SIGNIFICANT OPERATION: In a sign of rising opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza, as many as 30,000 protesters marched in Washington on Saturday as concern grows about the rising deaths of innocent Palestinians. Marchers also hit the streets in New York, Nashville, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

  Among the chants were “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and 

“Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

  The health ministry that answers to Hamas militants says that 9,700 Palestinians have died in Israeli air attacks. They say that about 6,500 of them have been women and children.

  And the war goes on. The Israeli military says today that it has encircled Gaza City and is carrying out “a significant operation” targeting Hamas infrastructure both above and underground. The Israeli defense Forces say they have proof that Hamas militants have been operating out of two hospitals in Gaza City, showing reporters a tunnel entrance at the Sheikh Hamad Hospital. 

  Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “If it weren’t enough that we exposed a tunnel under the hospital, the terrorists also shot at our soldiers from within the hospital.” 

  Hagari also said, “Hamas systematically built the Indonesian Hospital to disguise its underground terror infrastructure.”

THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on another tour of the Middle East, trying to prevent the Israel/Gaza war from turning into a regional conflict. Today he’s in talks in Ankara, Turkey.

  Yesterday Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq, meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad for more than an hour. Blinken told reporters that he had emphasized that attacks by Iranian-backed militias against US forces in the region are unacceptable.

IT’S POLITICAL: New polling shows that a year before the presidential election Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden among voters in five of six key battleground states.

  But the polls also say voters would turn against Trump if he is convicted on any of the 91 criminal charges he’s facing.

  Polls by The NY Times and Siena College say that Trump leads Biden four to 10 percentage points among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Biden is ahead by only two percentage point in Wisconsin. He won all six of these states in 2020.

  Voters are concerned about Biden’s age … he’s about to turn 81 … and they said they trust Trump over Biden on the economy, foreign policy and immigration. 

  Trump’s ability to take advantage of grievance is still at work. The majority of voters said that Biden’s policies have hurt them personally.

  Biden’s campaign says polling a year ahead of an election often fails to predict the outcome … which is true.

ORANGE ALERT: The former president is expected to testify in a New York court today in an effort to convince the judge hearing his civil fraud case that he did not inflate his net worth to defraud banks and insurers.

  Trump has already been found to have committed fraud and the trial is really about punishment. The business empire he built on his name is in jeopardy. Trump has been enraged about the case to the extent that judge Arthur Engoron has put him under a gag order and fined him twice for violating it. He has called New York Attorney general Letitia James “racist” and “deranged.”

  The question is whether he can keep himself under control on the witness stand and tell the truth, something he doesn’t usually do.

THE OTHER WAR: The Russian military admits that a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in Crimea has damaged one of their ships. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula. 

  The Russians say they shot down 13 of the incoming missiles. Ukraine says that a missile that got through damaged one of Russia’s most modern naval vessels.

THE SPIN RACK: The City of New Delhi and its 20 million residents are encased in smog that has forced the closing of schools and is disrupting the Cricket World Cup. — Record high temperatures for the season are expected today through Wednesday from Arizona to New York. — The Southern Taurids meteor shower is expected to peak tonight. If you’re in a place dark enough, look up and you might get to see a fireball streaking across the sky. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Tyson Foods is recalling about 30,000 pounds of dinosaur-shaped frozen chicken nuggets after customers reported finding metal pieces in them. The company describes the recalled product as “fully cooked Fun Nuggets breaded shaped chicken patties,” which begs the question of whether they need to have metal shards in them to be bad for your health.

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