5 Things podcast: Israel hits Gaza with slew of airstrikes after weekend Hamas attacks

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Israel hits Gaza with a slew of airstrikes after weekend Hamas attacks. USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer takes a look at connections between Hamas and Iran. President Joe Biden met with DOJ special counsel Robert Hur about classified documents. USA TODAY Congress, Campaigns and Democracy Reporter Ken Tran has the latest from House Republicans' work to elect a new speaker. A bill that became known as the 'Skittle ban' is now California law. It bans chemicals found in thousands of products.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things You Need To Know, Tuesday, the 10th of October, 2023. Today, the latest from war in Israel and Gaza, plus Biden gets interviewed over classified documents, and House Republicans work to find the next speaker.

♦

Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has ordered a complete siege on Gaza, pledged to cut electricity and cut off food and fuel into the blockaded impoverished home to more than two million Palestinians. Israel has pounded Gaza with an aerial assault in recent days. In response, Hamas threatened to kill hostages of attacks targeted civilians without warning.

Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from towns bordering Gaza. In an evening address to the nation, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that strikes in Gaza were only a starting point, a government retaliation for Hamas attacks on Israel that began Saturday. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that entire families have been wiped out in Gaza and more than 100,000 have been displaced. The latest fighting comes after the Israeli military said around a thousand Hamas fighters crashed across the Israeli border on Saturday, igniting a rampage that included shooting hundreds of civilians and kidnapping people who were transported back to Gaza.

Hamas, the largest Palestinian militant group, has also fired rockets from Gaza toward Israeli cities. Israel has destroyed four large residential towers, and according to a UN report, has also damaged four schools and eight healthcare facilities in Gaza. Israel has also severely damaged infrastructure, undermining services providing water, sanitation and more. The UN said that more than 900 Israelis have been killed in this week's conflict, and nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed. At least 11 Americans were among those dead in Israel.

And President Joe Biden said yesterday that some U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, and maybe among those held as hostages by Hamas. You can stay up to date with our live updates page on usatoday.com.

♦

A senior U.S. official said last night that Iran is complicit in funding Hamas, though it's still not clear if they played a role in this past weekend's attacks. I spoke with USA Today domestic security correspondent Josh Meyer for more. Josh, thanks for making some time on a busy week.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure, Taylor, as always.

Taylor Wilson:

So let's start here with some basics. What is Hamas and what led to this point where they carried out the attacks in Israel we saw over the weekend?

Josh Meyer:

Hamas, which is also called the Islamic Resistance Movement, it's basically a Palestinian political and militant organization. It's been around for decades, currently governs the Gaza Strip, which is one of two Palestinian Territories in Israel. And then though it's headquartered in Gaza City, it's also got a presence in the West Bank. But basically, it promotes Palestinian nationalism within a fundamental Islamic context. The problem with that is it has pursued a policy of jihad or holy war against the state of Israel. It believes that Israel has been very oppressive. There's been a lot of incursions by Israeli troops into Gaza. And so if you ask people from Hamas, they believe that this is a righteous counteraction to what the Israelis have been doing to them for many years.

Taylor Wilson:

How has Hamas historically been connected with Iran? And Josh, can you just broadly put in context for us the dynamic between Iran and Israel over the years?

Josh Meyer:

So Israel and Iran have essentially been, I wouldn't say a war, I would say it's a low intensity warfare for decades. I mean, Iran has openly said that while it hates the United States and other western democracies, that Israel is the number one Satan for them. One of the complicating factors is Iran always uses proxy forces, including Hezbollah, which is the world's biggest and most capable terrorist organization to fight its battles. It's also using proxy forces in Yemen and places like that. So Iran has a global footprint where it's trying to expand its Islamic message, and Israel is on the receiving end of that.

So one of the complications for this is that Iran and Hamas have long had a relationship where Iran considers Hamas to be one of its proxy forces, fighting forces, where it funds them, it provides training, it provides weapons for them. So in a case like this where there's this Hamas related terrorist attack, it's hard to tell exactly to what degree, if any, Iran has helped. And I just got off a briefing with a White House official, have said that clearly Iran is complicit in this in the sense that it's funded, trained and weaponized Hamas. But in terms of direct complicity in these attacks, so far, the U.S. has not seen them.

Taylor Wilson:

The U.S. as an ally of Israel's, of course, has all kinds of tensions with Iran. What does all this mean from a U.S. perspective going forward?

Josh Meyer:

Yeah, but that's a very good question. I mean, I think the U.S. just sent the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Middle East, to the Persian Gulf, and that is basically a massive aircraft carrier, and supporting ships that can basically ferry over hundreds and hundreds of American troops and planes and other material. And basically, we are afraid that this could escalate into a regional confrontation. It's one thing if Israel is fighting it out with Hamas, just like Israel fought it out with Hezbollah in 2006.

But what the U.S. doesn't want to happen is for this to spiral into a regional confrontation or even something bigger where the superpowers are forced to come in, because the U.S. has said that we will stand by Israel and support Israel. Russia supports Iran. Iran supports Hamas. So you can see how, if the dominoes start falling here and the conflict widens, how there could be some kind of regional confrontation. And that's exactly what the U.S. is trying to avoid.

Taylor Wilson:

USA Today domestic security correspondent Josh Meyer. Thank you, Josh.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure. Thanks, Taylor.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

President Joe Biden has been interviewed by Justice Department's special counsel, Robert Hur. He's investigating the classified documents found at Biden's former office in Washington and at his home in Delaware. The White House said in a statement that Biden is cooperating with the investigation. Hur's inquiry ran parallel to the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith into former President Donald Trump. Though the two inquiries differ in that Biden alerted authorities about the classified records, while most of Trump's were seized under subpoena and during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 calls for the National Archives and Records Administration to take ownership of all White House records on inauguration day after the end of an administration.

In addition, several laws prohibit removing classified records from secure government facilities. In Biden's case, his personal lawyers were vacating an office when they discovered a small number of classified documents. They were then turned over to the National Archives, according to the president's attorney.

♦

The House remains frozen as Republicans work to decide the next speaker after last week's ouster, a former speaker, Kevin McCarthy. I spoke with USA Today Congress, Campaigns and Democracy reporter Ken Tran for the latest. Ken, thanks for hop it on.

Ken Tran:

Thanks for having me, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

So House Republicans will meet tonight to hold a candidate forum for prospective House speakers. What will this entail exactly?

Ken Tran:

House Republicans will hold a closed door conference meeting and hold a candidate forum where the candidate's first speaker right now, just House majority leader Steve Scalise, Republican from Louisiana, and Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan of Ohio, on their visions for the speakership and how they'll unite the House Republican conference.

Taylor Wilson:

And House Republicans will then hold a secret ballot vote tomorrow. Ken, what will this look like?

Ken Tran:

Every time the speaker election is up eventually on the House floor, the House Republican conference does a secret ballot vote where they decide on a nominee from the conference. So when McCarthy was the nominee in January, he won the secret ballot vote by just a simple majority. After that, we don't know when the speaker election could be held on the House floor, but that could happen as soon as right after the vote. This is a secret ballot so lawmakers won't be revealed on who they vote for, and the nominee only has to win a simple majority. So of the 221 House Republicans, they have to win 111 votes.

Taylor Wilson:

Are House Democrats playing any role here?

Ken Tran:

House Democrats are largely expected to stay out of the process. House democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat from New York, he's described the infighting and Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster as a Republican civil war. He said that House Democrats are willing to work with House Republicans in a bipartisan fashion to advance goals for the country. But he hasn't really specified as to how they would do that, whether that be maybe coming into elect a more moderate speaker. But besides that, we don't envision Democrats really stepping into the process.

Taylor Wilson:

And how might the war that's broken out in Israel and Gaza in recent days impact how House Republicans act on their new speaker decision?

Ken Tran:

Well, the conflict in the Middle East has injected a new sense of urgency and pressure for House lawmakers to act quickly to elect a new speaker because without a speaker of the House, the House is completely paralyzed. They can't pass any legislation which includes possibly emergency foreign aid for Israel. Congressman Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican from New York, he was a McCarthy ally or has backed McCarthy for speaker, he criticized McCarthy's ouster as idiotic, and he's called for McCarthy to be reinstated immediately just so the House can start to get to work and pass emergency aid.

Taylor Wilson:

And what's the likelihood of this? I mean, is there any scenario where McCarthy could return as speaker?

Ken Tran:

We don't know. It's still very uncertain still. McCarthy has signaled openness to returning to the speakership, but he hasn't said whether he wants the position again. At a press conference Monday morning, he said it was ultimately a decision of the conference, but that he'd be willing to do it.

Taylor Wilson:

Ken Tran, always with some great info for us from Capitol Hill. Thank you, Ken.

Ken Tran:

Thanks for having me.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

California has become the first state in the nation to ban the use of four food additives commonly found in thousands of products, including cereals, sodas, and candies. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law misleadingly known as the Skittles ban on Saturday. It'll prohibit the manufacturers sale or distribution of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye three. The four chemicals are used in as many as 12,000 food products nationwide, despite never having been approved for consumption by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that works to put a spotlight on outdated legislation and harmful agricultural practices.

Advocates have long expressed concerns about the potential health problems that can be caused by eating products with the additives. The legislation became known as the Skittles bill because an earlier version also targeted a coloring agent found in candies, including Skittles and M&Ms. But that was dropped when the legislation was amended last month. Not everyone's happy with the new bill. The National Confectioners Association released a statement accusing California lawmakers of "Making decisions based on soundbites rather than science." You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

♦

And thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your audio. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. I'm Taylor Wilson. Back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 Things podcast: Israel Hamas war, electing House Speaker