amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, a possible peace. israel announces a cease-fire in the 11-day war with hamas, spurring hopes for an end to the deadly conflict. then, view from south korea. the country's foreign minister discusses how to engage with the north, as the biden administration recalibrates u.s. policy. and the cost of uncertainty. demand for workers in the u.s. leads to calls for legal status for america's undocumented workforce. >> what we've basically done is created a second-class citizen that is ripe for abuse and exploitation. i think we need to rectify that issue and bring in immigration reform. amna: all that and more on tonight'"pbs newshour."

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carnegie corporation of new york, supporting educations, democratic engagement, and international peace and security. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: a cease-fire is at hand in the war between israel and hamas. word of the truce came tonight from israel, and hamas quickly agreed.

if it holds, it would end 11 days of fierce fighting that killed at least 230 palestinians and 12 israelis, and wrecked gazan cities. again, john yang begins our coverage. john: israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's security cabinet approved the cease-fire in a late-evening meeting, joining hamas in accepting an egyptian proposal for a mutual halt to hostilities, without preconditions. earlier, the pace of combat appeared to slow as behind-the-scenes diplomacy and u.s. pressure intensified. israel did unleash a wave of airstrikes on targets across gaza and says it destroyed a rocket launcher belonging to the militant gro. but parts of towns throughout gaza were reduced to rubble. 14-year-old amira isleem's home was struck by a missile. >> what happened was we were in the sitting room, the missile hit us, there was a lot of smoke and we did not see anything. john: a neighbor said he didn't

know why the home was targeted. >> we were sound asleep, and had no idea about this. we suddenly hear a blast, and the house flew. we rushed thinking it is on our house, but realized it hit our neighbor's house, abu khalil isleem, who works here in shifa hospital, who has nothing to do with anything, nor do we. john: after an eight hour pause in hamas rocket attacks, they hit the israeli city of sderot just beyond the border. a woman whose parents' home was struck by a rocket is skeptical of an enduring peace, given the history of short-lived ceasefires. >> i do not want a ceasefire, beuse i know what this will lead to. this is not the first ceasefire. we had so many ceasefires like that, and this always happen again. i do not think this ceasefire will help anything. john: before tonight's announcement, calls for a truce grew louder.

german chancellor angela merkel. >> we stand for israel's right to self-defense and that's why it is right that israel is taking massive action. but on the other hand, we want to contribute to diplomatic attempts to cure a long-term and sustainable situatn in the region. john: the world health organization called for a use in israel's bombardment to allow a convoy to bring in covid vaccines and other medical supplies. inside israel, opposition leader yair lapid lit into prime minister benjamin netanyahu. in a lengthy facebook post, lapid said that the army succeeded, the government failed, and that netanyahu should have strengthened his relationships with the united states, calling it a first-class policy failure. in washington, those ties appear to be fraying further among progressives. vermont senator bernie sanders introduced a bill to block a $735 million sale of u.s. weapons to israel.

an effort that faces long odds. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. amna: all of this has put pressure on president joe biden. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor joins me now to share her latest reporting. tell us about the view from the white house on all of this. 11 days of fighting, a cease-fire. what role did president biden play in getting to this point? yamiche: president biden is speaking right now the white house. he is laying out is the fact there will be a cease-fire starting in two hours. officials stressed president biden was engaged increasingly pointed diplomatic talks behind the scenes. no grandstanng. but he was stressing to prime minister benjamin netanyahu expected a de-escalation and a cease-fire needed to happen. he saw over the week the language from the white house changed. he was still saying israel had the right to defend itself but this needs to stop and israel had major military objectives that they were able to protect

their people and now they have to have peace. they were saying president biden played a major role and there were over 80 engagements. also with all sorts of white house officials at all levels talking to their counterparts in israel. amna: we also know the president has been under pressure from his own party. people like senator bernie sanders. saying the u.s. needs to do more to protect the human rights of the occupied palestinians. what has that done, if anything, to affect hisiew? yamiche: the fundamental question is what happens now and how do we go forward. that is the question that president biden will have to contend with and as you said are shifting politics the democratic party that seem increasingly sympathetic. lawmakers saying there has to be more done to protect palestinians. many civilians were killed during this 11 day back-and-forth between israel and hamas.

that said, there are some big questions here for president biden. white house officials stressed because used to be the chair of the senate foreign relations and he was vice president, he brings the experience needed alo with a long-standing relationship between prime minister benjamin netanyahu, that is what he is leaning on. these are not just shifting on israel but all other things. climate change come up black lives matter. all those things are tied up into what happened in the middle east and the noise we heard from democrats as well as republicans. it is also telling that democrats including bernie sanders and alexandria ocasio-cortez introduced resolutions to halt ana rms sale -- an arms sale between the u.s. and israel. that tells you how much immigrants are willing to put real action to this new view of the middle east. i spoke to white house officials who say president biden has been

working with the middle east for a long time. he has long-standing ideas about how peace can be brought and he will be leaning on those issues going forward. amna we also know this was not necessarily the foreign policy priority the administration expected to field. they did not know of course in any way this conflict would break out. what do you know how they were able to handle this as soon as the fighting broke out? yamiche: white house officials say this is why president biden they think is the best president to handle this. part of being president is they are always going to be problems and chaos. this was not top of the priority when president biden came into office. he was talking about covid, the economy, racial justice. the middle east came, this conflict came. not out of nowhere but it was a surprising thing he had to deal with they tell me this really shows he is capable to juggle all the things going on, of course including the unexpected gas pipeline attack st week.

what they are saying is this is something he will have to put on his agenda and he will have to think through. his predecessor had all sorts of action in the middle east that has increased tensions. this white house and the president will try to really have this kind of qui intense diplomatic effort. they say it is a break from the way his predecessor handled things but they think this is how they will be able to get more done in the middle ea. amna: you mentioned he faced increasing pressure from within his own caucus not just on this issue but a host of issues. we saw of course when he was recently in detroit, congresswoman rashida to leave actively engaged him and pressured him to do more. is there any sense this could actually have a shift in the white house policy moving forward? yamiche: i have been talking to white house officials all day. does the president feel like he will be pulled to the left by the people, including

increasingly loud progressives like rashida who are willing to make noise and try to say we need to have as an american country a more supportive palestinian people. i was told rashida tove brough up her grandmother and said people really need to be worried about the civilians living in gaza and israel needs to really have a different tactic towards it when the u.s. is approaching them. white house officials say that is not what will change president biden's mind. it is going to be conversations, it will be talks with the prime minister, it will be one-on-one information that he gets from the prime minister to really understand what is at hand here and how he wants to approach this. they continue to talk about the fact that he has been someone who was known prime minister benjamin netanyahu for so long and he will be looking at this in that way as a lens of an elder statesman who is now esident. amna: thank you so much.

good to see you. stephanie: i am stephanie sy a newshour west. we will return to the full show after the latest headlines. the cease-fire between israel and hamas brokered by egypt took effect at 4:00 pacific time, 2:00 a.m. in gaza, where residents came out to celebrate industries. , president biden hailed the development -- earlier at the white house, president biden hailed the develop. >> i believe the palestinians anisraelis equally deserve to have freedom, prosperity and democracy. my administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy towards that end. i believe we have a genuine opportity to make progress and i am committed to working for it. stephanie: the wto appealed to

governments and companies to spread covid vaccine production to the developing world. the agency's head said manufacturing doses in africa and latin america is vital to containing the pandemic. president biden today signed the new covid hate crimes act. it had passed congress with bipartisan support after a spike in anti-asian attacks. at a white house ceremony, the president said people should fight hate by speaking up. >> every time we are silent. every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation. i mean that literally. stephanie: new claims for unemployment benefits have had a new low during the pandemic. the labor department says 444,000 americans filed claims last week. that's down 34,000 from the previous week, and it continues

a steady decline since the year began. in a bid to mbat emissions, california's clean air regulator approved rules today say 90% of uber and lyft trips have to be in electric vehicles by 2030. it's the first state in the nation to require the shift to ridesharing cars. they wrote drivers will need financial support to make the transition. the bill to create an independent commission to investigate the capital assault faced new debate today. in the evenly divided senate, minority leader mitch mcconnell is opposing the bill. majority leader chuck schumer accused gop opponents today of kowtowing to former president trump. >> even now, five months to the day after he left office, the republican party is still so terrified of donald trump that they are apparently willing to abandon the truth and safety of

our democracy on into the future. stephanie: house republican leader kevin mccarthy argued today there's no need for a commission. >> you've got two committees in the senate already doing their investigation, i believe, in two weeks, they'll already have their report back, even though pelosi wasted all this time. you've got the architect of the capitol given $10 million to study what we need done here to protect it. and then you've got the justice department, rightfully does a much better job than we could ever do. stephanie: the u.s. and china faced off today over naval moves in the disputed south china sea. beijing protested an american warship sailing near the paracel islands. a day earlier, the same ship transited the taiwan strait. china claims virtually all of the south china sea. the u.s. navy rejected the protests and said its ships are using internatnal waters. the u.s. department of homeland securi is closing two detention sites for migrants, amid accusations of abuse and inhumane conditions. one is a jail in massachusetts

where there've been complaints of excessive force and overcrowding. the other is a georgia facility where migrant women alleged a gynecologist performed unwanted procedures on them. both sites are now under federal investigation. still to come,ow to execute the president's economic agenda with commerce secretary gina raimondo. why the demand for workers is prompting calls to grant legal status to undocumented immigrants. south korea's foreign minister on the push to engage with the north over its nuclear program, plus much more. >> this is the "pbs wshour" from our studios in washington and inhe west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: there are good signs for the economic recovery today. jobless claims are at their lowest levels since march of last year.

hiring is on the rise, and with th come more questions about the need for special pandemic unemployment benefits. many republican governors across the country are cutting those federal benefits, which provide another $300 a week for recipients. we're going to look at this now with gina raimondo. she's the secretary of commerce and she joins us now. madame secretary, welcome to the newshour and thank you for making the time. despite those numbers, we should point out there are a number of firms and businesses across the country who say they cannot fill jobs. we hear stories from a restaurant owner who says he's about 30 short. he has to turn business away. another business owner who is actively soliciting referrals from customers. what can you say the administration is doing to help those business owners? sec. raimondo: thank you, and, you know, we hear those stories as well, and we have an open ear to them. it seems to usfrom listening to people and looking at the data, that have the biggest reason, or one of the biggest reasons for this is that either people are still afraid to go

back to work, or it's hard to find childcare, or their kid's school is still closed. so to that end, what we are doing with the administration is doing is a terrific job, vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible. and the president's rescue package put forth a great deal of money for schools so they can reopen safely, as well as childcare to give parents a hand to pay for childcare and help childcare centers reopen the pandemic. the pandemic unemployment insurance was a lifeline for people when they needed it most. and now what we need to do is just really make these investments in order to help folks be able to get back to work safely. amna: as we mentioned, there are a number of governors taking the steps to change the unemployment benefit rules and the hopes that it will speed along and accelerate the process of people going back to work. if the data starts to show that that's what's happening, that cutting those benefits means

people are going back to work faster, is that an argument to roll back those additional federal benefits? sec. raimondo: no. i hesitate to say that because that is one factor and one data point. as we were just saying, that more people are getting ccinated, more schools are being open, more childcare centers are being open. so that, i think, probably an even bigger impact. you also see in ny states now, governors are coming out providing bonuses to people who go back to work. in connecticut, just saw colorado they are saying if you go back to work, get a job or work for a month or two, the state will give you a bonus. i think that's a terrific idea because the truth is, it's more expensive to go back to work now, especially for childcare. i think we just, i don't think we should jump to the conclusion based upon anecdotes that it's the unemployment insurance, pandemic unemployment insurance

that is leading to folks struggling to get employees. amna: there has been, we should note, a mass exodus of women in particular from the workforce. female participation is at the lowest rate in over years. some people project that those numbers won't rebound until 2024. so what specific steps is the administration taking to help women get back to work? sec. raimondo: this is a problem we all need to be focused on, and i really hope -- shame on us if it takes until 2024 to fix this. number one is childcare. and the president's rescue package and his jobs package includes huge investments in childcare, in providing universal public pre-k for every three and four-year-old, providing tax credits for folks who have kids. i cannot overestimate enough how important that is for women to be able to get back into the workforce. secondly, schools, jobs package and rescue package includes a

great deal of money so schools can reopen safely,mphasis on safely, so people feel comfortable sending their kids back to school. the other thing, the president's calling for a $400 billion investment in the care economy. women will not be able to go back into the workforce and be productive if they can't get reliable, high quality care for their elderly loved ones or disabled loved ones. and so, like it or not, the fact is childcare and care of loved ones falls disproportionately on women. and so we have to shore up our caregiving systems in america if we're goingo unleash the full productivity of women, which is half of our workforce. amna: you mentioned the president's plans. you've been meeting with senate reblicans this week about the american jobs plan. i think president biden said he wants to see progress on that by memorial day, which is only 10 days away. we haven't yet seen any new details or a top line cost on that one. should we expect to see those? sec. raimondo: we are hard at

work, the president has been very clear with us, his team, to stay at the table, negotiate, operate in good faith, try to find common ground. and so that what we are doing. we met again just two days ago. i expect we'll be meeting again, you know, maybe tomorrow or over the weend. we're just, we're going to ay at it and see what we can come up with. amna: do you expect progress by memorial day? se raimondo: i hope so. i'll leave it at that. amna: i want to ask you about another part of the economy. there's consumers acrosshe country who have seen a spike in costs and prices of some goods. the administration has said, federal reserve has said that this is temporary. but last week's consumer price hike was one of the biggest we've seen in years. so, what if you're wrong? could you possibly be missing some of the early warning signs of a real inflation? sec. raimondo: ok, so first of all, of course, it's always possible to be wrong, but we have tools to deal with inflation. the fed has plenty of tools to

deal with inflation, as they have used effectively for a long time. secondly, if you dig deeper into the price index, it really is the case that a few areas are seeing big increases in prices, which is driving the whole index. and those increases are driven primarily because of wt we saw through covid. so, for example, rental car pres are through the roof. well, we have a semiconductor shortage which is stalling t production of cars. so not surprisingly, everybody's paying -- excuse me, a used car. and as a result, used car prices are way up. lumber pces are through the roof. well, you're seeing a massiv surge in demand for housing due to covid. and not surprisingly, the lumber supply can't keep up. so, we monitor this constantly. there are tools to deal with inflation. but at the moment, there isn't a

lot of data to suggest widespread inflaon is a problem. amna: very briefly, madam secretary, you mentioned the semiconductor shortage. we know presidenbiden has put forward $50 billion to try to shore up american production, but that will still take years to try to meet what the demand is. what kind of additional disruption do you think tech and the auto industry ould expect? sec.aimondo: i just got off of a meeting where i was talking to a dozen or more semiconductor companies at we're looking at everything available to us rht now, doing everything possible to become more efficient, become more transparent about supply and dema. but i cannot emphasize enough how important it is r congress to pass the president's proposal immediately, because this is a long-term problem. to answer your question, this is here to stay for years, and we're at the beginning of a journey to try to fix it for the

long haul. amna: that's the u.s. secretary of commerce, gina raimondo, joining us tonight. thank you for your time, madam secretary. the pandemic has exped much about life in the u.s., including our reliance on undocumented workers in essential jobs. paul solman explores what's at stake for his latest report for making sense. paul: in affluent mount kisco, a new york city suburb, undocumented immigrants for hire. at the traintation. at henry's deli. and at neighbors link, a non-profit that serves the newly arrived. they line up at 7:00. contractors, even just homeowners like tony archie soon follow. >> trees came down on my property so i'm moving firewood from one side of the house to the other. paul: and he's spreading mulch, a two-person job, for which only one worker was available. >> he wants $17 an hour today. >> how many hours you gonna work? cuantos horas? paul: in the end, no deal.

pool company owner chris carthy, also out of luck. >> it's a labor shortage across the country. paul: even at neighbor's link? >> i come here every blue moon to pick up those extra few hands for excavation and we can't get anyone. paul: and so the nub of the economic argument for letting some 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the u.s. remain, legally. >> so let's just be clear that immigrants are coming to this country because of our thirst for this workforce. paul: carola bracco runs neighbors link. >> they are taking on jobs that often complement the workforce that was born in this country because of the fact that they're willing to do these jobs. paul: jobs in agriculture, construction, landscaping, cleaning. and who's busing tables at restaurants, washing dishes, cooking? >> this is the apron with the logo. paul: this man, whom we'v decided not to name, has worked in restaurants for 20 years, since slipping across the desert from mexico.

>> a couple of restaurants in manhattan. also, i used to work in the airport, jfk. paul: in 2008, he moved up to trump national westchester golf club. were there many other undocumented people in the club? >> a lot. a lot. i would say 30% of the employees, maybe. maybe more. in the grounds, kitchen, wait staff, maintenance. we're pretty much all over the club. illegal people. paul: did people know that you were undocumented? the people who hired you? >> yeah. yeah, they know. paul: how do you know they know? >> this is the card that they tell me is too fake for accept it. paul: how could they not have known, he says, given that they noted the obvious inauthenticity of his i.d >> so i gotta get another one. i gotta spend another $45. paul: both bought on the street

from people hawking fake id's. >> all you have to give is the picture and they do the rest. paul: now this man lost his job at trump national westchester in 2019, after news reports of having hired undocumented immigrants. at the time, eric trump said the company planned to check workers' status in the future. but in his decade at the club, this worker had risen to banquet chef, selfie-ing with the likes of baseball legends pedr martinez and mariano rivera, and earning as much as $70,000 a year, between the club and odd winter jobs. couldn't they have found citizens to work for that kind of money? >> i guess no. because it was days that i started at 6:00 in the morning and i was in the club until midnight, nonstop. so, i guess not everybody do that. and sometimes i was mad, of course, because this is too much. but at the same time, i feel like i got my hands tied.

if i say something, they might fire me, they might say something to the authorities that, you know, i.c.e. in this case. paul: because you're always at risk, yes? >> yes, yes. we are at risk every day. paul: so, economic argument number one, the undocumented do jobs nobody else will. ok, another point, somewhere between 50% and 75% of undocumented workers pay taxes, says the non-partisan congressional budget office. >> i got all the taxes that i've been paying since i'm in this country, since 2002 until 2020. i got to pay taxes like a normal person, like a person with documents. paul: so they contribute to the economy in production and in taxes, which pay for benefits that the undocumented can't use. >> medicare, section eight, they don't qualify for food stamps, a whole variety of services that they don't qualify for.

paul: undocumented immigrants provide yet another economic advantage, for those worried about social security's finances. so you paid social security? >> yes. every single year since day one. paul: will you get social security when you get older? >> i don't think so. paul: because, you know, no documents, no social security. >> the is a large fund that the social security administration has that are benefits that will never be paid out to the people that paid the funds in. paul: so that's pretty much the case for legalizing the undocumented. the case against? >> illegal immigrants clearly cost taxpayers far more in benefits than they pay in taxes. >> isn't it time for washington to prioritize the american people? paul: dan stein, who runs the federation for american immigration reform, insists that the undocumented do not pay for themselves, when you consider, for example. >> the social safety net, the cost of the social safety net,

education, public schooling. paul: worse still, he says, they drive down wages. >> the percent of americans who are in the labor force is at an all time low. one of the reasons is systemic illegal immigration. employers prefer to hire illegal immigrantsver american cizens because they're pliable. they'll do menial jobs for very low wages. they prefer them. paul: but i talk to employers all over the country and they say we cannot find people to do the jobs we need to have done. that's not true? >> employers are constantly crying that they have a labor shortage. why? because employers like the labor market dynamics of hiring illegal labor. paul: i put stein's argument to carola bracco of neighbors link. isn't there a good argument that undocumented immigrants drive down wages? >> wage theft is actually a big issue as it relates to undocumented immigrants. paul: but regaress, she says. >> if there weren't undocumented immigrants doing this work, employers wouldn't be able to find anybody to do that work. paul: and if you deported them.

>> you would find a significant reduction in our economy. what we've basically done is created a second-class citizen that is ripe forbuse and exploitation. i think we need to recfy that issue and bring in immigration reform. paul: reform that would legalize the undocumented, that is. but to dan stein, that would. >> justify lawbreaking and illegality. employers have an obligation, like everyone else, to respect the law. it's a cornerstone of citizenship. paul: the kind of citizenship to which trump national's former banquet chef aspires. but, he did break the law. which raised a final question. how co you feel comfortable talking to me like this? >> i'm not 100% comfortable, but somebody has got to say something. and hopefully, mr. biden saw this interview and like, give us a chance. why not? i guess that's the ole reason,

to show every single american that we're not bad people. that we try to be good. and thanks to this country, i think we do. paul: for the pbs newshou paul solman. amna: earlier today, i spoke with south korean foreign minister chung eui-yong. president biden meets tomorrow with the country president, moon jae-in. the two leaders are in very different points of their terms. biden, the newly-elected president, and moon, in his final year. they will try to capitalize on the window by making progress on north korea. the biden administration recently announced its policy towards the north. it's an approach that offers incremental sanctions relief in exchange for north korea making steps curtailing its nuclear program. it falls somewhereetween the strategies of presidents obama and trump, the latter of whom sought to engage north korean leader kim jong-un directly.

north korea may top the agenda, but the two are also expected to discuss an increasingly assertive china. my conversation with foreign minister chung began on the topic negotiations over north korea's nuclear program. min. chung: north korea has a very unique system of governance. there is only one person that can make a final decision. there supreme leader, kim jong-un. so we thought a top-down approach was more effective and we tried it and it did not work ase had expected. soaybe at this time we can have a combined approach. amna: a bottom down approach from top-down. they have a middle ground, we might say between obama's strategic patience and trump's grand bargain. do you think that is sufficient, or do you think the u.s. needs to be more forward leaning to see some progress? min. chung: i think it is more

forward leaning. it is a more realistic approach. at the two plus two meeting held in seoul last march, we agreed to meet north korea. if you continue to engage north korea on the same footing, i think you can make more substantial progress in future negotiations. amna: why do you think this is more realistic? why do you think this will see success where previous approaches have t? min. chung: first of all, the u.s. governmendecided to continue to maintain continuity in the negotiations. based on the progress we have made so far. within the u.s. and the dprk. cluding the declaration of

april, 2018, between president moon jae-in, a the 2018 singapore agreement. amna: that 2018 singapore summits agreement, some experts look at that and call it very minimalist, the weakest of all the agreements signed between the u.s. and north korea. broadly said that both sides will work towards complete denuclearization of the peninsula, but it does not define what that means. what does it mean to you? doesn't mean the u.s. is held to the same limits as north korea? min. chung: in 1992, the two koreas issued a joint korea of denuclearization of the korean peninsula. in the declaration they define the complete due nuclear is asian -- denuclearization as not to test or produce, will not deceive, will not deploy, and

will not little or -- proliferate. these are very clear definitions. amna: do you have an agreement from u.s. officials that are being held to the same limit? min. chung: by using the word complete denuclearization, north korea it was very well aware of the definition of complete denuclearization. amna: what it accelerate progress if they were higher-level meetings sooner? min. chung: y. yes. we believe higher-level engagement is very efficient, especially with the dprk because the political system there, there are a few people in the government can make responsible and final decisions. so it is better to engage them

directly. amna: are you encouraging president biden to meet directly with kim jong-un? min. chung: if possible, yes. but it's not time yet for the top leaders to meet. i think we need to do more groundwork before the top leaders meet at this time. and i know the united states is now reaching out to north korea and we hope north korea will respond to this initiative. amna: is that what you are working to help facilitate, a meeting between the two leaders? min. chung: this is a u.s. initiative and we are closely consulting with th u.s. amna: let me ask you about the timeline, because it is fair to say president moon is under internal political pressure at home. he just suffered a sers of major electoral defeats. he has one more year in office. is any of that political pressure adding pressure to make something happen on the north korean front? min. chung: the recent political

difficulties we are facing in korea does not have much to do with our policy with north korea. people's concerns about the covid-19 pandemic situation. we have been relatively successful in containing the pandemic that we lag behind most of the advand countries in vaccinations. and we are still having a couple hundred new cases on a daily basis. so pple are concerned about this trend. but in fact, we've secured enough vaccines to administer vaccinations twice the size of the population. but most of the vaccinations we have secured are arriving in korea in the latter part of the year. amna: one more question on north korea. part of the biden strategy appears to be maintaining strong

sentient, and that of course will require chinese support. do you think that is possible given that there are, that tensions are so high between the u.s. and china right now? min. chung: both countries are very important to korea. the u.s. is one our longest ally, and china is o largest trading partner. and we think the stable relationship within china and the united states is essential for peace, prosperity, and stability in the future and beyond. and we hope the u.s. and china will find ways to cooperate rather than confront. amna: minister of foreign affairs for south korea, thank you very much for joining us. min. chung: thank you for having me. i really enjoyed this. it's been my pleasure.

amna: now to life on the ground for palestinians and israelis, caught in the crossfire of war. here again is john yang. john: night aftenight, israeli airstrikes light up gaza's sky. moing after morning, palestinians living in the densely-populated strip of land search through the wreckage. >> when you lie in your bed, you just start to think and know that you may not wake up, or if you wake up, you will be under rubble. john: fikr shalltoot runs gaza programming for the u.k.-based group medical aid for palestinians. she says essential medical services have come to a halt. according to the u.n., israeli airstrikes have damaged at least 17 of gaza's 76 hospitals and medical clinics. >> all of these services is interrupted not only because of the destruction of these centers, but also because the lack of safety.

people are unable to move. the roads are destructed in gaza, and the people are hesitant even to move outside because they are risking their lives. >> we feel like a war zone. when you look at the sky almost every evening, it's unbelievable. if you want to go to disneyland, it may look like fireworks, but we are not in disneyland. john: miles to the north in tel aviv, technology executive eitan singer worri about his children. >> i have a small daughter. and i tell her that this is israel. this is a tough neighborhood. sometimes we have conflicts. sometimes people do not agree with our side. but when people are, or countries or terrorists are fighting us, we defend. john: for almost two weeks, hamas has fired thousands of rockets into israel, damaging israeli homes and property. at least 12 israelis have been killed. last week, hamas rockets killed two women in the southern israeli city of ashkelon.

in return, israel has struck gaza with artillery and airstrikes, killing more than 200 palestinians and leveling apartment blocks as they seek to blunt hamas' military capabilities and disrupt a network of tunnels that israelis say is used to hide fighters and move weapons. just this week, a child, bleeding but alive, was among those pulled from the rubble after an airstrike that killed her mother and four siblings. she'd been trapped for seven hours. th11-day conflict has aggravated gaza's worsening humanitarian situation. the territory faces an indefinite blockade from israel and egypt and an unemployment rate near 50%. the u.n. says more than 70,000 gazans have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began. many have found shelter in u.n.-run schools. israeli airstrikes destroyed water pipes serving more than

800,000 people. and 600,000 students are missing class after israeli airstrikes damaged their schools. refaat aljareer is a professor of english literature in gaza city, where he lives with his wife and six children. he spoke to "the newshour" by phone after his building lost power. >> as a father, and an educator in gaza, i fear for everything, for the repeated aggression to come from israel. i can't provide safety and security for my kids. we don't like to go out to the shops, even downstairs, because you don't know what's going to happen next. we decided five, six days ago to try to ration, to eat as little as possible, two meals instead of three. so, if it goes even crazier than this, we can stalonger with what little food we have. john: president biden has publicly supported israel's right to defend itself from hamas rockets. yesterday, though, the white house said that in a phone call the president told israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu that he expected a significant de-escalation, on the path to a ceasefire. shortly afterward, netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the military operation. but tonight, his security cabinet approved a cease-fire. palestinian-american diana mushtaha is a senior at the university of houston. this semester she is living with her family in gaza. every night, they sleep in their windowless apartment corridor. mushtaha is critical of u.s. military aid to israel. in fiscal year 2019, the united states provided more than $3 billion in aid. >> i love my country. i love both of my countries. but right now, one side of me is literally fighting. -- is literally fighting the other. it hurts to know that our tax dollars are paying for what i'm seeing here. john: she says her younger

cousins can tell how far away a strike is from their apartment. >> even the kids, th they've started to distinguish between, oh, i heard that one from the right area. oh, that one was far. and they'll reassure each other that that one was far. don't worry, don't get scared. >> i believe that israel don't want to hurt children and women. john: less than half a mile from the gaza border, dani rachamim lives with his wife on an israeli kibbutz. he says the fighting has prevented him from tending to his farm. but he supports the israeli army and believes they are rightfully targeting hamas fighters. >> they want to hurt the hamas terrorists. but i know for sure everyone in israel knows that the hamas hide behind the children to protect themselves. our army is a moral army. but in war, things happen. john: in 2019, the newshour's ryan chilcote spoke with him

about living so close to gaza. >> has the stress of living here affected any of your kids? >> yes. my little daughter, she's in post-trauma. >> ptsd. >> when there is a siren, she has all her body shaking for a long time. john: speaking from his bomb shelter now, rachamim acknowledged the discrepancies between gaza and israel. >> when my child were much younger, yes, 12 years old, 13 years old, i told them, you know, we sit now in our bomb shelter. you know that there is no bomb shelters for the children in gaza? they were in shock. john: back in gaza, alareer says he worries about his family's future, but he says he believes their aspirations are shared by communities worldwide. >> we believe our struggle is part of a global struggle, the historical struggle around the world of the indigenous peoples

around the world. we shahe brothers and sisters, with black lives matter, and those people suffering fr systematic and institutional discrimination. john: and now with a ceasefire, both gazans and israelis can catch their breaths, assess the damage, and see how long the quiet lasts. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. amna: it is anward of a litime, this year a virtual kennedy center honors spotlighting midori. jeffrey brown spoke with the world-renowned violinist for our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ jeffrey: for the violinist midori, finding her way into bach and other great composers is about continuing to look and listen anew.

>> i see different things. i see things around me changing. i see different scenery. i see things that are different that i hadn't noticed before, but it can't be different. the music was already written. but suddenly i notice different things, and it's me noticing it. and i'm always so excited by this process. and it's the process that actually gets me to continue. jeffrey: it's a process that began as a child, when the world first got to know midori, in some ways the quintessential prodigy story. a japanese-born daughter of a violinist mother, her first teacher, soloist at age 11 with the new york philharmonic at a new year's eve concert led by conductor zubin mehta. recordings, performances all over the globe, including one at 14 at tanglewood with leonard bernstein, in which she broke two strings on her violin but

continued without missing a note. it was front page news in "the new york times," which marveled at her poise. but midori herself took it in stride. >> i guess as a 14-year-old i thought, well, what's the big deal? i broke the string. not the first time, not the last time. jeffrey: was all the attention as a child something you wanted to ignore, something that didn't even interest you? >> i think i was alws just taking things as they came. and also when the strings broke, i took it as it happened. but that's basically very much the way i have lived my life. jeffrey: the kennedy center honor speaks directly to that, not just the music-making, but a life of advocacy on behalf of its transformative power. at just 21, she started the organization, midori and friends, to bring music access

and education into new york city public schools, w reaching some 75 of them. you've said something i find interesting, that you didn't decide to become a professional musician untilou were in your 20's, eve though you already had a celebrated career. what does that mean? >> i think it was very, very important. it w a decisive point that i made a conscious decision to pursue a career. it also meant that i would actually become much more aware of the responsibilities of having a career and what that meant. and nowe talk so much to our younger musicians about how being a performer doesn't mean that it's about standing up on stage and performing and that's it. it's not. and i think that's when i recognized when i decided that i wanted to take on the career that there was so much i wanted

to do, i needed to do, i was expected to do. that recognition, i think, somehow made a click in my head. jeffrey: more projects followed, working with young people throughout asia, and with community music groups and youth orchestra around the u.s., including outside major urban centers. >> as a youngster, i never made a choice, i never felt like i had to give up something because i had to practice. that was never the case. but it was more after i decided that i wanted this as a career that i decided that sometimes i need to make choices. sometimes it would mean that i would not be able to accept an engagement because i was committed to visiting a group of people and sharing the music or teaching abo music or talking about music, advocating for music. all my programs are based in this idea, this belief that

music can bring people together. jeffrey: the recording and performing continue, including beethoven album with the festival strings lucerne, and, especially exciting to her, commissions for new works with contemporary composers. >> i keep sharing this idea with the udents and youth orchesas. we're the agents that are able to bring this out to the world and that can share this with others. we're the onethat are giving life to this new music. and to be able to work with living composers, to wk with contemporary compositions, new ideas about how to make sound, how to produce sound, new concepts about music, these are just absolutely exciting. jeffrey: and your own life isn't complete unless you're doing both, playing music and doing

these projects with people around the world? >> i can't imagine my life without my projects, no. no, i can't. it would be, yeah, it would be very strange. but i also can't think of my life without performing and without practicing. for me, life in music isn't just certain things. it's just everything tother for me. jeffrey: with pandemic restraints now easing, midori is eager to performive, and has dates lined up domestically and abroad through the summer. for the pbs newshour, i'm jerey brown. ♪ amna: and that is "the newshour" for tonight. for all of us here, thank you very much for joining us. i'm amna nawaz. please stay safe, and see you again soon. >> major funding has been provided by. >> architect. beekeeper. mentor.

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and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for plic broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

muscadine grapes are so different than what you would get in a grocery store. the skin is really tart and tannic. and the flesh is so juicy and sweet that you don't even mind teething out the seeds and spitting them because the reward is worth it. the avett brothers perform "will you return" i'm vivian and i'm a chef. my husband, ben and i were working for some of the best chefs in new york city when my parents offered to help us open our own restaurant. of course, there was a catch. we had to open this restaurant in eastern north carolina, where i grew up and said i would never return. [music plays]