THE GAZA WAR: The Israeli military says its ground forces are surrounding Gaza City and “deepening” operations. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said, “Our forces are in very significant areas of Gaza City.” They are reported to be in the streets and in the Hamas tunnels beneath the city. Another military spokesman said, “The soldiers are eliminating terrorists in face-to-face battles.”

  Israel continued hitting the Jabalya and the Al Shati refugee camp areas yesterday, killing a reported 20 people. The Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the Hamas militants, says that at least9,025 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7th with more than 22,000 wounded.

  As international criticism increases, Israel is in danger of losing sympathy for what it suffered on October 7^th. US secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel today with the mission of convincing the government there to conduct brief cessations of military operations, allowing for the possibility of hostages to be released and humanitarian to be trucked in. As Blinken appeared with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, you could hear protesters in the background shouting, “Cease fire now!”

BROKE: After just four hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Manhattan found FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering in the disappearance of $10 billion of customer money diverted to political contributions, investments, and just plain extravagant spending.

  SBF gave little reaction to the verdicts but his mother watched in tears. 

  At one point valued at $32 billion, FTX was one of the world’s largest exchanges for buying and selling digital currency like Bitcoin and Ether. Let’s not even get into whether crypto is real … it’s digits with rising and falling value in computers … but SBF was found guilty of stealing the real money invested with his firm.

  SBF’s lawyer issued a statement following the verdict saying his client “maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him.” He faces possibly decades in prison.

THE KNOW NOTHINGS: Donald Trump’s adult sons testified yesterday in a New York court that despite being in charge of the family company while their father was president, they didn’t know anything about the numbers. Both Trump brothers are defendants in the civil trial in which they and their father have already been found to have committed civil fraud in a scheme to inflate their father’s net worth for obtaining better terms on loans and insurance policies. 

  Eric Trump testified that even though he signed off on it, he had no knowledge of the truth of his father’s worth and financial statements. “I didn’t know anything about it really until this case came into fruition,” he said.

  Don Jr. similarly said he didn’t know anything and later told reporters about his testimony, “I think it went really well, if we were actually dealing with logic and reason the way business is conducted,” adding that “unfortunately the AG has brought forth a case that is purely a political persecution.”

  He had repeatedly testified that he relied on accountants for preparation of financial statements, even though he signed them. 

  Asked by Assistant Attorney General Colleen Faherty whether he intended for a bank to assume the information he had signed was accurate, he answered, “I’m fine with the bank relying on that information.” He went on, “I don’t know that I intended for them to do anything. I’m signing off on it. It’s not a simple yes or no.”

PRESIDENTIAL SON: USA Today ran a blistering op-ed by Hunter Biden about his treatment by politicians and the press regarding his addiction to drink and drugs and his efforts to get clean. He admitted that he once put away a bottle of vodka a day and “as many hits on a crack pipe as possible.” 

  The younger Biden says he’s not unusual in the world of addiction, but “What is distinct about my situation is that I’m the son of the president of the United States.”

  He details how he is frequently in the tabloid press and on Fox news displaying pictures of his embarrassing behavior while getting more airtime than presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. He writes, “My struggles and my mistakes have been fodder for a vile and sustained disinformation campaign against him (his father), and an all-out annihilation of my reputation through high-pitched but fruitless congressional investigations and, more recently, criminal charges for possessing an unloaded gun for 11 days five years ago – charges that appear to be the first-ever of their kind brought in the history of Delaware.”

  In an essay defending both himself and others fighting their addictions he says, “What troubles me is the demonization of addiction, of human frailty, using me as its avatar and the devastating consequences it has for the millions struggling with addiction.” 

THE OBIT PAGE: Ken Mattingly, the astronaut who was bumped from the near disastrous flight of Apollo 13 after being exposed to measles and was instrumental in bringing it safely back, has died at age 87. He didn’t come down with measles and later orbited the moon. — Helen Williams, the most photographed, and highest paid, Black model in the 1950s and 60s, has died at age 87. She frequently appeared on the cover of Ebony, Jet, and Tan magazines when publications were still segregated. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The Beatles, although there are just two of them still alive, released what they say is their last original single, “Now and Then,” with the aid of sound technology and artificial intelligence.

  “Now and then / I miss you / Oh, now and then / I want you to be there for me / Always to return to me.”

  Critics already say it’s not up to Beatles standards, but Stephen Thompson writes for NPR, “Best to let it be, then, and celebrate every Beatles moment we’ve got.”

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