Israel-Gaza Latest, Poland Border Blockade, Georgia Map Ruling

One of those strikes yesterday killed at least 21 people.

Israel says it seeks to destroy Hamas wherever it is.

There's a line of trucks 20 miles long at the border between Poland and Ukraine.

A blockade by Polish truckers has drivers waiting weeks to deliver goods into Ukraine.

How do relations between the two countries get so bad?

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Israel says it seeks to destroy Hamas wherever it is.

This in response to the October 7th attack that killed about 1,200 people.

Hamas continues to hold more than 100 hostages in Gaza.

according to health officials and witnesses.

This is the region of Gaza where Israeli officials have told Palestinians to go for safety.

And the exchange of fire across Israel's northern border with Lebanon has heated up too, as

well as fears of a widening war.

Good morning, Keri.

What can you tell us about that?

Israel says it is engaging in intense combat with Hamas militants in northern and central Gaza.

It continues to issue evacuation orders from those areas.

Eighty-five percent of the population in Gaza now has been displaced.

That's about two million people, Michelle.

One Israeli-American hostage, a 70-year-old woman, died in Gaza, according to her family.

President Biden sent condolences to her loved ones.

The casualty count is high.

NPR is seeking comment from the military.

NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, went to the Kuwaiti hospital where the injured and

dead were taken after the strike, and he narrated to us what he saw.

Michelle, I just want to warn listeners what he describes are disturbing images.

The majority are children and small babies.

One of them was a pregnant woman, and she was begging the doctor to check on her baby

and just crying, dead bodies all over the place.

I want to give you a quick update from earlier reporting about Israeli airstrikes.

In a statement, Israeli military officials addressed two strikes that happened on December

24th.

That killed more than 100 people, according to the Associated Press.

The military said in a statement, quote, it regrets the harm to uninvolved individuals

and is working to draw lessons from the incident.

The death toll in Gaza, according to health officials, there now tops 21,000 Palestinians.

across the border.

Is there concern that this is opening another front in this war?

morning.

Former defense minister and a member of Israeli's war cabinet, Benny Gantz, sent this warning

to Hezbollah.

It wants Hezbollah forces to retreat further north, farther away from the Israeli border.

And if not, he said Israel will act.

Tens of thousands of Israelis that live close to the border, the northern border there,

have been relocated.

Keri, thank you.

between Poland and Ukraine.

They are protesting the removal of limits on how many Ukrainian drivers and businesses

can come to Poland and the EU.

to compete.

And this protest is souring a once extremely supportive neighborly relationship between

the two countries.

be on the agenda.

We're turning now to Alyssa Nadwerny, who is at one of these blocked border crossings.

Good morning, Alyssa.

It's one of a handful of border crossings that process these big trucks.

And protesters here are limiting the number of trucks that can cross an hour.

It ranges from one to five, kind of depending on the day and the mood.

There are some exceptions that we've been able to see.

Military and humanitarian aid are getting to pass through.

But the rest, they have to wait.

And that means the line here of Ukrainian trucks is about a thousand at the moment.

It's just as far as the eye can see, backed up more than 20 miles.

And drivers wait weeks.

A thousand trucks waiting to cross.

That's something.

So, what specifically do these protesters want, the Polish protesters?

And Poland and Ukraine got equal numbers.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU suspended that permit system to help Ukraine keep the

economy afloat.

And the number of trucks shot up, of course, with most of those drivers being Ukrainian.

And the Poles, they want that permit system back.

So remember, Poland is Ukraine's main connection to Europe.

There are no flights in and out of Ukraine.

The Black Sea is mined.

So this land border is essential.

Last night, Leszek Staszek was manning the blockade.

He's a Polish business owner holding up Ukrainian drivers.

And he's been here at night, in the cold, for months.

He says this is a fight for his existence.

He owns a small company with his son.

They have five trucks.

And business has really suffered, he says.

He says Ukrainian drivers, they drive around like they're members of the EU, like us.

And they take away our bread, they take away our work.

He says waiting for weeks at a border crossing, that's just the job of a trucker.

And he's done that plenty, he says, in his decades of being a driver himself.

And many of them can't believe that this is happening right now, while Ukraine is at war.

Imports to Ukraine are way down.

And that impacts taxes and ultimately the war effort, because everything is connected.

We talked with a man named Yaroslav waiting to cross.

He's a Ukrainian truck driver.

He's got a load of furniture.

And he's been here at this border for 14 days, running out of water, food and money.

He's saying, if the Poles are striking, don't let us come into Poland.

But why are you not letting me go home?

You know, other drivers told us similar sentiments.

One said, go block the parliament in Warsaw, leave us here at the border out of it.

Of course, protesters actually did that back in the spring, Michelle, and it didn't work.

So they started the protest here.

So there's a chance they're going to work with Ukrainian officials in the EU to figure out a compromise,

to try and keep both sides happy.

Protesters are telling us they're going to be here for the long haul.

And Ukrainian truckers are saying we're actually going to keep coming back despite the wait.

She's at the border between Poland and Ukraine.

Thanks, Alyssa.

after the judge found the old ones illegally diluted the power of black voters.

But the civil rights and religious groups who sued over the maps say the new ones still violate the Voting Rights Act.

Sam, good morning.

to create one new majority black congressional district.

Now, many people thought that meant Democrats would gain a seat in Congress,

like what happened next door in Alabama, where the courts ordered that map redrawn.

But instead, Republicans have managed to preserve their 9-5 advantage in Congress

by dismantling a Democratic voting coalition district in suburban Atlanta.

This was a district where black, Latino and Asian-American voters together formed a majority.

And now they are split up.

And for many of them, this fight has been very personal.

At the state capitol earlier this month, state Representative Teddy Reese

talked about his grandmother, who was born three decades before the Voting Rights Act.

so that you can stand on the House floor of the state capitol.

We were not ordered back here by Judge Jones to maintain the status quo.

We were ordered here to change Georgia's map so that they reflect

And I take it that he said that Republicans did the job of adding a black congressional district.

Judge Jones, an Obama appointee, concluded that lawmakers followed his order.

Now, as for whether multiracial coalition districts are protected by the Voting Rights Act,

Jones declined to weigh in.

He said this case only ever considered black voters and any other questions

should be argued in another case.

Republicans, they cheered that decision and said the judge affirmed what they have been saying

all along, that their new maps comply with the Voting Rights Act.

other redistricting cases in the courts right now.

I talked with Northwestern University law professor Michael Kang, and he says

conservatives see an opportunity to narrow the act at a time when it really should be

read more expansively, like to protect these multiracial districts, such as the one that's

been dismantled in Georgia.

We're seeing an increasingly multiracial democracy that the voting rights law that we have wasn't

really built to handle very well.

And with margins so thin, Michelle, the shape of every district matters.

Sam Greenglass. Sam, thank you.

Trump is not qualified to appear on the state's primary ballot next year.

The ruling cites the so-called insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, disqualifying

those who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding

office. It was originally written post-Civil War to prevent Confederate rebels from holding

elected office. Colorado and Michigan have also ruled on this issue, and there are similar

cases still pending in other states.

Meanwhile, in California, in the latest of these challenges, the secretary of state

declined to remove former President Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot.

And that's Up First for Friday, December 29th.

I'm Michelle Martin.

Sullivan, Alice Wolfley and Miguel Macias.

It was produced by Julie Deppenbrock, Manzi Grana and Chad Campbell.

We get engineering support from Hannah Glovna and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

As always, join us again on Monday.

team behind the scenes, producer Lisa Wiener.

Today is her last day and we are going to miss her dearly.

Thank you, Lisa, for all you've done for our listeners and for us.

And you can catch Up First tomorrow, too, with host Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon.

We hope you have a great weekend.