5 Things podcast: Israel intensifies assault on Gaza, Americans unaccounted for

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Israel has intensified its assault on Gaza. Meanwhile, Americans remain unaccounted for after weekend Hamas attacks. USA TODAY World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard reports from Jerusalem. Embattled Rep. George Santos has been hit with a new indictment, accusing him of making unauthorized charges on donor credit cards. Auto workers go on strike in Canada. USA TODAY Education Reporter Alia Wong breaks down new Education Department talks aimed at tackling student loan debt forgiveness. Olympic icon Mary Lou Retton is fighting for her life.

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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, Wednesday the 11th of October 2023.

Today, Israel ups rocket attacks on Gaza, plus thousands of auto workers go on strike north of the border, and the education department begins new talks for solutions on student loan debt forgiveness.

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Israel tightened its assault on Gaza yesterday, stepping up rocket attacks and tightening a blockade on food, fuel and medicine. Israel Defense Forces said they regained control of the border with Gaza yesterday, three days after Hamas militants crashed through a barrier and killed or kidnapped over a thousand Israelis. At least 14 Americans are among those dead and President Joe Biden said yesterday that Americans were also among the hostages taken in Saturday's assault. Hamas health officials say around 900 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and Gaza in recent day., and the UN says that more than 200,000 in Gaza have fled their homes. As for missing Americans in Israel, a devastating waiting game has begun along a search for answers. I spoke with USA Today World Affairs correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard for more from Jerusalem.

Kim, thanks for hopping on.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Several Americans are among the dead and those unaccounted for. What's the latest?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

We know that 14 US citizens have been killed. That's the latest assessment from the White House. We also know that there's an unknown number that are still unaccounted for, and the presumption is that some of those who are unaccounted for may have been abducted by Hamas militants. I think a lot of folks in the US and around the world have seen some of the images and videos that have been coming out of this country over the last several days that appear to show Israelis and also foreign nationals being taken over the border back to Gaza.

Taylor Wilson:

And you've been speaking with the family of some of the Americans who are unaccounted for. Just what have the past few days been like for them, Kim?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

I think the succinct way of describing that is harrowing and grizzly. You're correct. I was up at a kind of hotel that's located on a kibbutz just northwest of Tel Aviv where there were several hundred people who've been evacuated from Southern Israel where a lot of the violence took place. And these are people who were caught up in events themselves, who spent in many cases more than 24 hours in safe rooms while all around them militants were essentially trying to kill them. So they are extremely traumatized. They have stories of panic and terror and not really knowing what's going to happen to them. And they also have stories of their loved ones who they don't know where they are.

I was speaking to the daughter of one American woman who basically has a series of text messages. They were on the same kibbutz together. One of the last communications she had from her was basically that militants were breaking down the safe room door to where her and her husband were seeking shelter and they needed assistance. They really don't know whether this American woman is alive or dead or abducted somewhere. All of this is extremely raw for these people. They're finding it difficult to cope. They don't know when they're going to find their loved ones, if they will find them. It's a lot to take in.

Taylor Wilson:

What are they doing to try to find answers here? Are they in contact with the US government, with the Israeli government? What are the routes of communication like for them?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

It's a chaotic situation. The American family that I was speaking to was saying that they have had some outreach from the US Embassy here in Israel, but that the embassy doesn't really have any answers for them. They don't know anything more about where their family member is. The Israeli authorities don't. I was told that sometimes the family is being contacted by the embassy and the embassy is asking if they've heard anything more. It's a pretty disturbing and scary situation for them.

Taylor Wilson:

And Kim, you're talking with us right now from Jerusalem. We've seen a lot of images from Southern Israel and from Gaza here in recent days. What's it like there in Jerusalem right now?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Over the course of my career, I've reported from Israel about half a dozen times and I've never experienced it this quiet. Normally, when you come to Jerusalem, it's pretty bustling. There's sort of people everywhere. Now I'd say about half to 60% of the stores are closed. People who do go out seem to race from one place to another. The hotel I'm actually speaking to you from is actually closing down temporarily. I think that's probably a reflection of that there's no tourists around. There's a lot of nervousness in the air, particularly from Israel's Arab Palestinian population, which is sizable. And I think that they are feeling quite nervous because people are perhaps quite understandably, there's a lot of anger at the minute and the Arab Israelis are not playing an active role in this at all. It's difficult and it's sensitive.

Taylor Wilson:

Kim Hjelmgaard joining us from Israel. Thank you, Kim.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

A new indictment against embattled Republican Congressman George Santos accuses him of stealing the identities of campaign donors and using their credit cards in unauthorized charges. Yesterday's 23 count indictment replaced one previously filed against Santos, which accused him of embezzling money from his campaign lying to Congress and more. Santos is accused of charging over $44,000 to his campaign using cards that belonged to contributors who did not know the charges were being made. He's also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Elections Commission that he loaned $500,000 to his campaign when he had less than $8,000 in his personal accounts according to officials. Earlier this year, Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges including additional fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds accusations. Santos last year admitted that he lied about his job experience and college education during his campaign for the House seat.

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Nearly 4,300 auto workers in Canada went on strike against General Motors early yesterday. The move comes after GM and Unifor, the union that represents auto workers in Canada, failed to reach a tentative agreement by the time Unifor's contract with GM expired at midnight Monday night. It's the first strike of an automaker in Canada since 1996 and comes after the union reached a tentative agreement with Ford, which was ratified last month. Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a media briefing that remaining key issues include the union's pension demands and better steps to transition temporary workers into permanent full-time jobs. In a statement, GM Canada said it remains at the bargaining table. Unifor's US counterpart, the United Auto Workers, have been on strike since September 15th when they launched a strike against GM, Ford, and Stellantis. About 25,000 UAW members are currently on strike across the country.

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A year ago, President Joe Biden had a plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. But with that plan now extinct, the Department of Education has begun the first of several meetings to try and find a new solution. I spoke with USA Today Education reporter Alia Wong for more.

Alia, thanks for making some time for us as always.

Alia Wong:

No problem. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So the education department has begun the process of negotiated rulemaking to try and tackle student loan debt forgiveness. Alia, what does this process look like?

Alia Wong:

Negotiated rulemaking or Neg Reg for short as it's known in DC circles, it's a very complicated, very bureaucratic, very dry process, but it's also very much an example of democracy at work. The gist is that the department gathers a group of people who are called negotiators, and these are people who represent various stakeholders. They meet several times over the course of several months to debate potential changes to the country's federal higher education law.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. Alia, I want to get to the heart of what we saw at the first day of meetings yesterday. What exactly happened and what can we expect today?

Alia Wong:

The first issue focuses on balances that balloon to wall over the original mount borrowed, thanks to the cruel of unpaid interest. And so, many speakers spoke of their own struggles or of the struggles of their constituents to manage those loans because of that interest issue. Many borrowers, for example, entered repayment before interest capping options were available. Many said they were kind of encouraged or even effectively forced into forbearance without knowing the consequences, including those for interest.

And the second issue looked at people who would be or are eligible for forgiveness through things like income-driven repayment or public service loan forgiveness or relief meant for people with disabilities. People who just don't sign up for these options for whatever reason, just don't know that they're out there or don't know the process for signing up. There was a lot of discussion about the need to automate participation in some of these forgiveness programs to really improve outreach to communities who aren't actively reading the news and savvy with knowing what their options are. And at the end, they opened it up for public comment.

Today's meeting, they'll focus on the next three discussion questions, which include looking at borrowers who attended predatory or ineffective colleges and are left with debt that they're unable to pay off because they don't have jobs that can afford it. They'll also be talking about borrowers who entered repayment before certain benefits were created to ease the student loan burden. There are many, many borrowers who are retirement age who've been paying off their loans for decades and haven't seen any real dent in their balances. And that's often because the relief options weren't available at the time that they entered repayment. So those borrowers will be a focus, and then a discussion of the kinds of hardships that borrowers face that make it difficult to pay off their debt and what the department can do to ease that burden.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. USA Today Education reporter Alia Wong. Always great insight for us. Thank you, Alia.

Alia Wong:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Mary Lou Retton, a US Olympic icon is fighting for her life. Her daughter said on Instagram that Retton has a rare form of pneumonia and has been in the ICU for over a week unable to breathe on her own. Retton became the first American woman to win the all around gymnastics title at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. She also helped lead the US that year to a silver medal in the team competition. She'd go on to be honored on a famous Wheaties cereal box and later appeared as herself on a number of TV shows and movies. Nicknamed America's Sweetheart, Retton is currently 55.

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And Happy National Coming Out Day. According to the Human Rights campaign, it began on October 11th, 1988 on the first anniversary of the National March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. Today it's a good reminder to be proud of who you are and for allies of the LGBTQ plus community to offer their support.

And today, at 4:00 PM Eastern on this feed, look for a special 5 Things episode about book bans. We're seeing them happen at schools and even public libraries. Who gets to decide what we can or cannot read? I spoke with Nadine Farid Johnson, managing director of PEN America to take us inside the battle.

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 have any comments, you can reach us at [email protected]. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA Today.