maryalice parks, abc news, the white house, maryalice. >> thank you. palestinians in southern gaza now say they have nowhere to go after. israel expanded its ground operation and ordered more evacuations. hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the cease fire ended and un officials say the civilians suffering is too much to bear. the relatives of the remaining hostages, meanwhile, are calling for their safe return. abc spoke with the brother of one of the eight americans currently in captivity. his sister in law was released days ago and her first sentence was, i went through hell no freedom, not knowing when their next meal is coming. >> and above all else, you want another pause in the fighting? >> we want whatever needs to be done, done quickly to allow for keith and all the hostages to be returned. meanwhile the us and other allies are warning israel that if it doesn't protect palestinian civilians, support for hamas will grow. >> breaking overnight, 11 climbers have been found dead after a volcano erupted in indonesia for a number of

maryalice, this question is for you.ndidates are responding to this week, the texas supreme court deciding to block kate cox from getting an abortion after she discovered her fetus had a genetic disorder that is almost always fatal and her pregnancy possibly hurting her chances at fertility down the road. what are you hearing on the trail about this? >> reporter: yes, stephanie, just a huge story across the country, but actually we're hearing very little from these republican presidential candidates. ron desantis, florida governor ron desantis has not weighed in on the substance of this case. nikki haley, she said she didn't think judges should be deciding these things, but, of course, judges are deciding them. you know, we are hearing so much from doctors that these medical exemptions that say they are designed to protect the life and safety of a mother with these dangerous pregnancies, we are hearing doctors saying they are just not working, they are just not practical, that the laws are too vague, and the penalties ar

and, maryalice, let's turn to a topic that's on so many minds, health care.pealing the affordable care act. the biden team though seems to be leaning into that. >> reporter: yeah, democrats have really been pouncing on those on whether they would try to repeal and replace obamacare if elected. health care is exactly the kind of issues that voters talk about. they're worried about the cost of hospital bills and accessibility of long-term care but the reality is it's more popular now. their enrollment in the marketplace plans is up last year. it's open enrollment season now and the numbers are looking strong. right now we're in western iowa, really close to south dakota. south dakota this summer became the seventh state where voters actually demanded the state go around the republican governor and expand access to medicaid that's allowed under obamacare. it's evidence that voters think the law is popular. they want to see more of it, even though they're worried about health care, democrats really see an opening here, guys. >> all right, maryalice parks for us i

maryalice, what are you hearing from your sources about how the u.s. might respond? >> reporter: linsey, the pentagon put out a formal statement saying it would consider all appropriate responses in coordination with allies and partners. several countries had civilians who were under attack today, but this is delicate. the u.s. is trying to protect this area. they will feel the need to hit some houthi targets. but of course they are trying not to escalate things too much, linsey. >> linsey: certainly a delicate situation there. maryalice, thank you. >>> tonight the israeli army is ordering more evacuations in the southern part of gaza and says it has now expanded its ground offensive to every part of the gaza strip. many palestinians say they're running out of places to go. abc's tom soufi burridge reports from israel, and a warning some of the images may be difficult to watch. [ sound of gunfire ] >> reporter: tonight, israel expanding its assault on gaza. for the first time confirming its ground forces are now operating in every area of the strip, including the sou

maryalice parks has more from washington. >> reporter: tonight, donald trump indicted for illegally trying to stay in power after the 2020 election, joking again about saying he wanted to be a dictator for a day. >> and you know why i wanted to be a dictator? because i want a wall, right? i want a wall. and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> reporter: trump campaigning at a new york fund-raiser saturday night saying he hopes to exact revenge on democrats he thinks wronged him. >> i only can say to joe, be very careful what you wish for, because what you have done is a terrible thing. >> reporter: president biden this weekend campaigning behind closed doors in los angeles, telling donors, quote, the greatest threat trump poses is to the democracy. biden's son this week facing new tax charges that could end up being a headache for his father's campaign if court dates coincide with the election. hunter biden's attorney saying it's all overblown, and he paid his taxes back. according to a new "wall street journal" poll, trump leads biden 47/43 in a hypothetical matchup. and late today, trump ab

maryalice parks has more from washington. >> reporter: tonight, donald trump indicted for illegally trying to stay in power after the 2020 election, joking again about saying he wanted to be a dictator for a day. >> and you know why i wanted to be a dictator? because i want a wall, right? i want a wall. and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> reporter: trump campaigning at a new york fund-raiser saturday night sing he hopes to exact revenge on democrats he thinks wronged him. >> i only can say to joe, be very careful what you wish for, because what you have done is a terrible thing. >> reporter: president biden this weekend campaigning behind closed doors in los angeles, telling donors, quote, the greatest threat trump poses is to the democracy. biden's son this week facing new tax charges that could end up being a headache for his father's campaign if court dates coincide with the election. hunter biden's attorney saying it's all overblown, and he paid his taxes back. according to a new "wall street journal" poll, trump leads biden 47/43 in a hypothetical matchup. and late today, trump abru

linsey. >> maryalice, thank you. >>> tonight, south korea is urging the u.s. and japan to maintain their readiness. after north korea fired a short range ballistic missile. south korea says the missile landed in the sea. this weekend, the u.s. and south korea issued a warning that any attack on the u.s. or its allies would lead to the end of the north korean regime. >>> there's still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this sunday. quaker oats is recalling granola bars and cereals that could be linked to a serious illness, and a dynasty in women's volleyball. who just won back-to-back championships. (vo) you weren't made for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. but #1 prescribed entyvio is. it's the most prescribed biologic for crohn's and uc. in clinical trials, entyvio helped many people achieve long-term relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. although unlikely, a risk of pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal b

>> whit: all right, maryalice, thank you.et's bring in jonathan karl who will be hosting "this week" later on this morning. jon, good morning to you. always great to have you. big interview you had this week. you sat down with both nikki haley and new hampshire governor chris sununu fresh off his endorsement of her. she appears to be gaining momentum at just the right time, but will any of this be enough with trump still dominating in the polls? >> jonathan: whit, it is a steep, steep climb, but let's keep in mind, nobody has voted yet. we've seen surprises happen in iowa and new hampshire in the past, although we have never according to our friends at fivethirtyeight who have looked at the historic trend here, we have never seen a candidate in either party be this far ahead at this point in the cycle and go on to lose the nomination. the closest was hillary clinton losing to barack obama in 2008. he was way behind at this point, but not quite as far behind as nikki haley is. look, one thing that was fascinating about this in

good morning, maryalice. >> reporter: gio, good morning.lican candidates are making one of their most effective arguments against the front-runner, donald trump, telling iowa voters that trump can't win. now south carolina -- former south carolina governor nikki haley, she describes it as chaos, said that trump brought chaos wherever he went. she spent the weekend pointing to polls where she does better than him against biden. florida governor ron desantis, he said that trump invigorates democratic voters, and i got to tell you. i talked to a lot of iowa voters who agree with that, who are buying that argument, but when i asked that if they think anyone but trump can win in iowa, a lot of mixed reactions. a lot of shrugs. people just aren't sure. he is still leading here in the polls. now overnight, the iowa republican party had to put out a statement clarifying that you have to be a resident of iowa to caucus. this was after ron desantis' wife made a comment where she seemed to suggest that women from out of the state should come to iowa t

thank you so much, maryalice. we appreciate it. >>> staying on politics here, republican senator tommy tuberville of alabama is signaling that he may be ready to end his ten-month block on military promotions. abc's jay o'brien joins us now from capitol hill with more on that. jay, good morning. >> reporter: whit, a lot of anticipation here on capitol hill this morning that senator tommy tuberville's controversial blockade of more than 350 military nominations could come to an end in the coming days. the department of defense saying that these holdups are leaving key command positions vacant or with interim leaders and at a time with conflicts in the middle east and in ukraine, it's posing a serious national security risk they say. tuberville holding up these nominations over objections to the pentagon's abortion policy, and after ten months of holding his ground, the alabama senator acknowledging two reporters last week that these nominees, quote, need to be promoted and, quote, have not done anything wrong. the

we start with a look at this week's top political headlines, and abc news white house correspondent maryaliced morning to you. >> hi. good morning. >> whit: we got a lot to talk about. getting buzz was the battle of the governors, florida governor ron desantis debating california governor gavin newsom. newsom taking a parting shot at the end saying neither one of them would be the party's nominee in 2024. why did desantis do this? was this good for him in the end? >> i don't think it helped him, but i don't think it helped democrats either. ron desantis surprisingly can look uncomfortable even on his own home turf. i felt like that when i was covering the primary debate in his hometown in florida. this was on fox news. this debate with gavin newsom was with sean hannity. it should have been his arena but moment after moment i thought he looked awkward, was struggling to get his words out. i think that governor newsom did come across rather commanding. you were just talking about iowa. it is coming up. the caucus is coming up in 45 days. governor desantis really has to deliver there. he has th

abc's maryalice parks has more. >> donald trump under fire after he once again seemed to praise modern dictators and use language echoing that of white supremacists. >> what he's doing is dog whistling to americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world. and his dog whistling it to blame it on people from areas that don't look like us in new hampshire. >> at a campaign rally, the former president and republican primary, frontrillionunner, using rhetoric mirroring that of propaganda while attacking immigrants. >> they're poisoning the blood of our country. that's what they've done, trump even quoting the united states and versuri vladimir putin in an effort to mock his own political rivals, vladimir putin. has anybody ever heard of vladimir putin of russia? he says that biden's and this is a, quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for russia. >> in the same speech, he called north korean dictator kim jong un a nice guy. but new hampshire's popular republic governor chris sununu a quote, s

maryalice parks with the candidates in iowa tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the candidates sharpening their criticism of donald trump. telling iowans that voting for the former president, invig invigorates democrats. >> they need the negative partisanship to say trump, trump, trump and get people to come out. >> i want to choose someone that will unite the republican party and the country. >> reporter: but trump is leading iowa polls by 25 points, according to 538. and some think the nomination is his to lose. can any beat trump in iowa? >> i think they can. >> reporter: you hesitated more. >> yeah. >> he will get the nomination again. >> reporter: you say it with a sigh. >> yeah. there's worse guys for the job but better guys for the job. >> reporter: the youngest candidate in the race, bonding with college students through a push-up challenge. but he struggled to make friends wednesday at the fourth gop debate. >> nikki haley who thinks the government should identify every one of those individuals. >> reporter: the crowd booing him repeatedly, when he attacked his competition on sta