♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, president biden reinforces united states support during a visit to israel in the wake of a deadly hospital attack that has further inflamed the raging war. geoff: an american woman with

five family members held in gaza speaks out about their kidnapping and the ongoing conflict. >> we want civilians out of this. we want there to be a diplomatic resolution to the hostage crisis before a ground incursion or continued bombing. amna: and another failed attempt to elect a house speaker forces republicans to consider unconventional options to break the legislative standstill. >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- ♪

moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the walton family foundation, looking for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these 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: welcome to the newshour. president biden spent part of this day in israel, again expressing unwavering suppport for israel in the aftermath of hamas terror attacks 11 days ago. but his journey was shorter than planned, as regional rage after yesterday's blast at a gaza hospital led the leaders of jordan, the palestinian authority, and egypt to cancel a summit on aid for palestinians. geoff: the president, like his hosts today, also said u.s. evidence shows the blast was caused by an errant rocket launched by militants. the fallout continues tonight, as protests against israel continue throughout the middle east and beyond. once again leila molana-allen starts our coverage. and a warning, someimages in this story are disturbing. leila: in this tent of the dead, the lives left behind are engulfed by grief. palestinians hold their loved ones one last time. outside, a grief stricken father

clutches his lifeless baby. in the aftermath of the deadly explosion last night at gaza's hospital. >> bombs and rockets don't know whether they are young or old, nor do they care whether they are innocents. >> that mother and her kids are now dead. leila: in israel today, president biden denounced the hospital blast and laid the blame on gazan militants. >> i was saddened i the in norma's loss of life in the hospital in gaza. based on the information we have seen today it appears it is the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in gaza. leila: mr. biden said this was a u.s. assessment based on a variety of intelligence, including intercepted communications. the idf chief of staff says there is clear evidence israel did not strike the hospital. >> the idf has confirmed and proven that it was an islamic

jihad rocket that hit a hospital in gaza yesterday. leila: but israel and biden's claims did little to dampen the fury through the region. yesterday palestinian, jordanian and egyptian leaders called off a summit with president biden, blaming israel for the blessed. >> what happened is an ugly massacre that cannot be allowed to pass without accountability. leila: pro-palestinian protesters spread across the region. the police and protesters clashed near the israeli embassy in jordan. and riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters near the u.s. embassy in beirut. the state department has issued its strongest travel warning for u.s. citizens in lebanon. the president emphasized on wavering american support for israel with the promise of new military aid. he also urged israel and egypt

to allow the passage of humanitarian assistance from israel to gaza. -- from egypt to gaza. egypt a great two aid shipments -- agreed to aid shipments. all as gaza is bounded by israeli airstrikes. in an attack targeting near a refugee camp, residential buildings were reduced to rubble. people dug through the debris with their bare hands. in the ruins, there were children. >> these are our neighbors, our loved ones, our friends and our children. today it is them. tomorrow it is us. what are we supposed to do? they are all children? what is the children's fault? kids don't bomb. leila: a newspapers or was at the scene. >> if you see behind me, this is the area that has been attacked by a big weapon. people trying to get them out. still people under the ground. leila: across the border in the

west bank, the reaction was fierce. last night one city swarmed with protesters as the news of the hospital attack began to spread. this morning the palestinian authority police were out in force as residence skirted around -- residents skirted around tear gas. the palestinian authority governs this area under president mahmoud abbas. but many blamed his ineffective leadership for the torment palestinian snow face. >> they were angry about what happened in gaza yesterday and they wanted to shoot him. leila: butb some -- but some residents had others to blame. one man left his home last year to escape hamas rule. it was just destroyed in an israeli airstrike. his family felt safer here, until last night testers attacked his car with his kids inside as they drove home. he believes hamas and their iranian backers are destroying

palestinian's chance for peaceful lives. >> whoever came here yesterday, they are not sons of our area. here they destroy our businesses and cars. these are destructions from iran. leila: soon after midday prayers, tensions were high again. crowds young and old gathered as an israeli -- at an israeli roadblock. thousands of people took to the streets last night to protest the strike on the hospital in gaza city. now they have turned out again with young people throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at israeli security forces. a 17-year-old was injured in last night's confrontation with israeli security forces when shrapnel from a flash bomb pierced his eye. but he's back today, saying it is his responsibility as a palestinian to resist israel's occupation. >> we are here because of gaza.

what is happening there is not rational. nobody stands with them in gaza, so this is the least we can do to come to the checkpoint and clash areas. leila: after several warning shots, the mood suddenly turns as a young protester is shot in the leg. medics ready and waiting rush him to the hospital. moments later, the others are back in action. despite mounting evidence that israel was not responsible for the hospital strike, many here are convinced there is no other explanation. >> i don't know what to say about what happened in gaza. what i saw on tv was chilling. it was indescribable. i'm speechless. what did those people do? to be attacked in a hospital? was it their fault they were children to be alive? leila: she has joined the young protesters. >> we support our people in gaza. we have nothing but stones, so

we use them. leila: evening roles in. -- rolls in. young men move to march on the checkpoint. we will die for our land, they cry. as night falls, violence floods the streets again. and as the conflict here intensifies, internal divisions over whether peace or violence will achieve the dream of a palestinian state are deeper than ever. for the pbs newshour, in the west bank. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, president biden's nominee for ambassador to israel pledged to ensure that israel gets all it needs for defense. jacob lew was treasury secretary and white house chief of staff under president obama. at his senate confirmation hearing today, he told democrats

and skeptical republicans that he'll do all he can to aid the israelis. >> there is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the united states and israel, to work towards peace in a region that has known so much war and destruction. i will do my utmost to end the horrific attacks by hamas and ensure that israel has what it needs to defend itself. leila: a committee vote on lew's nomination could come next week. also today, two jewish groups staged a sit-in on capitol hill, in support of palestinians. a crowd gathered outside the cannon house office building, and more than 100 moved inside, demanding a cease-fire in gaza. capitol police arrested a number of them. police in germany are hunting the assailants who tried to firebomb a synagogue in berlin overnight. investigators say two suspects threw molotov cocktails at the building in the pre-dawn hours. the bombs burst on the sidewalk.

germany's chancellor condemned the attack while visiting egypt. >> it is completely clear that we do not accept this and will never accept it when jewish institutions are attacked and that events and activities which turn violent or use anti-semitic slogans will not be accepted. amna: anti-semitic incidents have been on the rise in germany since the israel-hamas war broke out. russian president vladimir putin warned today the u.s. is going too far in aiding ukraine. he spoke after meeting with chinese president xi jinping in beijing during a forum on china's "belt and road" infrastructure program. putin said the u.s. decision to provide kyiv with long-range missiles is only prolonging the agony for ukraine. >> a mistake of a larger scale, which is not yet visible, but still of great importance, is that the united states becomes more and more personally drawn into this conflict. let no one say that they have nothing to do with this.

we believe that they have. plus, all this happens amid the middle east conflict, all this heats up the atmosphere. amna: ukraine used those u.s. long-range missiles this week to blast air bases in russian-occupied crimea. meanwhile,beijing sharply rebuked the u.s. over curbing sales of artificial intelligence computer chips to china. the foreign ministry warned that "such restrictions and forced de-coupling for political purposes violate the principles of the market economy and fair competition. u.s. officials say selling the chips to china could threaten national security. back in this country, the chief suspect in the long-running natalee holloway murder case finally confessed. the alabama teenager disappeared in aruba in 2005. today, joran van der sloot told a birmingham judge that he killed holloway and disposed of her body at sea. it was part of a guilty plea to lesser charges, but holloway's mother said it means justice for her daughter at last.

>> it's been 18 years since natalee disappeared and natalee would be 36 years old today. i still miss her every day. it's been a very long and painful journey. but we finally got the answers we've been searching for all these years. amna: van der sloot's plea agreement carries a 20 year term for trying to extort money from holloway's family. u.s. household wealth is increasing at the fastest pace in more than three decades. the federal reserve reports median household wealth spiked 37% from 2019 through 2022 to nearly $193,000. the rise is largely attributed to increased home values and higher stock prices. and on wall street, mixed profit reports and rising interest rates pushed stocks lower. the dow jones industrial average lost 332 points, 1%, to close at 33,665. the nasdaq fell 1.6%.

the s&p 500 was down 1.3%. still to come on the "newshour." congressman carlos gimenez weighs in on house republicans' struggle to elect a speaker. an american woman with five family members held in gaza speaks out about their kidnapping. prolific filmmaker werner herzog reflects on his long and varied career in a new memoir. plus, much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: let's return to the u.s. response to the israel-hamas war and president biden's trip to israel today. we turn to john feiner. i want to begin with what the president said today about that hospital strike in gaza yesterday just to underscore it.

i think transparency is important here. the president said it is based on u.s. intelligence that he can say that strike was not carried out by israel. is it fair to say the u.s. believes there is no way israel could have been behind that strike? john: what i can say is basically what the president said, which is that based on our review of our own intelligence, on open-source information, including photos and videos that people at the scene have presented on overhead imagery, on intercepts of conversations, we believe israel was not responsible for this strike. the initial reports were inaccurate. we endeavored not to jump to conclusions upon receiving those reports. we did our homework to find out what happened to the best of our ability and urge others to do the same because there will be many more incidents reported during this conflict. amna: as you know, there will be those who continue to believe that israel was behind it, largely because israel has

carried out strikes on medical facilities and shelters and ambulances before. i wonder what kind of commitment did president biden get from my minister in any yahoo! to -- fr om prime minister netanyahu to stop targeting medical facilities. john: with regard to the hospital, regardless of who ultimately was responsible for the explosion,his was a horrific tragedy with a loss of life that is almost unimaginable. the president first and foremost is deeply empathetic. the message that he carried with him to israel today was solidarity and empathy to the people of israel who have been through an enormous tragedy in the wake of these hamas attacks, but he also bought empathy for the palestinian community that is suffering in real-time in gaza, including many innocent people caught up in the attacks last night. amna: did he get a commitment

from mr. netanyahu that he will minimize civilian casualties? john: the president has been direct conversations with the prime minister that democracies are strong as to they act in accordance with the laws of war, with international humanitarian law, in particular during the conduct of military operations. that was a significant component of every conversation they had, including the conversations that took place today. amna: tell me about the conversations over the american hostages. does the u.s. want to see those hostages released before israel carries out any ground invasion? john: the americans who are caught up in this situation are foremost on the mind of the president. he directed our entire team to put this at the top of our list of priorities. we have sent expertise to the region, experts in hostage recovery, to consult with the israelis, who will be in the

lead on all of this. we will do everything in our capabilities to try to get these people home. this is a very difficult situation. where these hostages exactly are being held is something we are working on determining, but we do not have perfect visibility. we will share everything we get with the israelis, as the president told the families of some of these people who are in this situation and the conversations he's had directly. amna: the president said a short time ago on air force one that he had a long talk about alternatives to a ground invasion with prime minister netanyahu. what all those are turnips -- those alternatives? john: i will not detail operational conversations the president had, not just with the prime minister but israel's war cabinet that has been assembled. those are the most sensitive conversations that take place between two governments. one of the things the president did was travel to israel not just to show solidarity, but to make sure that israeli officials

are thinking through all the hard question as they tackle what is by all accounts a very challenging military problem they are confronted with, which is a terrorist organization hiding among a population of more than 2 million people. the president and our team is working with the israelis think through how best to address this challenge. amna: is that to say that a ground invasion is not inevitable? john: i will not predict and will not foreshadow what exactly the israelis are likely to do when it comes to their military operations. would not be appropriate based on those conversations. this was very much a topic of conversation today during the president's visit israel. amna: what about the americans trapped in gaza? there are reportedly hundreds of them. how will the u.s. get them out? john: we have been in constant communication with americans who are residents in gaza, some of whom would like to leave.

getting out of gaza is a challenging thing to do under the best of circumstances. in a conflict like this it requires the forbearance of the government of israel, who said today they will work to allow humanitarian assistance in. you also need hamas to allow people to move within gaza and to the crossing into egypt, and the government of egypt to open the door on the other side. we are working on all pieces of that diplomacy to get humanitarian assistance in and get people who are wounded who want to get out of gaza out and out safely. amna: do i take that to mean there is not currently a plan to evacuate those americans, even as israel continues its bombardment of that area? john: i will not get ahead of development on the ground. we are working to make sure that americans who want to leave can leave. amna: in the minute or so we have left, i need to ask about whether or not president biden

talked with prime minister netanyahu about what happens after a potential ground invasion. i know you don't want to get ahead of operational details, but is there a conversation about who would take over that territory? john: this is a very difficult problem, something we have done something about insider government. we know the government of israel is thinking about it too, something we will consult with other countries in the region who have a stake in the future governments of gaza. we ourselves have not arrived at a perfect solution to this challenge. what the israelis have said is that the status quo, the situation that prevailed before these terrorist attacks, cannot be restored. that does leave open the question of what comes on the day after. we will continue to work through that problem with them and others. amna: that is deputy national security advisor john feiner joining us. appreciate your time. ♪

geoff: on capitol hill today met republican congressman jim jordan's second try for speaker of the house went more poorly than his first. in today's vote he received two fewer republican votes than yesterday. our lisa desjardins joins us now from a part of the capitol still frozen in legislative limbo. it's good to see you. jim jordan lost support today. why is he still in the race? lisa: it is the question everyone is asking. the house is not going to vote again tonight. the republican conference is not meeting. but jim jordan, his office tells me, is still staying in the race. you have to think about the top layers. it is clear jim jordan is a fighter, someone who has never given up. that is part of his lyrical dna -- his political dna. behind him are strong voices in the conservative world who have been drumming up support for

him, who have been calling the capital. there are some reasons why he is here. we keep talking about the math. got worse for jim jordan today. the numbers voting for him today went down by one overall to 199. we know he needs 217. the number of voting for someone else went up. 22 republicans today voted for someone else. that is two more than we have seen in the past. we saw hakeem jeffries the democrat receiving the most votes, 212, as democrats were united. why is it moderates were able to stay so united? they still are seething about the way they say steve scully's was treated -- scalise was treated. they think he should have the shot on the floor and they don't trust the way jim jordan and those around him are handling this. amna: democrats seem to have warmed to this idea of making patrick mchenry a temporary speaker so the chamber can get back to work.

what are some of the other viable options? lisa: that is a real effort growing by the hour, something many are considering. there are at least two different members of the house republican conference ready to put forth a resolution to elevate the powers of mr. mchenry. what i found interesting was that some of those folks backing jordan are themselves now looking for other candidates. this is beth van dyne of texas. >> i think there are a number of people in our conference that have got leadership abilities, that have been able to show to their peers that they have their back and will be there. they have strong conservative values and a strong voice. i think there are a number of those people in our conference. i want them to run for leadership. we have seen three of them step up. right now it is about getting to 217. lisa: who are we talking about potentially? a new name has emerged. i want to talk about

representative jack bergman of michigan, a retired marine general who has put out a statement saying that he did not intend to run for speaker, but if they cannot decide upon one, that he is willing to be considered as one. people have approached him for the job. and only to serve until the end of this conference -- this congress. many others i think we will be talking about in the next couple days. amna: it raises the question as to why the more establishment aligned republicans have not yet nominated their own candidate. they are the majority of the house republicans. why are they not fighting harder for their faction? lisa: the majority of the majority is tricky with the house republicans. they would say they backed steve scalise, and they would also say they are right now looking for another, and some of them talking to democrats. that is a group to closely watch. amna: lisa, thanks as always for

your great reporting. for more on where the republican conference stands and what comes next, i spoke earlier today with congressman carlos gimenez, republican of florida. he voted against jim jordan for speaker in both rounds of voting so far. congressman, thank you for being with us. jim jordan had more republican defections in today's round of voting than yesterday. what is the path forward? rep. gimenez: i believe they will try to do another round of voting and i don't think it will get any better for our speaker designee. i think we will have more people vote the other way. i am pretty sure they canceled any of our votes today. i am sure they will be scrambling to get to those folks who voted for some other candidate other than jim jordan to be speaker of the house. i'm not sure he's going to have any success. amna: as we mentioned, you voted twice against jim jordan. i imagine it is not based entirely on ideological grounds. you both were among the 147

republicans who voted against certifying joe biden's election win. why are you opposed to him as a speaker? rep. gimenez: i am in favor of kevin mccarthy. that is where i have been the whole time. i think what happened to kevin mccarthy, where eight republicans ignited it, but 208 republicans provided the gun power to remove kevin mccarthy from the speakership of the house, i thought that was like a drive-by shooting. 96% of our conference voted for kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy, if everybody votes again for him, that is only five votes away from being the speaker, whereas jim jordan has a much longer way to go. geoff: in your conversations with kevin mccarthy, is he open to running again? rep. gimenez: i have not spoken to him but what kevin mccarthy has said is he will abide by the will of the conference.

hopefully we get down to this, that we need a new candidate. hopefully he will be nominated and we can do this by acclamation or have a very large majority. and he will agree to that. hopefully we can get three, four, five of those folks who voted him out along with the 208 democrats to change their mind and come our way. i think we would only need about five of them to get to 217. they have seen what this has caused. this is not good for america. the democrats have seen it is also not good for america. we need to move forward. i don't see jim jordan has got a path forward to being speaker. if kevin mccarthy can't do it, then we need to look for a consensus candidate that the republicans can rally around and be our speaker for the rest of the 118th congress.

geoff: there is bipartisan support growing to empower patrick mchenry to basically give him more powers to function as speaker until a permanent speaker can be chosen. is that something that you and enough republicans would support? rep. gimenez: i think the only way i would support it is if the speaker designee right now, jim jordan, would support it. and i am calling him to support it. if he puts forward legislation that gives more power to patrick mchenry, i think it would be a republican. they would be the republicans who rallied around it and vote that in. if we don't get a speaker in the next day or two, i would hope our speaker designee would do that for the good of the country. our republican agenda was stopped by 208 democrats. the speaker designee needs to get behind it. i think there may be some

resistance if the speaker designee does not get behind it. i think the interests of america come before the interests of the self. let's get to work again on our agenda. the people of america are expecting us to do that. amna: hakeem jeffries was on this program last week and extended this offer of a coalition government to allow bills to come to the floor that have significant democratic and republican support, that he says would be allowed to move forward without the extremists, the word he used, being able to dictate the agenda on the floor. rep. gimenez: again, i would look forward to some kind of resolution, some kind of bill that opens the house up again for business. that needs to come from our speaker designee. i would hope that he would step forward, knowing that the business of america is so important, and put the interests of america before any self-interest. he needs to get behind it.

we need to have full republican support for that. hope he would do that. he has always stated that he is a patriot and he loves america, so i would hope he would put america first and get us back to work. geoff: in the meantime, what message does this send to the american public about the capacity for house republicans to govern when they are then -- they are in the majority? rep. gimenez: it was eight republicans that actually lit the fire, but it was 208 democrats who provided the gunpowder. let's not say this is a republican issue. yeah, we had 96% of a republicans behind one person. 4% were behind someone else. 100% of the democrats want somebody else. there is plenty of blame to go around. this chaos was not caused by republicans or even the majority.

the vast minority of republicans may have lit the fire, but it took 208 democrats to provide the gunpowder. geoff: but it is a question of leadership, is it not? for the last two weeks there has been no house speaker. rep. gimenez: that is right, because 208 democrats allowed it to happen. you just can't take the blame away from democrats on this. thee -- geoff: we could argue kevin mccarthy allowed it to happen when he agreed with matt gaetz that it would only take one member to invoke a motion to vacate. here we are. rep. gimenez: i don't believe that should have happened. hindsight is 20/20. there were promises made that we would never invoke it. i had my doubts when that rule passed. i held my nos -- my nose and voted for it and now we know better. even so, eight republicans, 208 democrats. that is why we are in this chaos. geoff: carlos gimenez of

florida, thanks for your time. rep. gimenez: thank you. ♪ geoff: let's shift our focus back to the middle east and the tragedy at that hospital in gaza. gaza's health ministry, controlled by hamas, blamed israel, and said hundreds died in an airstrike. that claim led to protests across the region, and the cancellation of president biden's scheduled summit in amman, jordan. but the u.s. and israeli defense forces say the cause was a misfired palestinian rocket. nick schifrin examines what we know. nick: it is one of the single deadliest incidents in gaza since the war began. at 6:59 p.m. local time last night, an explosion destroyed part of gaza city's al-ahli hospital. in the yard where residents who considered hospital a safe space had taken refuge. hamas blamed an israeli airstrike, but israeli defense forces released imagery it says shows damage caused by a

palestinian rocket that misfired. the idf also released a video, with audio recording and translation -- of what israel says are two hamas officials talking and admitting the rocket had been fired from the cemetery next to the hospital, and fell on the hospital. geoff: u.s. officials tell me their preliminary assessment, using independent intelligence of imagery and intercepted phone calls, is that “israel is not responsible." for more on this we turn to marc garlasco, the military advisor at pax, protection of civilians, and a former defense department analyst with decades of experience in targeting and assessing bomb damage. thanks very much. welcome back to the newshour. let's start with this photo we will show right now. you have visited countless scenes of bomb aftermath. what do you see in this photo? marc: if you look at the physical evidence in the photo, one thing it says is this was not an air strike.

you don't have a three to nine meter crater that i would expect from an israeli joint direct ammunition, a gps guided bomb. you also see a lot of surface damage and fire damage and very little damage to any of the buildings. these are some of the telltale signs i would be looking for for an airstrike, particularly from the type of weapons israel employs. geoff: you mentioned fire damage. let me show another photo of the aftermath of the strike, especially these burned cars. why is that significant? marc: when military weapons go off, they don't tend to have a long-term thermal effect. you don't want to waste a lot of energy with fire, so they are trying to create a very rapid blast and fragmentation. as we saw in the video you put up earlier, there was a very high temperature fire that lasted for quite a while.

that is not the kind of thing we would see from the military munitions israel would use. and when you look at those cars, you don't see the fragmentation that you would find from a typical weapon they would be using in an airstrike. geoff: hospital officials and gaza health officials controlled by hamas have said that the deat h toll is somewhere between 300 and 500. take a look at this damage as you can see a wider image of it. does that death toll sound possible to you? marc: looking back at 20 years of the kind of work i have done, that would be at the high end of anything i have experienced, but we need to focus on the civilians. there is a lot of he said, she said between the israelis and palestinians. the civilians are at the center, they are bearing the brunt, whether it is israeli civilians who have been murdered and others taken hostage, or palestinians living under the bombs.

we need to remember that they will not just be having the effect of the bombs when they strike, but there will be long-term effects affecting this population for many years. geoff: the gazans who had collected in this yard in the hospital were only there because they hoped hospital was a safe space, a place they could -- they could be safe from israeli bombs. israel has dropped more bombs on gaza in the first week of this campaign, about 6000, than the u.s. dropped on afghanistan in any single year of 20 years of war. israel says it only strikes hamas targets, including senior officials, including rocket sites which are often in residential neighborhoods, as well as hamas weapons. what is your assessment overall of the israeli air campaign? marc: we are talking about a level of sustained firepower

that is amazingly dangerous to not only the civilian population but raises concerns of recklessness. when you look at potential war crimes, you have the issue of whether someone is actually targeting civilians. i don't believe the israelis are purposefully targeting civilians here, but are they being fast and loose with the law and are they applying rules of engagement that are meant to protect civilians, or are they just going after hamas with everything they have? when we look at the u.s. air campaign in afghanistan, that was over a territory of about texas. you are looking at 5000 bombs annual being dropped. it got up to 7000 in the last years of the trump administration. you are talking about 6000 bombs in less than a week in gaza, the size of newark, new jersey. we need to have a cease fire end this conflict as soon as possible. geoff: i have personally seen how hamas will use neighborhoods

in order to hide rockets, and also how hamas officials will be targeted by the israeli forces while surrounded by their family members, while surrounded by their extended family members often. the united states, israel calls that action, using civilians as using human shields, but it sounds like your concern is the israeli rules of engagement with airstrikes. marc: israel does have a right to defend itself, but that right is not unfettered. they still have to follow international law, follow distinctionate proportionality. i have been in gaza. i have been there after an air campaign. i have been there after a ground campaign. i have seen what hamas does and how they use the population, but you have a huge population within a tiny area that must be protected. the protection of civilians is one of the core issues we need

to make sure israel keeps at the top. geoff: it sounds like in terms of today you are confident in saying this does not appear to be an israeli airstrike. marc: no, i don't think we have seen an israeli airstrike here. when you look at israel's response saying this was likely a palestinian rocket that fired and failed, i think that is certainly possible. -- certainly plausible. when the rocket tumbled from the sky, that cter that we saw, which is more like a small hole in the ground, that was created by the kinetic energy of some thing hitting, then there was an awful lot of accelerant spreading throughout that hospital. unfortunately you had palestinian civilians jammed into that tiny area because they were trying to seek safety. we have to ensure this does not happen again. geoff: thank you very much.

amna: another of president biden's priorties during his trip to israel, securing the release of hundreds of hostages held in gaza by hamas. as many as 13 are believed to be americans. in tel aviv, special correspondent villem marx has the story of one woman with five relatives held hostage and the desperate hours spent to bring them home. villem: every saturday evening throughout this year, thousands of israelis crowded a traffic intersection in central tel aviv . to protest prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his coalition government's attempts to overhaul the country's judicial system. [sirens] after hamas gunmen killed hundreds during attacks on saturday october 7th, there was no protest, only shock and anger. but outside israel's ministry of defense the following saturday, much smaller groups once more

gathered, to grieve and demand government action over dozens of people still missing after the attacks. many assumed to be held hostage by hamas and other armed groups inside gaza. among the faces on this wall of pain, 12 year old erez, accompanied by armed men in this video shared on social media the previous saturday. his cousin abbey onn says she's almost been working too hard to stop and worry. let alone sleep. >> i've showered today, so that's good. villem: spending all her time talking to governments and groups she hopes can help her. for at the end of hamas' attack on a kibbutz near gaza called nir oz, five of abbey's family members were missing. >> there were 400 people that lived on the kibbutz, and there are 160 people that survived. and they are not among them. villem: a grandmother named carmela turned 80 this week.

her middle aged son-in-law ofer and three of her grandchildren, sahar, 16, noya, aged 13, and the youngest, erez, all vanished. >> the messages that we received were messages to say goodbye, that they didn't believe that they would survive what was happening. and the message that sticks with me the most is from one of the mothers that survived that said this was a holocaust. villem: carmela's one of around a dozen americans the u.s. now says are held in gaza, their whereabouts an apparent priority for president biden, who arrived in israel today. after talking with abbey and others last week on zoom. right across israel, hundreds of communities are mourning loved ones killed by hamas. but there are some families that face a different kind of anxiety, with their relatives held in gaza against their will at a time of unrelenting airstrikes on the territory. >> the u.s. government up until this point has been unbelievably supportive.

they are working in deep partnership with the israeli government. and they are extremely communicative to us, in the sense that we speak everyday to the state department, to the fbi, and we had a chance to meet yesterday with secretary of state blinken. villem: as part of her campaigning, abbey's already met with senate majority leader chuck schumer, as well as blinken during their visits to israel. >> thank you so much for being here. for speaking to me. >> for the families of the missing there's an unrelenting agony of not knowing the fate of their loved ones. something that i don't think most of us can truly understand, truly contemplate if you're not in their shoes. >> it felt like a human interaction. it didn't feel like a governmental interaction. it felt empathetic and humane. and he has deployed his special envoy for hostages to the region to israel, for the foreseeable future. villem: the bombing in gaza has already killed thousands of palestinians. if abbey's loved ones are there, she knows it threatens their lives too. >> we want civilians out of

this. we understand on behalf of the israeli government, there will be a military response. but we want there to be a diplomatic resolution to the hostage crisis before a ground incursion or continued bombing. villem: is that something you think could happen? >> i think if we continue to put pressure to say their names and continue to speak about hostages, i think it is an awful, awful challenge for the government to figure out how to respond to the terror and save hostages at the same time. villem: at this moment of massive uncertainty, it's a task several governments are quietly trying to achieve. for the pbs newshour, i'm willem marx in herzliya, israel. geoff: long recognized as one of the world's leading independent filmmakers, winner herzog is

also -- werner herzog is director and writer. and after filming stories around the world, he now tells his own story in a new memoir. jeffrey brown spoke with him at his los angeles home, for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: in the 1982 film, “fitzcarraldo," a man is obsessed with building an opera house in the amazon jungle. at one point, his ship must be carried over a mountain. it's a famous scene in film history, shot without special effects, by director werner herzog, who decades later still sees it as a metaphor for how life must be lived. werner: all of us carry in us some sort of quest. and i think every grown up man or woman should do something like moving your ship over the mountain. it's absolutely natural. for you it would be something else. but you've got to do it. jeffrey: herzog, who would win the 1982 best director award at

cannes for “fitzcarraldo," has been doing it his own way for more than five decades in some 70 films. dramas such as “aguirre, the wrath of god." >> it is as if the modern humans awakened here. jeffrey: documentaries including “cave of forgotten dreams” in which he captured some of the world's oldest known painted images. werner: i absorb the world and somehow return it. but modified, changed. it was always in me, this kind of quest, this kind of curiosity. jeffrey: now 81, herzog tells of his life-long pursuit and creation of images in a new memoir, “every man for himself and god against all." his childhood in poverty in a remote bavarian village in the ruins of post-world war ii germany. his travels, often by foot, far and wide. his own visions that would often end up in his films. like, at age 17, on the island of crete.

werner: i stumbled all of a sudden across a field of 10,000 windmills below me. there were literally 10,000 windmills. and i sat down because i knew i was insane. this cannot be, it's unthinkable, it's impossible. jeffrey: but the vast field of windmills was real. and years later it would become the central image of his first film, “signs of life." this is a portrait of an artist who didn't see a film before age 11, and writes of his beginnings as a filmmaker: “it was clear to me that in the absence of the cinema of others i would have to come up with a cinema of my own. >> the cinema that had an urgency inside of me. i always followed a vision, and i had a very, very clear aim and vision.

and that made it possible, and i never, never deviated, departed from it. and i noticed that looking at what others were doing, my films were in a way different. jeffrey: one thing he is known for, stories of people fictional and real with impossible dreams, often in extreme circumstances, as in one of his best-known documentaries, “grizzly man," the story of the life and death of a man who lived among grizzlies in alaska. and herzog's taken on plenty of risks himself to tell those stories. werner: if you have an unknown alloy of metal in front of you as a scientist, you would put it under extreme pressure, under extreme radiation, under extreme heat and then you would learn the inner nature of your metal in front of you. and maybe it's a little bit like that in my films and also in my writing.

and i have had a hard, very difficult and very risky life. i've risked a lot more than a filmmaker normally would risk. jeffrey: you mean physically, financially? werner: always, everything. you just name it. and when we are gone, what will happen thousands of years from now in the future? will there be alien archaeologists from another planet trying to find out what we were doing at the south bowl? -- south pole? jeffrey: he's also known for what can only be called 'being werner herzog'. he narrates his documentaries, giving them even more of a dramatic and personal feel. and a personality he's cultivated and others have responded to, taking a turn as an actor, he played quite a villain in the 2012 thriller, “jack reacher." >> i spent my first winter wearing a dead man's coat, a hole in one pocket.

i chrewed -- chewed these fingers off before the frost bite could turn to gangrene. werner: i am a good-natured person but ocamera, on a screen, i can be very frightening. excuse me, my name is walter and i'm in the pharmaceutical business. jeffrey: and “the simpsons” had their own fun with him, and he with them. werner: i'm crazy enough to be good in the simpsons. well, i act crazy enough. otherwise people think i'm crazy. everyone around me in hollywood is totally crazy. i am the only clinically sane in this entire environment. jeffrey: maybe so, but when the editors of a recent book of poetry generated by artificial intelligence needed a human voice, it was no surprise they turned to herzog's haunting tones.

werner: i can remember the moment i was born. i shot out of my mother like a jack-in-the-box. jeffrey: he's continued to turn out films, including the 2019 drama set in japan, “family romance llc." werner: there is something so awe-inspiring in it that attracted me as a filmmaker. jeffrey: and the 2022 documentaries, “the fire within”, about volcano explorers werner: for many years i was fascinated by the mysteries of our brain. jeffrey: and “theater of thought," exploring a very different landscape. the human brain. you have managed to stay on your own path, independent, away from a lot of what's happened in the industry. >> i do not fit, let's say, the world of action movies where the

explosions and car crashes are the center of things. i just don't fit in there. my visions are different. i have a sense of duty. jeffrey: how do you define that duty? werner: almost like a solider. i want to be the good soldier of cinema. meaning a sense of duty, courage, responsibility. jeffrey: are you surprised today, all these years later, to be doing, still doing what you are doing? werner: no. it has been clear to me early on a med this is my destiny. i have no alternatives, no choices. i have never learned a profession. [laughter] jeffrey: so you might as well keep doing what you're doing. werner: well, you'll have to carry me out from a set one day feet first. that would be the best. jeffrey: “every man for himself

and god against all,” werner herzog's take on film and life. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in los angeles. geoff: and join us again tomorrow night for live special coverage of an oval office address from president biden on the war between israel and hamas in the ongoing war in ukraine. that is at 8:00 p.m. eastern. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy bodner and kathy and paul anderson. >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? >> this is pocket dial. somebody's pocket. with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day.

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hello, everyone and welcome to amanpour & co.. here is what is coming up. president biden heads toisrael amid warnings that gaza faces an immediate health crisis. i talked solutions with the egyptian foreign minister. then as hamas releases its