Fighting Resumes, Harris At Climate Summit, Remembering Sandra Day O'Connor

Fighting resumes between Israel and Hamas.

It's a return to war after a week-long pause that saw hostages and prisoners released.

Coming up why the temporary truce ended and the efforts to revive it. I'm Asma Khalid.

I'm Ayesha Roscoe and this is up first from NPR News.

Also, the U.

And a pioneer passes.

I'm extremely happy and honored to have been nominated by President Reagan for a position.

On the United States Supreme Court remembering Sandra Day O'Connor.

Stay with us, we've got the news you need to start your weekend.

First up today. The war in Gaza and southern Israel fighting continued through the night. After the week-long ceasefire collapse Friday, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes against Hamas targets.

While Hamas fired rockets at Israel, including an attack on Tel Aviv intercepted by Israel's air defense system. International aid groups say there's already a severe humanitarian cost from the renewed fighting for the more than two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza. NPR's Brian Mann joins us now from Tel Aviv. Brian, it's good to have you with us.

Hi Asma.

So, to begin, can you tell us about the situation on the ground there?

Yeah, Gaza's been hit hard over the last 24 hours. Israel's military said this morning they've struck over 400 targets in operations that continued through the night. Including an airstrike against a mosque that Israeli officials say was a command post for militants. Israeli officials say they launched more artillery strikes against Hamas today. In a statement, Hamas leaders blamed this resumption of fighting on Israel and said Hamas had been willing to prolong the truce. It is worth noting, though, that, at the same time, Hamas was also taking credit for and celebrating an attack by Palestinian gunmen in Jerusalem this last week that left three Israeli civilians dead.

And Brian? What is Israel's goal as this fighting has resumed? I mean, how is the bombing also affecting Palestinian civilians who've been caught up in the war?

So after the Hamas attack on Israel October 7th that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said This war is going to continue until Hamas is eliminated. But, of course, hitting Hamas in the densely populated Gaza strip means a lot of Palestinian civilians are getting hurt. NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, was in a hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza as the wounded and dead from these strikes began to arrive.

What I'm seeing in front of me is like a crowd of people from the families that mourns nine bodies from different families. We do have one, two, three children in front of me.

He's describing their asthma, seeing bodies coming into the hospital, including those of children. This morning, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported nearly 200 Palestinians killed so far, more than 650 injured since the ceasefire ended.

And Brian, you reported yesterday on this situation broadly, with Gaza's hospitals, that they are near collapse and the lack of equipment and personnel to help all the sick and wounded. They don't have that. I mean, what did you learn?

Yeah, everyone. We spoke to asthma, from frontline doctors in Gaza to World Health Organization experts said the situation's grim. In addition to war trauma, the WHO reports a huge spike in illness, a lot of it because of the lack of safe drinking water for Palestinians. Speaking before the fighting resumed, Dr Mohamed Yasouri at the Nasser Medical Center in Khan Yunis told NPR they were already overwhelmed.

As a doctor, I have one message.

We are in a catastrophe, disaster.

And in a statement to NPR, Israeli officials acknowledged the suffering caused by the fighting and the impact on these medical facilities. They blamed Hamas, saying Hamas fighters have been using these hospitals as cover for military command posts and secret tunnel complexes.

Just briefly, Brian. During that pause in fighting, some Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were freed. What's happening now to those who were not freed during the temporary truce?

Well, they're still being held both in Israeli jails and also in Gaza by Hamas. At least 137 Israeli hostages still held. I will say officials from Qatar and the U.S have been trying to negotiate another truce. But earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying those talks are now at an impasse.

That's NPR's Brian Mann in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Brian.

Thank you.

Now to Dubai, that's where Vice President Harris is. Today, she's there to represent the United States at the U.N.'s annual climate summit, known as COP28,..

And while she's there, she's also talking to leaders about the conflict in the Middle East. White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is traveling with the Vice President and joins us now from Dubai. Thanks for joining us, Deepa.

Hey Asma.

So, it is the vice president's first time at this climate summit, and she's making announcements on new investments from the United States. Can you fill us in? What are the specific pledges?

Yeah, so there's a couple of things. The U.

Indeed, and Deepa. My understanding is this was not the only announcement the administration made at the COP summit today. What else did the Biden administration say?

Right, there's a lot going on. At the summit, the EPA also announced new federal rules to curtail methane pollution from the oil and gas industries. There's an intent from the White House to show that. They're trying to tackle the climate crisis on a lot of different fronts. By taking government actions for one, but also by holding big corporations accountable.

This is a pivotal moment.

Our action collectively, or worse, our inaction, will impact billions of people for decades to come.

So, Deepa, turning back to the political environment here in the United States, climate is a major issue for many young voters. And they have not been particularly impressed with the Biden administration's action or inaction to date. How do these politics come into play for the vice president while she's in Dubai?

Yeah, I mean, it's very top of mind for the vice president while she's here in Dubai at COP 28.

So I want to ask you a little bit more about that conflict. The Vice president is also having meetings today with regional leaders about that conflict between Israel and Hamas and the fighting in Gaza. Who is she talking to, and what are they hoping to achieve?

She's meeting with Egyptian President Sisi, and she's meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, who is, of course, hosting this climate summit here in Dubai. These meetings are all coming after Israel has resumed attacks on Gaza after that pause in the war. And the White House says Harris is looking to restore the pause. But she's also focused on what happens next in Gaza after the fighting ends.

That's NPR. White House Correspondent Deepa Shivaram Thanks so much, Deepa.

Thank you.

And finally, today on the podcast Sandra Day O'Connor.

O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness.

NPR Legal Affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg covered O'Connor from the day President Reagan nominated her in 1981 through her 24 years on the court. And she joins us now. Hi Nina.

Hi there, Aisha.

Nina, you said in one of your obits yesterday that O'Connor was often called the most powerful woman in America. What did you mean by that?

You know, she was so often the key player, the deciding vote and the author of historic opinions in cases involving abortion, national security, campaign finance, reform, separation of church and state. And, of course, the case that decided the 2000 election, Bush v. Gore, which years later, she sort of hinted that she may have regretted. And while she was viewed as a conservative justice who helped pull the court to the right. She was not doctrinaire, she was a realist, and she dealt with each case as it came, not with some sort of grand philosophical overview. The irony, of course, is that her retirement allowed President George W.

Well, talk a little bit more about what kind of judge she was.

Her approach was, Look, let's just deal with this case before us. Make as few sweeping rules as possible and leave the door open for future changes in different sets of circumstances. So, as an example, she succeeded in both preserving the core of Roe v. Wade, but allowing states more room to regulate abortions. As long as those regulations didn't impose what she called an undue burden on a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy, the particular case in which she helped cobble together that decision held that a Pennsylvania law requiring women to inform their husbands before having an abortion violated the woman's right to make a decision. And the particular point that she made was that the wife or partner of an abusive husband could risk a beating, or worse, if she were to inform her husband.

We reaffirm the constitutionally protected liberty of the woman to decide to have an abortion before the fetus attains viability. And to obtain it without undue interference from the state.

Of course, the man who would replace her, Samuel Alito, took exactly the opposite position on the lower court. And he would later be the author of the decision, reversing not just Roe v. Wade, but O'Connor's narrower decisions on reproductive freedom.

For younger people, I think it may be hard for them to really wrap their heads around the enormous impact O'Connor had. Not just on the law, but on the role of women in law, right?

You know, her career, like Justice Ginsburg's, spanned and in truth, provoked huge changes for women. When O'Connor graduated from Stanford Law School, at almost the top of her class, she was just 22 and had no idea how hard it would be for a woman to get a job as a lawyer. Finally, in desperation, she wrote to the San Mateo, California County attorney with an offer that she hoped he couldn't refuse. I wrote him a very long letter explaining all the reasons why I thought that I would be helpful to him in the office. And offering to work for nothing if that was necessary, it was necessary initially. But soon she was put on salary. And when she and her husband moved to Arizona, she continued practicing law, raising three sons, and became a major figure in the state Republican Party, becoming the state Senate majority leader.

That's NPR Legal Affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Thank you so much for joining us.

It's been my pleasure.

And that is up first for Saturday, December 2nd, 2023.

And I'm Ayesha Roscoe.

Fernando Naro, Lennon Sherburn and Hiba Amad produced today's podcast.

Don Clyde, Roberta Rampton, Krishnadev Kalamur, and Ed McNulty edited.

Our director is Andrew Craig, with engineering support from Hannah Glovna.

Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor, Sarah Oliver is our executive producer, and Jim Kane is our deputy managing editor.

Tomorrow on up first, all the only ones. A look at today's trans youth, and a look back at some of the first trans youth to be documented in the country.

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