♪ geoff: good evening, i'm jeff bennett. amna: and i ahmedabad. present biden reinforces united states support and a visit to israel in the wake of a deadly hospital attack that further inflame the raging war. geoff: un-american woman with

five family member speaks out about the ongoing conflict. >> we want there to be a diplomatic resolution to the hosta's crisis before a ground incursion. 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, working 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. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at mac found.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 support 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, some images 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 al ahli hospital. >> bombs and rockets don't know whether they are young or old, nor do they care about hospitals, children or innocent people. >> i saw a mother and her kids that we had helped. that mother and her kids are now dead. leila: in israel today, president biden denounced the hospital blast and laid the blame on gaza militants. pres. biden: i was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in gaza. based on the information we've seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in gaza. leila: mr. biden said this was a u.s. assessment of culpability based on a variety of intelligence, including intercepted communications. idf chief of staff herzi halevi 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 ripping through the region. yesterday, palestinian, jordanian and egyptian leaders called off a summit with president biden, blaming israel for the blast. >> what happened is a huge tragedy and an ugly massacre that cannot be allowed to pass without accountability. leila: pro-palestinian protests have spread across the region. police and protesters clashed near the israeli embassy in amman, 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 unwavering american support for israel with a promise of new military aid. he also urged israel and egypt to allow the passage of humanitarian assistance from egypt to gaza.

on air force one this evening, the president said egypt had agreed to open its crossing with gaza to aid shipments, all as gaza continues to be pounded by israeli airstrikes. today, in an attack targeting hamas militant suleiman hamush 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 beloved ones, our friends and our children. today, it's them. tomorrow, it's us. what are we supposed to do? they're all children. what is the children's fault? kids don't bomb. leila: "newshour" shams odeh was at the scene. shams odeh: if you see behind me, this is the area that's been attacked by a big weapon, people trying, trying to get them out, still people under the ground. leila: across the border in the

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

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

nobody stands with them in gaza. so this is the least we can do to come to the checkpoints 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 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's 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 that they were children just wanting to be alive? leila: she's come down to join the young protesters and vent her rage. tahrir: we support our people in gaza. we have nothing but stones and these, so we use them.

leila: evening rolls in and crowds gather in the center of town as 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," i'm leila molana-allen in ramallah, the west bank. vanessa: stephanie sy's on assignment. here are the latest 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 will 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 toward 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. vanessa: a committee vote on lew's nomination could come next week. meanwhile, two jewish groups staged a large-scale demonstration on capitol hill in support of palestinians. a crowd gathered outside the cannon house office building, and more than 100 people moved inside, demanding a cease-fire in gaza. capitol police arrested a number -- about of them. 300 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 predawn 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 antisemitic slogans will not be accepted. vanessa: antisemitic 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. 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. vanessa: 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, quote, "such restrictions and forced decoupling 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 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. >> 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 have been searching for all these years. vanessa: the 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. still to come on the newshour, fungus men carlos jimenez weighs in on house republicans struggle

to elect a speaker. also, an american woman with five family members held in gaza speaks out about their kidnapping. and prolific filmmaker werner herzog reflects on his long and varied career in a new memoir; plus much more. announcer: 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. we turn to john feiner. i want to begin with what the president said today about that hospital strike in gaza yesterday, just to underscored because i think transparency is really important here. the president says 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? >> what i can say is basically what the president said, which is that based of our review of our own intelligence on open-source information, including photos and videos of it that people on the scene have presented on overhead imagery, on intercepts of conversations, we believe is real is not responsible for the strike. that initial reports were inaccurate and we endeavor not to jump to conclusions upon receiving those reports. we do our due diligence to try to find out what happened to the best of our ability, and urge others to do the same, because there are going to be many more incidents reported during the course of this conflict. amna: as you have seen and 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 prime minister netanyahu to stop targeting and stop hitting civilian and medical facilities? jon: so i think one thing that's very important to say with regard to the hospital is, regardless of who ultimately was responsible for the explosion, and we have made our views clear, this was a horrific tragedy, with a loss of life that is almost unimaginable. the president, first and foremost, is a deeply empathetic human being. and so part of the message that he carried with him to israel today was a 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 brought with him empathy for the palestinian community that is suffering right now in real time in gaza, including many innocent people who were caught up in the attacks that took place last night. amna: did he get a commitment from mr. netanyahu that he would minimize civilian casualties? jon: we have been very clear, and the president has been very direct, as he has said publicly in his conversations with prime

minister netanyahu, that democracies are strongest when they act in accordance with the rule of law, 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 have had, including the conversations that took place today. amna: tell me about the conversations over the hostages, the american hostages, in particular. does the u.s. want to see those hostages released before israel carries out any kind of ground invasion? jon: so, the americans who are caught up in this situation are foremost on the mind of the president and every single one of us. he has directed our entire team to put this at the very 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. and we are going to do everything within our powers and our capabilities to try to get these people home. but this is a very difficult situation. where these hostages are being,

exactly where they're being held is something that we are working on determining, but we do not have perfect visibility. we will share everything that we get with the israelis and do everything we can, as the president told the families of some of these people who are in this situation in the conversations he's had directly with them. amna: well, 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 are those alternatives? jon: so, i'm not going to detail operational conversations that the president had, not just, by the way, with the prime minister, but with israel's war cabinet that has been assembled to help manage this military operation. those are obviously the most sensitive conversations that take place between two governments. but one of the things the president did was travel to israel, not just to show solidarity, although that was a very important part of his message, but to make sure that israeli officials are thinking through all of the hard questions as they tackle what is, by all accounts, a very challenging military problem that they are confronted with,

which is a terrorist organization that is hiding among a population of more than two million people. and the president and our team, national security team, is working with the israelis to try to think through how best to address this challenge that they face. amna: but, jon, is that to say that a ground invasion is not inevitable? jon: i'm not going to predict and i'm not going to foreshadow what exactly the israelis are likely to do when it comes to their military operations. it wouldn't be appropriate, based on those conversations. and, ultimately, that will be a decision that is up to them. but this was very much a topic of conversation today during the president's visit to israel. amna: and what about the americans who are trapped in gaza? there are reportedly hundreds of them. how is the u.s. going to get them out? jon: so, we have been in constant communication with americans who are resident in gaza, some number of whom we know 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, which said

today that they would work to allow humanitarian assistance in. that was a significant step forward that occurred in the context of the president's visit. but you also need hamas to allow people to move within gaza and to the crossing into egypt and then the government of egypt to essentially open the door on the other side. and so we are working on all pieces of that diplomacy to get humanitarian assistance in, which the president said would happen soon, and get people and certainly american citizens and people who are wounded who want to get out of gaza out, and out safely. amna: when you say you're working on that, do i take that to mean that there is not currently a plan to evacuate those americans, even as israel continues its bombardment of that area? jon: i'm not going to get ahead of actual developments on the ground, but we are working day in, day out to make sure that americans who want to leave can leave, and we're going to continue to do that. amna: in the minute or so we have left, i need to ask you about whetr 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? jon: so, this is a significant challenge and a very difficult problem. it's something that we have done something about inside our government. we know the government of israel is thinking about it too, something that we will consult with them about, with other countries in the region that will have a stake in the future governance of gaza. but we have not ourselves arrived at a perfect solution to this challenge, nor do we think that anybody else has. what the israelis have said is that the status quo ante, the situation that prevailed before these terrorist attacks, cannot be restored. they cannot live with that. and so that does leave open the question of what comes on the day after, and we're going to continue to work through that problem with them and with others. amna: that is deputy national security adviser jon finer joining us tonight. jon, thank you. we appreciate your time. jon: thank you. ♪ geoff: on capitol hill today, 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. lisa, it's good to see you. so, jim jordan lost support today. why is he still in the race? lisa: it is the question everyone's asking tonight. 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 here as we get through this. it's clear jim jordan is a fighter. he is someone who has never given up. that's part of his sort of political dna. but behind him, i think, are also some very powerful voices in the conservative world, sean hannity, glenn beck, conservative talk show hosts, who have been drumming up support for him, who've been calling the capitol. those are some reasons why he's here. but let's look at the numbers facing him. we keep talking about the math here, geoff. got worse for jim jordan today.

the numbers voting for him today went down by one overall to 199. we know he needs 217. now, the number voting for someone else went up; 22 republicans today voted for someone else. that is two more than we have seen in the past. and then, jim, geoff, we saw, of course, hakeem jeffries, the democrat, receiving the most votes again, 212, as democrats were united. why is it that moderates were able to stay so united today, in fact, grow their ranks against jim jordan? well, they still are just seething about the way they say steve scalise was treated. they think that he should have had this shot on the floor. and they basically say they don't trust the way jim jordan and those around him are handling this. geoff: and, in the meantime, lisa, democrats seem to have warmed to this idea of making patrick mchenry a temporary speaker, so that the chamber can get back to work. what are some of the other viable options? lisa: that is a very real effort that is sort of growing by the hour, something that many people are considering. there is, in fact, at least two different members of the house republican conference ready to

put forth a resolution to elevate the powers of mr. mchenry. but what i found interesting today is that some of those folks backing jordan are themselves now looking for other candidates. here's someone i spoke to earlier. this is beth van duyne of texas. beth: i think there are a number of people in our conference that have got leadership abilities, that have been able to show them to their peers. you know they they're, they have their back and that they can, they will be there. they have got strong conservative values and they have got a strong voice. i think there's a number of those people in our conference. i just want them to step up and run for leadership. we have seen three of them step up, but, right now, it's all about getting to 217. lisa: who are we talking about, potentially? just in the last bit of time, a new name has in fact emerged. i want to talk about representative jack bergman of michigan. he's a retired marine general who has put out a statement now 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, that people have approached him for the job, and to serve only until the end of this congress. so that's one name out there, many others that i think we will be talking about in the next couple of days. geoff: and it raises the question, lisa, as to why the traditional republicans, the more establishment-aligned republicans haven't yet nominated their own candidate. they are the majority of the house republican majority. why aren't they fighting harder for their faction and for the institution? lisa: you and i will have to talk. the majority of the majority is very tricky with the house republicans, but i will say the answer is probably this. they would say they backed steve scalise, that they did put out a candidate, and they would also say they are right now looking for another and some of them talking to democrats. so that is a group that, you are right, to very closely watch. geoff: 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. rep. gimenez: my pleasure. geoff: jim jordan had more republican defections in today's round of voting than he had yesterday. what is the path forward? what comes next? rep. gimenez: i believe they are going to try to do another round of voting. and i just don't think it's going to get any better for our speaker designee. i think we're going to have more people vote the other way. so i'm pretty sure that they canceled any more today. i'm sure they're going to be scrambling to try to get to those folks that voted for some other candidate other than jim jordan to be the speaker of the house. i'm not sure he's going to have any success. geoff: well, as we mentioned, you voted twice against jim jordan. and i imagine it's 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 speaker? rep. gimenez: i'm in favor of

kevin mccarthy. that's where i have been the whole time. and i think that what happened to kevin mccarthy a little bit over two weeks ago were eight republicans, i guess, ignited it, but 208 democrats provided the gunpowder, to remove kevin mccarthy from the speakership of the house. i thought that was a travesty. it was like a drive-by shooting. and some 96% of our conference wanted for and voted for kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy, if everybody votes again for kevin mccarthy that he had, is only five votes away from being the speaker, whereas jim jordan has a much, much longer way to go. geoff: in your conversations with kevin mccarthy, is he open to running again? rep. gimenez: i haven't spoken to kevin mccarthy, but what kevin mccarthy has said over and over again that he is willing and he will abide by the will of the conference. and so, hopefully, we get down to this that we need another, a new candidate, hopefully, he will be nominated and then, hopefully, we can do this by acclimation or have a very, very

large majority that he will become our candidate and he will agree to that. and then, hopefully, we can get three, four, five of those folks that voted him out, along with the 208 democrats, to change their mind and come our way. and i think we would only need about five of them to get to 217. they have seen what this has caused. and this is not good for america. the democrats have seen what they did is also not good for america. and so we need to move forward. i just don't see that jim jordan has got a path forward to being the speaker. and 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 this other option. there's bipartisan support that's growing in congress to empower house speaker pro tempore 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 that the only way that that can pass or that i would support it is if the speaker designee right now, jim jordan, would support it. and i'm calling him to support it. so if he puts forward some legislation that gives more power to patrick mchenry, i think it would be a republican, it would be the republicans who'd rally around it and vote that in. if we don't get a speaker in the next day or two, i would hope that our speaker designee would do that for the good of the country. we need to move on with our republican agenda. it's been stopped. it was stopped by eight republicans and 208 democrats. and the speaker designee needs to get behind it. i think there may be some resistance if the speaker designee does not get behind it. but i think the interests of america come before the interests of the self. and i think that he should get behind it. and let's get to work again on

our agenda. the people of america are expecting us to do that. geoff: house democratic leader hakeem jeffries was on this program last week, and he 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, that's the word that he used, being able to dictate the agenda on the floor. rep. gimenez: well, look, again, i would look forward to some kind of resolution, some kind of a bill that opens the house again up for business. but, again, that needs to come from our speaker designee. and 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 that he may have. that's something that we need to do. and he needs to get behind it, because, actually, we need to have full republican support for that. and i would look forward to that. and i hope that he would do that. he's always stated and kind of

proven that he's a patriot and he loves america. so i would hope that 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 of house republicans to govern when they're in the majority? rep. gimenez: well, look, it was, remember, it took, it was eight republicans that actually lit the fire, but it was 208 democrats that actually provided the gunpowder. so let's not say this is a republican issue. yes, we have had 96% of our republicans were behind one person, 4% were behind, wanted somebody else, 100% of the democrats want somebody else. so there's plenty of blame to go around here. so this chaos wasn't caused by republicans or even the majority. the vast minority of republicans may have lit the fire, like i said, but it took 208 democrats to provide the gunpowder. geoff: but it is a question of

leadership, is it not? republicans are in the majority. and for the last two weeks, there's been no house speaker. rep. gimenez: that's right, because 208 democrats allowed it to happen. so you just can't take the blame away from democrats on this. like i said, there was eight republicans. geoff: well, you could argue that 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. and now here we are. rep. gimenez: here we are. that's right. and i don't believe that should have happened, but hindsight's 20/20. and there were promises made that, hey, we would never invoke it. i had my doubts when that rule passed. i held my nose and voted for it. and now we know better. and so, again, but even so, eight republicans, 208 democrats, that's why we're in this chaos right now. geoff: republican congressman 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 hit al ahli hospital in the yard where residents who considered the hospital a safe space had taken refuge. hamas blamed an israeli airstrike. but the 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 claims are to hamas officials talking and purportedly admitting that the rocket had been fired from the cemetery next to the hospital and fell on the hospital. u.s. officials tell me their preliminary assessment, using independent intelligence of imagery and intercepted phone calls, is that, quote, "israel is not responsible.” for more on this, we turn to marc garlasco, the military adviser at pax protection of civilians and a former defense department analyst with decades of experience in targeting and assessing bomb damage. marc garlasco, thanks very much. welcome back to the "newshour.” let's start with this photo that we're going to show right now. you have visited countless, countless scenes of bomb aftermath. what do you see in this photo? >> well, if you take a look at the physical evidence that we see here in the photo, i mean, one thing it says to me is, this was not an airstrike, right? you don't have a three-to-nine-meter, that's about a 10-to-30-foot, crater that i would normally expect from an israeli jdam, which is a joint direct attack munition, a

gps-guided bomb, which is typical for what the israelis would use here. you also see a lot of surface damage and fire damage and very little damage to any of the buildings. and these are some of the telltale signs that i would be looking for an airstrike, particularly from the types of weapons that israel employs. nick: and you mentioned fire damage. let me show another photo, the aftermath of the strike, especially these burned cars. why is that significant? mark: sure. well, 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. and so they're trying to create a very rapid blast and fragmentation. but as we saw in the video that you put up earlier, and as you can see here, there was a very high-temperature fire that lasted for quite a while. that's not the kind of thing that we would see from the type of military munitions that israel would use. and, also, when you look at those cars, you don't see the

fragmentation that you would find from a typical weapon that they would be using in an airstrike. nick: hospital officials and gaza health officials who are controlled by hamas have said that the death toll is somewhere between 300 and 500. take a look at this damage, as you can see kind of a wider image of it. does that death toll sound possible to you? mark: well, looking back at 20 years of the kind of work that i have done, that would definitely be at the high end of anything that i have ever experienced. but we really need to focus on the civilians here, right? there's a lot of he said/she said between the israelis and the palestinians. we need to understand that the civilians are at the center here. they're the ones bearing the brunt, whether it's israeli civilians who've been murdered and are others that have now been taken hostage or palestinians that are living under the bombs. and we need to remember that they're not going to just be having the effects of the bombs when they strike, but there are going to be long-term

reverberating effects affecting this population for many, many years. nick: and as we said, the gazans your who had collected in this yard in the hospital were only there because they had hoped that the hospital was a safe space, a place that they could go and be safe from israeli bombs. let's talk about those israeli bombs. israel has dropped more bombs on gaza in the first week of this campaign, about 6,000 or so, than the u.s. dropped on afghanistan in any single year in of 20 years of war, as you know. 20 israel says it only strikes hamas targets, including senior officials, including rocket sites, which are often in residential neighborhoods, as well as hamas weapons. well but what's your assessment overall of the israeli air campaign so far? mark: well, look, nick, we're talking about a level of sustained firepower that is amazingly dangerous to not only civilian population, but also raises concerns of recklessness, right? when you look at talking about potential war crimes, you have

the issue of whether or not someone is actually targeting civilians. i don't believe that the israelis are purposefully you israelis are purposefully targeting civilians here, but the questions are, are they being fast and loose with the law and are they really 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 the size of a territory of about texas, right, where you're looking at about 5,000 bombs annually being dropped there. it got up to 7,000 in the last years of the trump administration. you're talking about 6,000 bombs in less than a week in gaza, which is the size of newark, new jersey. it's just incredibly dangerous to the population, and we need to have a cease-fire and get an end to this conflict as quickly as possible. nick: 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 while surrounded by their

family members, while surrounded by their extended family members often. israel, the united states calls that a kind of action using civilians as human shields, but it sounds like your concern is the israeli rules of engagement when it comes to these airstrikes. mark: well, look, israel does have a right to defend itself, but that right is not unfettered. they still have to follow international law. they still have to follow distinction and proportionality, making sure that they're only targeting military objects, right? i have been in gaza. i have been there after an air campaign. i have been there after a ground campaign. and i have seen what hamas does and how they use the population. but we still have to remember that you have a huge population within a tiny area that must be protected. and i think the protection of civilians is one of the core issues that we need to make sure that israel keeps at the top of its list of things. nick: but it sounds like, in terms of today, you're confident in saying that this does not appear to be an israeli airstrike?

mark: no, i don't think we have seen an israeli airstrike here. when you look at israel's response to this and them saying that this was likely a palestinian rocket that had been fired and failed, i think that that is certainly a plausible response, the idea being that, you as that rocket was launching, it still had a substantial amount of fuel. and when it tumbled from the sky, that crater that we saw, which is actually more like just a small hole in the ground, that was created by the kinetic you energy of something hitting, and then there was an awful lot of accelerant, right, fuel mixed with explosives spreading throughout that hospital. unfortunately, you had palestinian civilians jammed into that tiny area because they were trying to seek safety from this conflict. and we have to ensure that this does not happen again. nick: marc garlasco, thank you very much. mark: thank you, nick. amna: another of president another biden's priorities during his trip to israel today, securing the release of hundreds of hostages held in gaza by hamas.

as many as 13 are believed to americans. in tel aviv, special correspondent willem marx has the story of one woman with five relatives held hostage and the desperate hours spent to bring them home. willem: 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. after hamas gunmen killed hundreds during attacks on saturday october 7, 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 you video shared on social media the previous saturday. >> american citizens who are being held hostage. willem: his cousin, abbey onn, says she's almost been working too hard to stop and worry, let alone sleep. abbey: i have showered today. that's good. willem: 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. abbey: there were 400 people that lived on the kibbutz, and there are 160 people that survived. and they are not among them. willem: 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.

abbey: the messages that we received were messages to say goodbye, that they didn't believe that they would survive what was happening. who and the message that sticks with me the most is from one of the mothers that survived that said this was a holocaust. willem: 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, w a 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. abbey: 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. willem: as part of her campaigning, abbey's already met with senate majority leader chuck schumer, as well as blinken, during their visits to israel. woman: thank you so much for being here, for speaking to me. antony blinken, u.s. secretary of state: and i'm so, so sorry that you have to go through this. 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. abbey: 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. willem: the bombing in gaza has already killed thousands of palestinians. if abbey's loved ones are there, she knows it threatens their lives too. abbey: 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. willem: is that something you think could happen? abbey: 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 challenge government to figure out how to respond to the terror and save hostages at the same time. willem: 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 writer and filmmakers, werner

herzog is also an actor, opera 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 grownup 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 have 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.”

werner: it is as if the modern human soul had 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 lifelong pursuit in 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 who 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, quote, "it was clear to me that, in almost complete ignorance of the cinema of others, i would have to come up with a cinema of my own. werner: the cinema that had an urgency inside of me, visions. 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 have risked a lot, more than a filmmaker normally would risk. jeffrey: you mean physically, financially? werner: physically, always, 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 pole? jeffrey: he's also known for what can only be called being werner herzog, a voice. 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.” werner: i spent my first winter wearing a dead man's coat, a hole in one pocket. i chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene. i am a good-natured kind of

person, but i, on camera, on a screen, i can be very frightening. excuse me, my name is walter hotenhoffer, 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.” jeffrey: crazy enough? werner: well, i act crazy enough. otherwise, you see, people think i'm crazy. no one, 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, so, never seen before, 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 "theatre 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. werner: ah, yes. jeffrey: why has that been so important to you? werner: i simply do not fit very well into the film industry. i do not fit, let's say, in 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 differently, are different. i have a sense of duty.

jeffrey: how do you define that duty? werner: almost like a soldier. 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 this is my destiny. i have no alternatives, no choices. i have never learned a profession. jeffrey: so, you might as well keep doing what you're doing. werner: well, you will 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 a 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's at 80:00 p.m. eastern. and that is the newshour for tonight. amna: 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 build and are and kathy and paul anderson. >> consumer cellular. this is sam, how matt help you? >> thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i'm driving by helping others

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