Warnings of disaster after Israel gives an evacuation order to 1.1 million Gazans. The House speaker vote is thrown into further turmoil after Steve Scalise’s unexpected withdrawal. And when and where to watch the “ring of fire” solar eclipse this weekend.
Here’s what to know today:
Israel warns civilians to leave northern Gaza
Israel has ordered the entire population of northern Gaza to evacuate south, a warning that leaves more than 1 million people to decide whether to abandon their homes. Hamas urged Gazans to ignore it.
Israel’s military said the order, which will raise fears of an imminent ground offensive on the densely populated enclave, was intended to minimize civilian casualties in the war against Hamas. But the U.N. said it was “impossible” and risked a disaster.
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Humanitarian organizations are calling for Israel to reverse its order, with the Norwegian Refugee Council warning that, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, it would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the U.S. grapples with its response to the surprise Hamas attack and the fate of Americans, including some taken hostage.
Airstrikes intensified yesterday in Gaza, where more than 1,500 people have been killed and over 6,200 injured. An Israeli siege has blocked electricity, water and other essentials from the region, causing health care systems to reach a breaking point as they grapple with an “acute shortage of medical supplies,” the World Health Organization said.
Authorities in the U.S. and across the world were bracing after calls for a worldwide “day of rage” today in support of Palestinians.
Follow our live coverage.
More on the Israel-Hamas war:
Scalise withdraws from House speaker race
House Republicans are expected to meet at the Capitol this morning to nominate a new candidate for speaker after Steve Scalise withdrew from the race yesterday, building further uncertainty in the House more than a week after Kevin McCarthy was ousted. The unexpected decision by House Majority Leader Scalise came after hours of meetings, during which he failed to flip any of his critics to the yes column. To win the speakership, he would have needed at least 217 of 221 Republicans to vote for him on the House floor.
Not long after Scalise’s announcement, some Republicans said they already have another choice in mind.
Officer convicted in Elijah McClain’s death
A Colorado police officer was found guilty and another was acquitted yesterday in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black pedestrian whose death set off months of protests against police brutality. Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, and former Aurora officer Jason Rosenblatt was acquitted.
Roedema and Rosenblatt detained McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, before paramedics injected him with ketamine. Minutes after he was injected with the sedative, McClain was found to have no pulse and went into cardiac arrest. He was revived but was later declared brain dead and died on Aug. 30.
The officer accused of putting McClain in a chokehold is set to go on trial this week. The paramedics who injected McClain will also face trial this year
A rare ‘ring of fire’ over the U.S.
Sky-watchers in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, as well as slivers of California, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona are in for a cosmic treat tomorrow, when a solar eclipse will allow people there to witness a rare “ring of fire” in the sky. But don’t worry if you’re not in one of those states. You’ll still have the chance to see the moon take a “bite” out of the sun.
Saturday’s eclipse is a much-anticipated event because it’s rare for the path of a solar eclipse to cut so cleanly across the continental U.S., one expert said. The next time this type of eclipse will grace the contiguous U.S. is in February 2046. Here are the best places and times to catch the spectacle.
Today’s Talker: The winner of ‘Fat Bear Week’ is…
…Grazer. She’s 18 years old, a single mom who’s “thicker than a bowl of oatmeal” and one of the best salmon fishers on the river. The annual competition at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve draws hundreds of thousands of internet users to decide who is the fattest of the fat. See Grazer in the wild.
Politics in Brief
Menendez indicted again: Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was hit with new charges accusing him of accepting bribes from a foreign government and conspiring to act as a foreign agent.
Stolen tax records: A former IRS contractor admitted in federal court that he stole tax records belonging to Donald Trump and thousands of other wealthy people in 2019 and 2020 before leaking them to the media.
Trump civil fraud case: Donald Trump plans to return to the trial against him and his company next week to watch the testimony of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, according to two sources.
Staff Pick: ‘Secrets in Pleasant Prairie’
Days before she was found dead in a bed at her home in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, a woman gave her neighbor an ominous letter. “If anything happens to me, he would be my first suspect,” she wrote. Nearly 25 years later, the woman’s husband was convicted in her death — for the second time. Tim Stelloh and the “Dateline” team look at the case and what it took to bring justice for Julie Jensen. — Jamie Knodel, news editor
In Case You Missed It
Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Amazon’s fall Prime Day is over, but the retailer is still offering plenty of discounts. Take a look at what’s still on sale, from headphones and doorbell cameras, to a reusable water bottle and a stand mixer.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
