♪ lisa: tonight on pbs news weekend. in the middle east, israel prepares to step up attacks on gaza. as the first trucks to reach the population there roll in, we speak to the united nations aid chief about the situation on the ground and fears it could spill into larger conflict.

and helping americans be safe in the water, in an attempt to reverse decades of racial barriers. >> many communities across the south, but also elsewhere, unfortunately, chose to fill in, destroy or close their public pools, rather than allow black americans to swim in them. ♪ >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- >> can samara cellular, how may i help you? >> this is pocket dial. somebody's pocket, i thought i would let you know with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> and with the ongoing support

of these individuals and institutions. ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. lisa: good evening. i'm lisa desjardins. john yang is away. there are grains of relief tonight for a few of the millions who are trapped inside the gaza strip. the first truckloads of supplies were allowed into gaza from egypt today, a small but significant aid delivery after two weeks of war. this as israel's military is vowing to increase its airstrikes against the hamas-led

territory. the death toll continues to mount. more than 1400 israelis and nearly 4400 palestinians killed since the start of the conflict. and, the possibility of an israeli ground invasion into gaza still looms large. special correspondent leila molana-allen has our report tonight. leila: at the rafah border crossing, a rare celebratory moment, as the gates opened for the first time since the start of the war. 20 trucks full of humanitarian aid including food, water and medicine, entered gaza. >> this isn't something new for us, and we have experience with the distribution of the supplies. we've been through four wars before. leila: but humanitarian agencies say the aid is not enough. over 100 more trucks are stuck at the border, barred from crossing. unicef says the drinking water sent today is only enough for 22,000 people for one day. gaza's population is

approximately 2 million people, with 80% already relying on aid before the war. at a summit on the crisis in egypt's capital, cairo, un secretary general antonio guterres said palestinian civilians must not bear the brunt of the war. >> nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by hamas that terrorized israeli civilians. and those abhorrent attacks can never justify e collective punishment of the palestinian people. leila: meanwhile, the israeli defense forces pummeled gaza with fresh airstrikes as they targeted hamas operatives. but in gaza city, an airstrike hit what residents say was a family home. >> while they were slping, the strike hit them, innocent children with their father and grandmother. what did they do? did they carry weapons? these are innocent children who know nothing, tell us when will this end? leila: workers at the al-shifa

hospital in northern gaza try to desperately keep up with the pace of new victims. the idf continues to urge civilians to move south, even as they strike areas there too. >> the humanitarian conditions in the strip are under control, we continue to stress that the residents of the north should move to the south. leila: tensions also remain high inside israel. the israeli authorities have once again banned young men between 16 and 60 from entering the al aqsa mosque for friday prayers. a group has gathered in front of the checkpoint, where they're praying as security forces turn them away. children collected here alongside their fathers to be as close as they could to the mosque, the third holiest site in islam. suddenly, armed jerusalem border police arrived to push back worshippers as they knelt in the midst of prayer. the measure is intended to prevent conflict around the contentious site. but the faithful here say

banning them is against their religious rights. from tension in israel to relief in the u.s. in illinois, the family of freed hamas hostages natalie and judith raanan looked forward to their homecoming. >> this is a small joy in our family, but hopefully for all the other hostages and all the other families, just keep praying and hopefully good news will come. leila: a rare moment of good news, in a conflict with precious little of it. for pbs news weekend, i'm leila molana-allen. lisa: in the day's other headlines, the nation's deficit took a dramatic turn for the worse according to new numbers from the treasury department. the gap between what the government spends and what it earns widened to $1.7 trillion in the fiscal year that ended last month, up nearly 25% over last year's numbers. the biden administration says the deficit effectively doubled last year when factoring out student-loan forgiveness, which never took effect.

on friday the white house asked congss for more than $100 billion for priorities including israel, ukraine, and the border. and, a deadly deluge hit parts of europe for a third straight day. at least four people are dead, three in the united kingdom - from the torrential storm. the rough weather has swamped the coasts of germany, denmark, scandinavia and the uk, with storm surge causing widespread power outages, and disrupting flights, trains and ferries. more rain is expected throughout the region on sunday. still to come on "pbs news weekend." talking to kids about the war in the middle east. and how swimming safety and historic racism are intertwined. >> this is pbs news weekend from weta studios in washington, home of the pbs newshour weeknights on pbs. lisa: the 20 trucks of humanitarian aid that crossed into gaza from egypt today were the first life-saving supplies

to reach gazans since the war between israel and hamas began. but before this month's attack by hamas, 450 trucks of aid arrived in gaza daily. earlier, i spoke to martin griffiths, the un under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergey relief about what this new aid means for the humanitarian crisis. >> you know, the only thing 20 truckloads of aid can do, apart from no doubt save some lives and there's nothing better than saving a single life. i think, as we all know, is to show the world this can be done. you can deliver aid to gaza. the fact that we could get in even 20, which is very, very few trucks of aid into gaza to that beleaguered tragic population, means we can do it again, again and again and again. lisa: so that leads to the next

question. i know there are scores of trucks lined up waiting to get in with more aid. help us understa the negotiations, the challenges, and is there going to be an opening for those soon. >> well, i really hope so. i hope we have more deliveries tomorrow. as we speak tonight, tonight here in cairo, we're deep in negotiation with the different authorities about this. we want to get in 20 to 30 trucks tomorrow, if we possibly can. we want to go up day by day by day. we have a target, by the way, of getting up to 100 trucks a day. but the issues that we have to resolve are really quite simple to understand and not easy to negotiate. number one. we have to agree with the israelis in particular, but also with other parties. whatind of inspection regime there will be to make sure that our trucks aren't going to carry aid in, which is to do with the war. no guns. thank you very much.

number two, we want to be able to be sure that the humanitarian aid we deliver is delivered according to and respecting what's called the rules of war. people should be allowed to decide where they travel, when they travel, if they travel and where they feel safe. so those two things we are negotiating with all concerned. if we can get them right, and i think we will get them right -- we are getting a lot of help from a lot of countries -- we can start moving up that number of trucks from 20 to 30 to 40 to 50, eventually to 100. lisa: how would you describe the humanitarian crisis right now in gaza and where it's headed if there isn't more aid soon? >> one of the things that i find most terrifying about gaza is the absolute uncertainty of what's going to happen.

people don't know if they're going to have to move out of the north. people don't know where they're going to have to go to live in the south. people don't know when the military operation will start. people don't know if trucks are going to arrive. and if they do, how long they're going to have to wait for the next one. uncertainty breeds terrible insecurity. it breeds distress, and it is a stress on life. and it is our job as your representatives, frankly, from the international community, to try to reduce that uncertainty and to tell people there will be breakfast tomorrow where you live. it's kind of that simple. lisa: is there a starvation risk? i've heard some other officials say that that's real there in gaza. >> there will be. there will be. but the first the first risk, which is a killer, is the availability of water and the fuel that's needed to move water

, to make generators work, to move water so that hospitals work, clinics work, schools work and so forth. if you don't have water, you know as well as i do, you do not survive. now, unwra, which is this amazing u.n. organization which knows gaza backwards, has cut its water rations from 15 liters per person per day down to one liter, a person per day. and when the fuel runs out and the water runs out, y're not lisa: once you were able to get through negotiations, once you're able to get the aid in, how do you ensure that it can be secure either from being in a target zone by israelis or a threat from has, or that workers won't be overrun by crowds? >> well, you know, the tragic

truth of the world that you and i live in today is it's full of places that you can't be damn sure about any of those things. first of all, we have 75 years of experience in gaza. we know the communities. we believe the communities can trust us. we want that to be maintained so that we know where they ll be safe and we will go where they need to go. that's the first thing. number two, we will insist on diplomacy. your president has done an amazing job this week here in the region in insisting on why international humanitarian law is not an optional extra or another law to apply. it's the bedrock of how people manage conflict humanely. so we know we have law behind us. we have diplomacy behind us. we have the rights of people behind us.

and we have the passion. and if i may be so bold, the courage of humanitarian workers. we're not useless. we're not without opportunities to do the job properly. but we have a hell of a job to do here. lisa: you have a hell of a job, indeed. martin griffis, the u.n. humanitarian lead, we thank you for your time. and we are going to keep in very close touch. >> thank you so much. really appreciate it. have a good program. ♪ lisa: since the war between hamas and israel began, news and social media have been filled with horrific images, stories of civilians killed and hostage takings. this information can be tough to digest for adults, but it can be especially difficult for kids. "newshour" digital senior editor yasmeen alamiri looks into what

-- into how and whether to talk to kids about this. she spoke to duke university child psychologist robin gurwitch. yasmeen: thank you so much for joining me. let's start with the most basic thing, do we talk to our kids about the war at all, and if so, when or how do we bring it up? robin: to answer your first question am absolutely positively yes. when we don't talk about difficult things, children may not bring it up because they are worried they are going to upset you. all of the science tells us if adults will bring it up, they have a better chance of helping children cope with what is going on, take a deep breath, and jump into that conversation. you can start as simply as "there is a war going on in israel and gaza, tell me what you know." yasmeen: what are the top three things we should keep in mind, or parents should keep in mind,

when approaching this conversation? robin: one would be to make sure that we as adults are in a good place to have a conversation. we have our emotions in check, we can have these conversations in a way that does not scare them or make them more anxious. i think the second one is to answer the questions that they have honestly, openly, at a level that is at their developmental age. thirdly is to recognize this is not the only conversation on the topic you argoing to have. this is the first, and it will be important for you to circle back around in the days and months ahead. lisa: age is a huge component of all of this. it makes a difference in how we approach the conversation, so how would we speak to younger kids versus teenagers about this? robin: with younger children, one of the things they are asking about is, am i safe and

are you safe? it is ok to tell them there are many that are hurt and some have died, and we feel very sad and bad about that, but it is equally important not to gonto gruesome details. that is not important. as children get older, they understand more nuances. they understand that there are not lack and white answers to everything. with teenagers, sometimes we may get more by saying, tell me what your friends are studying about all of this. and as caregivers, as parents we know that they are really telling us what they are talking about with their friends and what they are feeling. yasmeen: a lot of kids are seeing content on social media where parents have little to no control. how do we help them deal with the unexpectedly traumatic things they may come across in their feeds? robin: check in, look at it. if there are parental controls

with school-aged children, put those on. we know there is quite a bit on social media right now that is not appropriate for anyone, anybody to be watching right now. take a break from social media. turn it off about an hour before you go to bed becauseleep is often disrupted. if we are trying to go to sleep with images and stories of the horror that is happening right now, of the sadness of the tragedy, it is going to interfere with our sleep. yasmeen: unfortunately we know antisemitism and islamophobia are on the rise in this country, and this is playing out between children in schools. how do we help kids cope with being stereotyped or if they are being bullied? robin: i think it is important for us as adults, when we have the difficult conversation, to also help them identify, if you ever feel like someone is making you uncomfortable, if they are

doing or saying anything to you, please let's think about who you would tell, what you would say. i think it is also important to help them consider if you see something, what are your responsibilities? what should you do? it is not necessarily that you need to intervene as much as tell somebody or support someone. yasmeen: how often should we be having these conversations? when is it not enough and when is it sometimes too much? robi parents and caregivers know their children better than anybody else, so if you are seeing they are having a hard time with sleeping, if their behaviors are changing, maybe they are having more meltdowns or more irritability, if they are struggling with learning in school, those are usually signs that they are more anxious or worried, more concerned, to continue having those conversations. when they bring it up, sit down and answer it.

truly don't say let's talk about it later. take that window if they ask, then stop whatever you are doing and say thank you for bringing that up, let's talk about it. for particularly school age or even younger children, don't be surprised if they ask you the same question over and over and over again. it is not that they are wanting different answers, they are just trying to process the answer that you continue to give them. yasmeen: thank you so much for joining us. lisa: for more on this good conversation on how to talk to kids about the war, visit our website, pbs.org/newshour. ♪ for many, learning how to swim is a rite of passage, but a surprising number of american

children can't swim. part of that comes down to access and restrictions rooted in racism that have kept generations of swimmers out of pools. isabella jibilian of rhode island pbs explores the fight for swim safety. >> one night, phone call, woman sobbing on the phone telling me her child had drowned a 5:00 at lincoln woods. isabella: it was the early nineties, and ray rickman was a rhode island state representative. it was that phone call from a grieving mother that sent rickman on a new path, advocating for water safety. >> she watched her son drowned. she could not swim. can you imagine? you can't imagine. >> in the united states, an average of 11 people are drowning every day. isabella: mara gay was an avid swimmer growing up. today she is on the new york times editorial board.

she has written about swim access and safety. >> so we're losing 4,000 people a year to drowning. it's the leading cause of death for children from one to four. drowning is something that affects americans of all backgrounds, however, it does disproportionately affect minorities. isabella: according to the centers for disease control and prevention, black children are 1.5 times more likely and native american children are 2 times more likely than white children to die of drowning. gay says for black americans, that gap is rooted in slavery. mara: so black americans, many people know we're not allowed to learn how to read during slavery. many times they also weren't allowed to learn how to swim, and that's because it would've made it easier to escape to freedom. dogs couldn't track your scent in water, which was known among enslav americans. during segregation, you had public pools that were not open to black americans. isabella: even after segregation ended, many black americans were still unwelcome.

storyteller v. raffini grew up in rhode island. >> pools were not segregated but they were racist, and when we got there, we dealt with the racism. i can remember them calling us names like the walking tootsie roll, or there's a hershey bar in the pool. you know, all straight out, coming out with the n word. isabella: but intimidation wasn't the only way african americans were driven out of pools. mara: many communities across the south, but also elsewhere, unfortunately, chose to fill in, destroy or close their public pools, rather than allow black americans to swim in them. so white wealthier americans who were able to started forming their own clubs, their own neighborhood associations that were of course segregated. and the rest of america was shut out. isabella: wayne willis and his family are working to reverse that trend through their business, orca aquatics. his son dylon coaches the swim

team. and his daughtesydney and wife johanna give swim lessons. some of these students are able to learn for free, thanks to former state representative ray rickman. >> our number one goal, is to teach now low income children to swim and to avoid drowning. isabella: he started a program called swim empowerment to sponsor swim lessons for black and low-income youth. 2600 children have learned to swim through the program so far. mara: the reason so many americans can't swim is because they don't have safe places to learn to do so. public pools are the critical piece of this puzzle. so it would be the equivalent of calling for education for all americans without having any schools. isabella: in august, a chlorine explosion shut down the pool where orca aquatics holds its lessons. until the damage is fixed, they're teaching at a different pool, but have had to cut back

swim lessons from seven days a week to three. the shortage of pools in the area has inspired ray rickman to expand his mission. >> a $20 million olympic plus swimming pool for the people of providence to come free to swim. and we're going to get it done. isabella: rickman hopes that one day everyone in his community will have a place to swim. for pbs news weekend, i'm isabella jibilian in providence, rhode island. ♪ lisa: now online. a hot topic in my neighborhood at least. to rake or not to rake? an expert's tips on eco-friendly autumnal lawn care. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour.

and that is it for our program for tonight. i'm lisa desjardins. for all of my colleagues, thanks for being with us. and we hope you join us again this time tomorrow. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? this is a 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. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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