Gaza Evacuation Begins, Israel's Endgame, GOP Nominates Another Speaker

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin assures Israel of U.S. support but also calls for the country

to observe international law.

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Hey, this is Elsa Chang from NPR, where we practice active listening.

You know, when we're interviewing someone, we're not just throwing out questions at them.

We are listening to the answers, following up, trying to make sense of things, so that

attacks on the area.

devastating attack on the country in 50 years.

for a widely expected ground assault.

Thank you for being with us.

Gaza right now?

And according to the IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, the army carried out the raids and

retrieved bodies of several Israelis who had been missing since the Hamas attack.

That was a week ago now.

He said the families had been notified.

Hagari also said troops found items, unspecified items, that he said might lead to the whereabouts

of more missing Israelis.

And separately, there was comment from Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, the IDF international

spokesperson.

He told reporters that Israeli forces are, quote, seeing things no one should ever have

to see.

He said, quote, this is the face of evil.

He said Israel's main targets would be the leaders of Hamas militants in Gaza.

He said however long it takes, Israel will get those responsible for the slaughter of

Israeli civilians.

Gaza and head south.

Where does that stand?

Gaza.

The United Nations said that could lead to a calamitous situation and called on Israel

to rescind it.

We are now seeing reports of Palestinians on the roads heading south.

Israel called it a significant movement.

There have also been reports of some evacuating Palestinians feeling that it wasn't safe and

trying to turn around to go home.

Israel has since announced that it will allow safe passage on two main roads, one inland,

one on the coast, heading south from the northern Gaza Strip between the hours of 10 a.m. and

4 p.m. each day.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Israel yesterday.

What did he say?

Bloodthirsty, fanatical, and hateful were his words.

He added that, like ISIS, Hamas has nothing to offer but, quote, zealotry, bigotry, and

death.

Now, he also referred to President Joe Biden's comment to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu.

And Biden said, while the U.S. would also respond swiftly and decisively to any such

massive terrorist assault, democracies such as ours are stronger and more secure, quote,

when we uphold the laws of war.

Here's how he put it.

This is a time for resolve and not revenge, for purpose and not panic, and for security

and not surrender.

Austin did not say that.

He did say the U.S. has sent warships and other assets to the region and is prepared

to deal with anyone who seeks to take advantage of the situation.

And another more positive front, the State Department says it expects the Rafah crossing

from Gaza into Egypt to be opened, possibly for some 500 to 600 Americans, for several

hours a day.

Hamas, of course, would have to allow people to leave.

of those killed by Hamas.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galad said more than once yesterday that they weren't just

killed or kidnapped.

He alleged that rapes were committed and Israelis, including children and babies, were burned.

But there's also increasingly sharp criticism being leveled not just at the military and

intelligence agencies for not having anticipated this attack, but at Israel's political leaders,

especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One analysis piece ran under the headline, quote, Netanyahu is on brand, no responsibility,

no accountability, no remorse.

It charged Netanyahu with forming a temporary war cabinet as a means of, quote, making sure

there's someone else to blame for the Gaza war failures.

So the political impacts of this within Israel are likely to be felt for some time.

Thank you so much, Peter.

attack down the line?

Greg, thanks for being with us.

What should we keep in mind about these past incursions?

nearly four decades.

Since then, Israeli forces have reentered the territory several times.

The largest operation was 2014, and that lasted seven weeks.

It was very bloody, and it dealt Hamas a major setback.

But Hamas has rebuilt, and, you know, Scott, here we are just nine years later, and the

group just unleashed its deadliest assault ever on Israel.

So the question is really whether Israel can deliver a blow to permanently weaken or cripple

Hamas, and not just a temporary one.

and blows up their weapons.

Would Hamas still remain the dominant force in Gaza?

Hamas says it has a political wing and a military wing that operate independently, and Israel

says all of Hamas is dedicated to destroying Israel.

But these Israeli military operations that we've seen in the past have focused on the

Hamas militants rather than the Hamas political leaders.

Israel has effectively tolerated Hamas political leaders, hoping they'd focus on running the

territory, providing basic services.

But now Israel says it wants to destroy all of Hamas, and this is a major undertaking

complicated by the fact that Hamas is believed to be holding about 150 hostages.

Paul Salem, head of the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Israel may not be able

to achieve its goals and at some point may have to accept some sort of continued Hamas

presence in Gaza.

We've secured our border enough.

Now let's get our people back.

Let's negotiate new rules of the game.

So there is a way to do this.

But the moment is not now.

If Hamas were to be removed from power, Greg, who could take over in Gaza?

Israel doesn't appear interested at this point in a full-fledged occupation with troops in

Gaza for the long term.

But there aren't other obvious options.

Again, Paul Salem.

Palestinians have been killed.

Nobody's interested in doing that.

This is really an Israeli-Palestinian problem.

Nobody's going to step in and shoulder that burden.

afterward and there's no clear answer.

comes up before the whole chamber.

didn't think he would.

the Capitol and joins us now.

Deidre, thanks for being with us.

Jim Jordan won a majority of the votes to get the nomination.

How much work does he have to do to get enough more votes to become speaker?

I mean, he beat out Georgia Republican Austin Scott by about 40 votes in the internal

Republican vote.

But Scott only decided to run hours before yesterday's election.

He didn't even really campaign.

Jordan is a known quantity and many expected he would have had a much larger vote.

Even some of his supporters admitted they thought he would do better.

He won 124 votes to Scott's 81.

Jordan still doesn't have the broad support he needs of all the Republican factions.

Remember, the House Republicans have a razor thin majority.

If all 221 Republicans show up on the House floor and vote, Jordan can only lose four.

So House Republicans went home for the weekend.

They're going to regroup on Monday.

The House isn't back in session until Monday night.

So it's unclear how soon the House is going to vote on a new speaker.

I mean, January took 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker for

however briefly he's here.

Most House Republicans really want to avoid that.

After they nominated Jordan, there was another vote on whether House Republicans

were ready to vote for him on the floor.

He got 155 votes on that ballot.

But that's more than 60 short of the 217 he needs to get the gavel.

House Democrats are all expected to vote against him.

Some Jordan allies think he can win more support on the floor because former

President Trump endorsed him.

And they see that floor vote as a test of loyalty to Trump.

Kentucky Republican Tom Massey is a supporter of Jordan's, says he's really

popular with the Republican base and says there's going to be a lot of pressure on

House Republicans to get in line when they do a roll call vote.

your constituents are hoping you're going to say Jim Jordan.

We think of him as the guy who doesn't wear a jacket.

He still doesn't wear a jacket.

He's a conservative firebrand.

He's been in the House for about 15 years and he really was a political

outsider at the beginning of his career.

He had a reputation as a thorn in the side of top House Republican leaders.

He ran a fiscal group of conservatives called the Republican Study Committee.

When that group wasn't conservative enough, he founded the House Freedom

Caucus.

He had many public battles with his former Ohio colleague, who was then

speaker of the House at the time, John Boehner.

And Boehner dubbed Jordan a legislative terrorist.

He did become eventually close to House leadership under then

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

That just shows how much the Republican party has shifted in just a few years.

McCarthy used to complain about Jordan, but yesterday he was campaigning

for him to take his place.

Jordan has been leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

He voted against the certification of the 2020 election results.

You know, right after he won the nomination, Democrats held a press

conference and warned if he's elected, he's a threat to democracy.

I'm Scott Simon.

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