Israel To Allow Limited Humanitarian Aid, Gaza Hospital Explosion, Jordan Loses Votes

deadliest of five Gaza wars.

We'll hear what the situation is now in Gaza.

That's A. Martinez.

And this is Up First from NPR News.

Some Western countries are calling for an investigation into the explosion at a Gaza

hospital that killed hundreds of people.

Israeli and Palestinian officials are blaming each other for the incident that has led to

mass protests across Arab nations.

So what do we know about what really happened?

failed to get enough votes to become House Speaker.

Where does this leave his bid for the gavel?

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Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

This morning, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed in Israel.

The visits followed nearly two weeks of war since Hamas launched a surprise attack that

killed at least 1,400 people.

Israel has retaliated with airstrikes in Gaza and has killed thousands more.

Ayah Batraki in Jerusalem.

So it was a whirlwind visit for President Biden.

What are the main takeaways?

The first was affirming, again, his unwavering commitment to Israel's security.

Biden met with grieving families and first responders in Tel Aviv.

He acknowledged the pain here and said the scale of those October 7th attacks for a country

the size of Israel was like 15 September 11th attacks.

And then that leads really to the second takeaway, which is he also had words of caution for

Israel.

There are diverse opinions here about Israel's treatment of Palestinians and the war.

But there's also widespread anger and a feeling that Israel's survival is dependent on wiping

out Hamas.

So President Biden said he understood there must be justice.

But he also said, quote, while you feel that rage, don't be consumed by it.

While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.

And the timing of all of this was less than 24 hours after a catastrophic blast at a hospital

in Gaza, where thousands of people were sheltering.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says around 470 people were killed in that blast.

Many, if not most, were children.

Israel blames an errant militant rocket, but Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East,

including the governments here, say it was Israel.

And so the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is on display every day that this war continues.

And that leads to the third takeaway from Biden's visit.

He got Israel's war cabinet and the prime minister to agree to let some humanitarian

aid into Gaza.

So when might that get in?

Israel bombed the roads leading to Gaza's border crossing with Egypt, where a huge convoy

of aid trucks is ready to go in.

So those repairs on those roads could happen today.

But Biden says it will only at most be 20 trucks at first, and the U.N. will do the

distribution inside Gaza.

And he warned that if any of that goes to Hamas, the aid will stop.

Israel also says this aid is only for southern Gaza.

So Gaza's biggest hospital and everyone in the north might not get any of this aid.

And Israel did not say if fuel could enter.

So that means hospital generators could still shut down.

The only electricity for most people in Gaza now is coming from generators.

I talked to Tasneem Ahan in Gaza City, where Israel told people to evacuate.

She says there's nowhere else to go.

The south in these so-called safe zones aren't safe either.

Ampair's producer down there saw kids being pulled from the rubble of their homes in recent

days.

But let's listen to what Ahan told me about how hard things are.

has come and gone.

When might that happen?

But in recent days, Israel has indicated there may or may not be a ground invasion.

I think there's real fears this could lead to heavy losses among Israeli soldiers, an

intractable situation in Gaza, and that this could also draw other militant groups and

engulf the region.

Thank you.

deadly explosion at the Gaza City Hospital on Tuesday.

More information about the incident is emerging, but it's far from conclusive, and the Israelis

and Palestinians are still blaming each other.

Okay, the explosion, Greg, how much do we know about what happened and what caused it?

Me and my NPR colleagues have been going through all the available evidence.

But what we don't have yet is clarity.

Photos show an explosion dug a relatively small hole in the concrete in the parking

lot of the Ahly Arab Hospital.

A couple cars were destroyed.

Fire burned several down to the metal frame.

The hospital has broken windows, pockmarked walls, and some missing roof tiles.

But the hospital didn't suffer any real structural damage.

A Palestinian doctor there at the time of the explosion spoke to NPR and described a

horrific scene with many people killed just outside the hospital.

But he said no one was killed inside the hospital, just a few people wounded.

Why were there so many people outside of the hospital?

and friends were present.

But many other Gazans, several thousand, came to the hospital grounds hoping it would be

a safe place to shelter.

A large group was gathered in the courtyard at the time of the blast, according to multiple

witnesses there.

Does any of this provide any clues to who may have fired this weapon?

the parking lot suggested a smaller weapon was used.

So that could be a rocket fired by the Palestinians.

Also, videos show a large fireball at the moment of impact, which could be rocket fuel

that ignited.

The Israelis say a militant Palestinian faction, Islamic Jihad, not Hamas, fired 10 rockets

toward Israel.

They say one of those rockets misfired and crashed into the hospital grounds, and that's

the cause of all these casualties.

They say Israel has been striking almost every corner of Gaza with relentless airstrikes

that have killed many civilians, and that this was just part of that bombing campaign.

Now, we should note that Israel airstrikes are often conducted with very powerful bombs

and missiles, and they tend to leave very large craters that can take down a large

section of a building, and in some cases, an entire building itself.

But Israel also has smaller weapons in its arsenal, so it's not yet possible to rule

in or rule out all the various possibilities here.

Israeli version of events.

So what reason, Greg, did he give?

The President said that this was based on information he received from the Pentagon,

but neither he nor the Pentagon provided any details.

President Biden said he, again, thought it was an errant Palestinian rocket.

And at the White House, the National Security Council said in a brief statement that it

appeared Israel was not responsible based on the intelligence available at this point,

but they stressed that they were still looking for further information.

That's NPR's Greg Myrie.

Thanks for sorting this out.

The House of Representatives again held a vote to elect a new speaker, and again, Republican

nominee Jim Jordan failed to secure the votes to get the gavel.

Twenty-two Republicans voted for someone else.

That's up from 20 on Tuesday.

Deirdre, kind of like watching Groundhog's Day, right?

I mean, it kind of feels that way.

Do you think anything will change today?

Will the House finally elect a speaker?

I mean, a third ballot for speaker could happen later today, but right now, no Republican

has the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker.

There's no sign that any of the 22 members in that GOP group that voted against Jordan

are going to change their votes.

One of them, Arkansas Republican Steve Womack, predicted a third ballot would get, quote,

a lot worse for Jordan.

to wear people down and get them to vote for Jordan.

And even last night, Congresswoman Marionette Miller-Meeks from Iowa, who supported Jordan

on the first ballot but voted against him on the second, denounced the tactic from Jordan's

allies and actually shouted out fellow members of Congress, denouncing them.

She said she received death threats and said, one thing I cannot stomach or support is a

bully.

Jordan condemned the threats, but some think he's not doing enough.

A lot of these holdouts say this pressure campaign from right-wing media, targeting

lawmakers, flooding their offices with calls, is a reason why the resistance is hardening

and perhaps expanding.

a power-sharing agreement?

speaker pro tem who's presiding over the election, could get new authority to do things like

bring up bills to avoid a shutdown later, to approve aid to Israel.

A growing group of Republicans say it's important now to have a temporary speaker, at least

for some period of time, so the House can function.

McHenry insists he's focused on getting a Republican majority to elect a Republican

speaker, but he seemed to crack the door open to his role may be changing.

My role here is to be determined, but I've constructed that as narrowly as the rules

say I should.

And we can't transact business until we elect a speaker.

The minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, says he's open, but the details would still have

to be worked out in terms of how long McHenry could serve and what he could do.

ask for money for wars in Ukraine and Israel.

What does this dysfunction in the House, Deidre, mean for Congress approving those requests?

Without a speaker, nothing can happen.

There is broad bipartisan support for approving money for Israel and for Ukraine.

Senate leaders from both parties want to tie them together.

But Jim Jordan and a lot of other House Republicans voted against any more money for Ukraine.

That's a big reason why some Republicans who support aid continuing or running out are

more openly talking about this idea of installing a temporary speaker.

Thanks for keeping up with this saga, Deidre.

Thanks.

I'm A. Martinez.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Peter Granitz, Andrew Sussman, Kelsey Snell,

and H.J. Mai.

It was produced by Mansi Khurana, Katie Klein, and Lindsay Toddy.

We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

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