♪ ooh you're where i wanna go ooh you're where i wanna go ♪ ♪ ♪ ooh you're where i wanna go ♪ ♪ ♪ ooh you're where i wanna go ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, natalee holloway. nearly 20 years after her case gripped the nation -- >> are you guilty? >> juju: the prime suspect confessing to the brutal murder and how he says he did it.

>> joran van der sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder, he is the killer. >> juju: in exchange for horrible details he took a plea deal for extorting holloway's mother. how much jail time is joran van der sloot facing? already sentenced in peru for the murder of another young woman. president biden in israel. >> i come to israel with a single message -- you're not alone. you are not alone. >> juju: amidst protests breaking out across the region, including near the u.s. embassy in beirut -- >> they say they are outraged at israel's bombardment of palestinian citizens and the u.s. support for it. >> juju: and new clues plus evidence on the catastrophic strike on a hospital in gaza. why the u.s. says it did not come from israel. and the unfolding humanitarian disaster. >> where are we supposed to go? we went to schools. they bombed schools.

we went to the south. they bombed the south. >> juju: how soon will aid arrive? [♪] how you feel can be affected by the bacteria in your gut. try new align probiotic bloating relief plus food digestion. it contains a probiotic to help relieve occasional bloating, plus vitamin b12 to aid digestion. try align probiotic.

♪ >> juju: thanks for joining us. tonight, the dramatic courtroom confession almost 20 years in the making.

natalee holloway disappeared during a senior high school class trip to aruba. her family's search for answers stretches across continents. today, nearly two decades after her case made headlines around the world, the prime suspect gave a gripping account of how he killed her. but why won't he serve time for the crime? here's abc's erielle reshef. >> well, today i can tell you with certainty that after 18 years, natalee's case is solved. as far as i'm concerned, it's over. it's over. joran van der sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter's murder. he is the killer. >> reporter: nearly two decades of a the disappearance of natalee holloway, prime suspect joran van der sloot pleading guilty in an alabama courtroom and sentenced to 20 years. not for murder but extortion and

wire fraud, from demanding money from natalee's mother in exchange for details about her daughter's death. >> there's news this morning in the case of the 18-year-old alabama student -- >> natalee holloway's mother and stepmother -- >> reporter: in a case that's captivated the nation for years. >> tomorrow marks one week since 18-year-old natalee holloway vanished -- >> reporter: the high school student, on a graduation trip, never returned home. >> are you guilty? >> reporter: as part of the plea, van der sloot describing the night of the brutal killing on a beach in aruba. >> there is this exhibit where you actually get a back and forth, where van der sloot is explaining that he and natalee were walking down the beach towards the marriott hotel, that they had stopped, they started kissing, lying down on the sand. van der sloot seemed to, by his account, want it to go a little bit further. >> reporter: van der sloot saying -- >> she tells me no, she ends up kneeing me in the crotch. i get up and i kick her extremely hard in the face. >> reporter: and then describes smashing natalee's head with a

cinderblock. >> he said that after killing her on the beach in aruba, he put her into the water, and that was the last that he ever saw her. >> reporter: even though natalee's body has never been found, the plea bringing some peace to the holloways. >> i got the answer i've been searching for for the past 18 years. >> reporter: van der sloot speaking in court today saying, i would like to take the chance to apologize to the holloway family and my own family. i am not the same kind of person today as i was then. i have given my heart to jesus christ. now 36, van der sloot has already been convicted of murder in peru in the 2010 death of 21-year-old stephany flores. >> it is crazy to think a person is serving basically a life sentence for murdering one woman in one country, and then now is being sentenced for the extortion and wire fraud in connection to the murder of a second woman. >> reporter: he was temporarily

extradited from peru to alabama back in june, 13 years after authorities say he extorted the holloway family, promising to reveal the location information about their daughter's remains in exchange for $250,000. >> an agreement reached between the u.s. attorney's office and van der sloot's attorney, where joran had to truthfully disclose what happened to natalee in terms of whether her life was taken, and if and how she was disposed of afterwards. >> reporter: now convicted in both peru and the united states, van der sloot will spend at least the next two decades in prison. >> the clock is already starting on both. he will go back to peru and serve the remaining amount of that 28-year sentence. he'll then come back to the united states. >> reporter: the world first learned the name joran van der sloot in 2005 when pictures of the missing american teen started making news. >> natalee was a beautiful girl involved in the church, always

had a smile on her face, always so happy and energetic and outgoing. >> they called her hootie. so hootie holloway. >> who's our special guest today? >> it's hootie. >> reporter: but after a night out on that trip to aruba, she vanishes. security video at a nearby casino shows natalee at a table with joran van der sloot, a dutch national and son of a prominent lawyer on the island who told police he dropped natalee off back at her hotel. >> early thursday morning, police had the security tapes ready from the lobby entrance where joran said he dropped natalee off. as we watched the tape and the night turned into day light on the screen, natalee never appeared. >> the story that joran told them wasn't true. >> reporter: van der sloot was arrested in the case and held for three months but released because of a lack of evidence.

>> a major development this morning in the natalee holloway case. the judge in aruba is releasing prime suspect van der sloot from jail. >> reporter: not long after, he sat down with abc news for an exclusive interview. >> did you kill natalee holloway? >> no. >> did you harm natalee holloway? >> no. >> and why should you be believed? after all the lying that you've done in this situation? >> there's absolutely no reason to believe me. >> reporter: five years pass without answers. then, in 2010, van der sloot suddenly reaches out to beth holloway's attorney. >> joran contacted me the first time on march 29th, 2010. we engaged in a series of emails. pier john q. kelly says joran has a proposal. if you give me $250,000, i will give you information on the whereabouts of natalee holloway. >> $25,000 up front.

he'll take me to where natalee is, tell me how she died once and for all. i called beth. i said, beth, i've got a plan. >> working with the fbi, they orchestrate a sting operation. >> reporter: in collaboration with authorities, beth holloway pays van der sloot $25,100 for information about natalee. in exchange, he tells them he hid her body in the foundation of a home. a story he later recants. before being indicted, he flees to peru. then, five years to the day of natalee holloway's disappearance in aruba, may 30th, 2010 -- >> joran van der sloot, once suspected in the disappearance of natalee holloway in aruba, is being -- >> murdered 21-year-old stephany flores in a rage -- >> the subject of an international manhunt -- >> unlike in aruba where there

was absolutely nothing to tie him to natalee's disappearance, the police in peru now had a treasure trove of evidence, and all of it linked joran directly to this crime. >> he admitted everything he did. how he went to the room. how he started hitting her. how he took all the money and how he fled with her belongings. joran, he narrated every detail of how he killed her. >> reporter: van der sloot is arrested, charged with stephanie's murder, and pleads guilty. >> reporter: he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. van der sloot will return to peru to serve the time remaining on that murder sentence, plus additional time for drug trafficking. and the clock will run on his u.s. sentence at the same time.

>> the plea agreement gives a lot of the parties here some resemblance of justice and some resemblance of finality. >> we finally today, we get justice for natalee. so thank you all so very much and being supportive of us in our long 18-year journey. >> juju: our thanks to erielle. coming up, president biden in israel and what the clues indicate about who was behind that horrific hospital blast in gaza. when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment

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>> juju: president biden is set to deliver a primetime presidential address to the nation tomorrow night, just 24 hours after his high-profile mission to israel. the president expressing solidarity with israel, but also brokering a pledge from egypt and israel to allow humanitarian aid into gaza. in a rare and risky wartime visit, president biden's symbolic embrace on the tarmac of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, an unmistakable show of salad darety. >> i come to israel with a single message. you're not alone. you're not alone. as long as the united states stands, and we will stand forever, we'll not ever let you be alone. >> juju: the high stakes diplomatic mission to tel aviv held under incense security and the threat of missile attacks high. the visit, a ankle cat tightrope walk, both a show of support for

one of america's closest allies after the brutal massacre of more than 1,400 israelis by hamas militants. and yet also an effort to secure aid to innocent palestinians still reeling after yesterday's devastating explosion at baptist hospital el ali in gaza city which the gaza health ministry claims kills hundreds of people. >> i truly grieve for the families killed or wounded by this tragedy. >> juju: the white house trip began just hours after that explosion. the blast seen here in video circulating online. the hospital was also sheltering civilians who fled from the north. hamas quickly blaming israeli air strikes as israel denied involvement. and today the u.s. national security council also saying its preliminary assessment is that israel was not responsible for theexplosion, citing intelligence sources. >> based on the information we've seen today, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired

by a terrorist group in gaza. >> reporter: video taken on the ground appears to show a large area badry damaged by fire, experts say potentially from a rocket's unspent fuel. they say the sound of the impact provides an important piece of evidence. >> that is the sound of a high-speed rocket. that is not the sound of an air strike or something dropped from an airplane or even an artillery shell. the high pitch is much closer to what you would hear from a rocket just prior to impact. >> juju: abc news chief foreign correspondent ian pannell is on the ground in tel aviv. >> i've seen a lot of aftermath of a lot of explosions and the impact from artillery strikes. it doesn't look like that. there's no crater on the ground. normally you'd see a bomb crater. you'd see windows, walls shattered of the buildings. we don't see that either. you just see the whole area kind of blackened, cars burnt to a cinder. it looks like a really intense fireball took place. we're going to have to wait to find out. >> hamas was so quick to blame

israel that many within the arab world and those who support palestinian causes were quick to believe what they wanted to believe, despite the lack of evidence. >> juju: the explosion torpedoed a planned summit between biden and arab leaders, including palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas. the outrage over the blast spreading across the region. matt gutman in the crowds in the west bank. >> this is a protest of unity. they're rallying in support of hamas, they're rallying in support of palestinian fighters. people telling me here the time for peace is over. >> juju: protests erupting in egypt. iran. and at the u.s. embassy in lebanon, pro-palestinian protesters turned violent in a country known as a hotbed for hezbollah. >> security forces pushing protesters back from the u.s. embassy here. >> juju: mola ledgegy on the ground in beirut amid the chaos.

he took cover. >> as you can see, protesters pushing back against security forces, starting by throwing rocks, launching fireworks. it's been a constant push and pull between security forces and the protesters who are trying to push up against the american embassy. they say they are outraged at israel's bombardment of palestinian citizens and the u.s. support for it. >> america is the devil, the real devil, because they support israel. >> juju: as the region smolders, president biden worked to assure aid for civilians in gaza, announcing a $100 million humanitarian aid package for gaza and the west bank. and securing a promise from israeli leaders to allow aid to move through egypt into the gaza strip. >> let me be clear. if hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the palestinian people. and it will end. >> juju: since the initial hamas attack in israel on october 7th, gaza's water and electricity

have been cut off and israel's retaliatory strikes have killed more than 3,400 people in gaza according to the palestinian health ministry. >> we sleep every night fearing that we will never wake up again. i hug my children. they sleep very near to me. they are scared. >> juju: trucks with food, water, and fuel are lined up at the rafha border crossing in egypt, waiting to enter, which the white house says could happen as soon as friday. the president spent roughly eight hours in israel sharing emotional moments with first responders. >> so babies burned in their mothers' arms. some stories i don't think they'll ever recover from. >> juju: people who lost loved ones. >> i lost two of my brothers-in-law. >> juju: in the worst terror attack in israel's history. but biden also urging restraint as israel prepares for a possible ground invasion of gaza. >> justice must be done.

but i caution this while you feel that rage. don't be consumed by it. after 9/11, we were enraged in the united states. while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes. >> juju: the kinds of mistakes he's hoping to help israel avoid. and of course, abc news will bring you live coverage of the president's address to the nation. up next, long overdue. the library book turned in 90 years late. my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus®

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♪ >> juju: finally tonight, why it took 90 years for a book to be returned to a new york library. here's abc's david muir. >> david: tonight at the larchmorcht public library outside new york city, this library book just returned 90 years late. why youth" and two other stories by joseph conrad was checked out with a due date of october 11th, 1933. jimmy ellis with wife kay signed out the book. his stepdaughter, joni, was going throuis belongings

when she discovered the overdue book. telling us she was determined to get it back to "where it ought to be." the librarian, carolyn kung ma'am. >> we are excited about the attention this is bringing to the library and hope people sign up for library cards. >> david: $6,400 in late fees. but it turns out the library caps late fees at $5. by the way, they waived that $5 fee for the family, too. >> juju: our thanks to david. that's "nightline." you can watch all our full episodes on high lieu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.