The U.S. military has finished installing a floating pier in the Gaza Strip. Officials said Thursday that they're poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The final construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it to help starving Palestinians as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting prevent food and other supplies from making it into Gaza. American officials insist U.S. troops will not set foot in Gaza, though they acknowledge the danger of operating near the war zone.

House Republicans plan to deliver a rebuke to President Joe Biden for putting a pause on a shipment of bombs to Israel that could be used in an assault on Rafah. They are voting Thursday on a bill that has practically no chance of being enacted but puts pressure on Democrats as it mandates delivery of the weapons. The Biden administration is seeking to discourage Israel from its offensive on the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah. This month, it put on hold a weapons shipment of 3,500 bombs. Republicans were outraged at the move and argued it represented the abandonment of the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East.

Donald Trump’s defense has brought up an embarrassing episode from Michael Cohen’s past. That's from when he supplied his lawyer with AI-generated legal cases to back up an application to end his post-prison court supervision early. Cohen said Thursday as he was cross-examined in Trump's hush money trial that an AI tool served up a few cases that sounded useful but turned out to be inventions. His attorney ended up citing the bogus legal rulings in papers. Cohen and Trump's defense lawyer then had an exchange that illustrated the disbarred attorney’s sometimes hair-splitting responses. Court broke for lunch soon after.

Violence is raging across New Caledonia for the third consecutive day. France has imposed a state of emergency in the French Pacific territory. Authorities boosted security forces’ powers to quell deadly unrest in the archipelago, where some residents have long sought independence from France. French authorities in New Caledonia and the Interior Ministry in Paris reported on Thursday that five people, including two police officers, have been killed in the violence. The unrest came after protests earlier this week over voting reforms pushed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government turned deadly. At least sixty members of the security forces were injured and 214 people were arrested in Thursday's clashes. That's according to the territory's top French official.

Israel’s defense minister says the military will send more troops into Rafah, a city along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, as fighting also rages in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped. South Africa is seeking emergency measures at the U.N.’s top court to halt Israel’s escalating offensive in Rafah, calling the incursion “the last step in the destruction of Gaza.” Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last Hamas stronghold, brushing off warnings from the United States and other allies that any major operation there would be catastrophic for civilians. The United Nations says around 600,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah since the beginning of last week.