Israel warns that fighting will intensify. Republicans will meet this morning to nominate a new House speaker. And some food additives linked to health problems were outlawed in California.
Here's what to know today.
IDF says scenes coming out of Gaza will be ‘difficult to cope with’
Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip continued overnight, with the country’s military announcing they struck 450 targets in the enclave in 24 hours. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that “fighting will intensify” and warned that scenes coming out of Gaza would be “difficult to understand and cope with.”
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and hospitals are overwhelmed, Doctors Without Borders said, noting Israeli bombing of the enclave did not spare medical facilities.
Gaza’s power authority said its sole power plant will run out of fuel within hours, leaving the territory without electricity after Israel cut off supplies. Palestinians in Gaza have long relied on generators to power homes, offices and hospitals, but have no way of importing fuel for those either.
The IDF said that an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon towards a military site this morning. Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, has been sporadically exchanging fire with Israel in recent days. The last time Israel and Hezbollah were at war was in 2006, a conflict which lasted roughly 34 days.
There are still Hamas militants inside Israeli territory, but there is no significant fighting happening inside the country at the moment, a spokesman for the IDF told NBC News this morning.
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More on the Israel-Hamas war:
- The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely packed areas in the world. These maps show how it compares to other major cities.
- Satellite images reveal the devastation of Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza.
- Israel’s “Iron Dome” has never been more important as it fends off Hamas attacks.
- President Joe Biden passionately condemned Hamas’ attacks as “pure, unadulterated evil” and vowed to support Israel.
- American officials are investigating whether some of the Hamas militants who carried out the attack on Israel received training from Iran, according to current and former U.S. officials.
- Numerous Republican lawmakers say they are skeptical of, if not outright opposed to, connecting Ukraine aid to Israel aid.
Republicans will try to nominate their next speaker
Republicans are expected to meet this morning for a closed-door vote to nominate the next House speaker, the next step in the process to naming a successor to Kevin McCarthy. Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan are vying for the most powerful post in Congress and spent yesterday making their cases to fellow GOP lawmakers. Whoever wins today’s secret ballot vote for the nomination will still need to unite the party behind them and earn 217 votes on the floor to seize the gavel. But some aren’t so sure it’ll be an easy path to election.
“I put it at 2%,” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said when asked whether Republicans would settle on a speaker this morning. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas noted, “A lot of people like Steve, and a lot of people like Jim. ... It could be a long week.”
Meanwhile, four of the former Ohio State University wrestlers who have accused Rep. Jordan of failing to protect them from a sexual predator when he was the team’s assistant coach in the 1980s and ‘90s said he has no business being the next speaker of the House.
X struggles to keep up with Israel-Hamas falsehoods
The community fact-checking feature on X, formerly known as Twitter, relies on approved volunteers to add context to posts that may be false or misleading. But the feature is struggling to keep up with a flood of content related to the Israel-Hamas war. The situation became so dire that CEO Elon Musk urged users to “stay as close to the truth as possible.”
An approved Community Notes member gave NBC News access to the feature’s volunteer interface. Here’s what we learned.
In addition, researchers uncovered a propaganda network of 67 accounts on X that are coordinating a campaign of posting false, inflammatory content related to the war. And the European Union told Musk yesterday that he had 24 hours to explain plans to better counter Hamas videos on X.
Chuck Todd: Dems wrestle with the Biden conundrum
President Joe Biden’s age is as much a real concern for Democrats in Washington as it is for voters. Those in both the executive and legislative branches fear voters can’t be convinced Biden is up to the job of being president for another four years, and they don’t have confidence the team around Biden fully appreciates the concern. So what will it take to fire up Democrats for Biden? NBC News’ chief political analyst and former moderator of “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd has one suggestion.
“The best elixir for him could well be a primary challenge,” Todd writes. “The best way to disprove the age and ability issue is to run an active campaign, something Biden has yet to do.” Read the full analysis here.
Ex-girlfriend testifies SBF told her to commit crimes
The ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried testified against the FTX co-founder yesterday, alleging he told her to steal money from FTX customers and that he set up the system that let her move money. Caroline Ellison, a former co-CEO of cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research, said that she took about $10 billion from customers who had put their money on the FTX exchange to trade digital currencies. The SEC has alleged that Alameda used money that belonged to FTX customers to repay debts and cover losses it had sustained. Here’s what else the prosecution’s star witness said.
Politics in Brief
Gerrymandering dispute: The Supreme Court will consider whether Republicans in South Carolina inappropriately considered race when drawing a previously closely contested congressional district in a way that removed thousands of Black voters.
Trump indictments: Special counsel Jack Smith’s office wants a federal judge to make Donald Trump’s legal team formally say whether he’ll testify upon an advice-of-counsel defense at his federal election interference trial in March. If so, Smith argues prosecutors should gain access to additional information.
Santos scandal: Federal prosecutors hit Rep. George Santos with 23 additional charges, including allegations of identity theft and that he charged a supporter’s credit card in excess of their contribution and then transferred the money to his personal bank account.
Arizona politics: Republican Kari Lake kicked off her campaign for the Senate with a boisterous rally in Scottsdale and an endorsement from Donald Trump.
Staff Pick: A ban on red dye No. 3 and more
Here’s what I learned when reading this article: the dye that gives foods like these chewy marshmallow Peeps a bright red hue has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals at high doses. It’s also associated with behavioral problems in children. And now, it’s one of four additives known to cause health problems that has been outlawed in California. Even if you don’t live here, take note. The law is likely to have a ripple effect across the country. — Elizabeth Robinson, newsletter editor
In Case You Missed It
- Utah filed a lawsuit against TikTok, saying the video app knowingly uses technology to keep children engaged with material that is often harmful.
- Another strong earthquake shook part of western Afghanistan this morning after a quake killed more than 2,000 and flattened whole villages on Saturday.
- The NHL issued a sweeping ban against theme-night gear, including Pride symbols, after a handful of hockey players objected to participating in Pride Night events.
- Three leading female physicians at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center have sued Los Angeles County, alleging it ignored years of complaints of sexual harassment, retaliation and discriminatory behavior by the former head of the facility’s orthopedics department.
- A 104-year-old Chicago woman, whose recent skydive could see her certified by Guinness World Records, has died.
Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Early holiday shopping has started with big fall sales like Amazon’s October Prime Day (Prime Big Deal Days ends tonight) and Walmart’s Deals Holiday Kickoff. So far, of the hundreds of Prime Day deals the Select team has covered, a portable charger, a smart plug, teeth whitening strips, AirPods and a veggie chopper are some of the bestsellers. Check out all the top deals you can shop now, updated in real time, from tech and wellness, to deals under $100 that could make great gifts.
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