on oxygen, as were the two other patients, and the family basically walked with them to a nearby hospital, a very small facility with no capacity for the number of patients heading their way," Razan al-Nahhas, an emergency doctor who had previously worked at the hospital, toldAl Jazeera. "And they [the patients] arrived dead."

A Red Crescent doctor toldMiddle East Eye that finding space for the evacuated patients could be difficult.

"All the hospitals are overcrowded and are unprepared for providing full medical services, this will surely reflect on the health of the wounded, the patients and it could result in the loss of their lives, the loss of their body parts, or could cause long-term disability," he said.

"Faith leaders in our nation and worldwide must speak out against the war of extermination being waged by Israel using the support of the U.S. government and with American taxpayer dollars."

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media that 50 patients had been moved to other hospitals, while 40 were too ill or injured to relocate.

"Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law," Gheybreyesus continued. "Attacks on healthcare must stop. Once again we repeat: Patients, health workers, and hospitals must be protected. The aid blockade must be lifted. Cease-fire."

MAP called on the international community "to take immediate action to protect Gaza's hospitals and medical personnel."

"There must be an immediate and permanent cease-fire, an end to all arms transfers to Israel, and full accountability for repeated violations of international law, including the deliberate targeting of hospitals," the group wrote. "Israel must be held to its legal obligation to repair the destruction it has caused to Gaza's health infrastructure and allow unimpeded humanitarian access in line with the orders of the International Court of Justice."

Al-Ahli Hospital first grabbed international attention early in the war, when a bombing in October 2023 killed hundreds of people. At the time, Israel denied that it had launched the attack. However, since then, it has attacked the hospital four times including on Sunday.

Religious groups also condemned the timing of the attack on Palm Sunday, a sacred celebration for Christians in Palestine and around the world.

The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine said, "The attack, carried out on Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, constitutes a grave violation of religious sanctity and fundamental principles of international humanitarian law."

"The far-right Israeli government has shown time and again it is willing to violate religious norms, whether targeting Palestinian Christians or Muslims, in its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement. "Faith leaders in our nation and worldwide must speak out against the war of extermination being waged by Israel using the support of the U.S. government and with American taxpayer dollars. We call on the Trump administration to similarly condemn this attack."

Israel, for its part, said that the hospital was targeted because it was a "command and control" center for the militant group Hamas, according to Middle East Eye. However, it did not provide any evidence.

The hospital bombing was only one of several attacks carried out by Israel in Gaza on Sunday, which together killed at least 21 people, The Associated Press reported.

It also followed Israel's claim on Saturday that it had succeeded in isolating Rafah in the south from the rest of the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera. Israel had promised to cordon off the city earlier in the week.

As of Sunday, the Gaza's Health Ministry said that Israel's assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023 had killed at least 50,944 Palestinians and injured 116,156. More than 1,500 of those deaths have occurred since Israel ended a tentative cease-fire on March 18.

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