--:-- David Folkenflik: Third-party negotiators say that they are close to completing a ceasefire deal in the Gaza war. Even so, Israel and Hamas have not commented on the latest proposal.
--:-- Scott Simon: And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- David Folkenflik: The mediators say a smaller team will meet again next week to iron out details.
--:-- Scott Simon: We'll have more on that agreement and the emergence of polio in the Gaza Strip. Plus, another set of peace talks continues, this one to end the war in Sudan. That conflict between the government and rebels has led to the world's worst refugee crisis.
--:-- David Folkenflik: And we look ahead to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. So please stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.
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--:-- David Folkenflik: It's now been more than 10 months since Hamas-led forces attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people there. Israel's counterattack has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
--:-- Scott Simon: We turn now to NPR's Hadil al-Shulchi from Tel Aviv. Hadil, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: Of course. Where do we stand with the talks? So, international mediators said that they presented a proposal that narrows the gap between Israel and Hamas. It's not the final deal, but they do say that this proposal is consistent with the plan President Biden presented back in May.
--:-- David Folkenflik: They said that this coming week, a technical team will meet to iron out some sticking points like the hostage prisoner exchange and figure out how to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: They'll have that meeting in Cairo. And, you know, there have been some hopes that a deal may be reached soon. There is something that feels a bit different about this round of talks, you know, some positivity. President Biden even said that, you know, they're not there yet, but it is the closest they've come to an agreement, but he didn't want to, quote, jinx anything.
--:-- Scott Simon: One of the big issues we're going to be keeping an eye on is what happens with this control of a strip of land along Gaza's border with Egypt called the Philadelphia Quarter. Israel took control of it in May and Hamas wants a withdrawal from it.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: They're also trying to figure out a system to screen Palestinians returning into North Gaza so that only unarmed civilians go through. And, you know, these talks have been very important, but this round is especially critical because it comes after the killing of Hamas' leader a couple of weeks ago in Tehran, widely presumed that Israel was behind it.
--:-- David Folkenflik: So we've kind of all been holding our breath to see if Iran retaliates with its own strike. And a positive deal may ward that off.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: And on Friday, the first case of polio was announced in Gaza by health officials. The World Health Organization has called for their own seven-day pause of the war to vaccinate children. Could that happen? You know, we'll really have to wait and see on this one.
--:-- Scott Simon: Yesterday, the United Nations Secretary General asked for this mini-ceasefire and said they want to go in to vaccinate at least 64,000 kids. He said the WHO approved the release of 1 million doses of polio vaccine to medical teams. And the Israeli government said it will work with the WHO on the vaccination campaign.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: You know Gaza has been polio free for 25 years according to the UN. The thing is, aid workers have been saying that it's been nearly impossible in some cases to deliver life-saving supplies like vaccine into Gaza because there hasn't been a guarantee for their safety when they enter the strip.
--:-- David Folkenflik: They've also had trouble getting medical supplies like refrigerators and fuel into Gaza, because many times the Israeli military who inspect the trucks bringing that stuff in will turn them back if they find one thing on them that they think could be used as a weapon.
--:-- Scott Simon: So even if they do agree to a pause of the war for a week for this vaccination campaign, it'll take an effort to organize. And a deal.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: Some Israeli settlers went on a rampage Thursday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and killed a Palestinian. This time, some far-right Israeli politicians condemned the attacks. And that's not very common, is it?
--:-- Scott Simon: Yeah, exactly. So what happened is there was dozens of settlers, many wearing masks, and they stormed a village near Neblus, shooting live ammunition, burning homes and cars. The United Nations says settler violence in the West Bank has doubled since the war in Gaza started in October.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: And in this case, the Israeli military was called in to break up the crowd, and they called it a serious incident that would be investigated. The military also said that they arrested, one Israeli civilian. According to rights groups, arrests and prosecutions are pretty rare in this case.
--:-- Scott Simon: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denounced the violence, saying that he took the riots seriously. But then even far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned the attacks. He's an ultra-national settler himself who has been using his political powers to push for expanding settlements in the West Bank.
--:-- Hadil al-Shulchi: But this time he called the violent settlers criminals.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Piers Adil El-Sholchi in Tel Aviv, thanks so much. You're welcome.
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Negotiations to end the war in Sudan continue in Geneva today. That conflict has displaced some 12 million people and thrown much of the population into acute hunger. NPR's West Africa correspondent, Emmanuel Akinwotu, joins us now. Emmanuel, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: Good morning. What are conditions like in Sudan right now? You know, the collapse of the country has been an epic disaster and it's only getting worse. And there are several factors at play. More than a fifth of the population in Sudan has been displaced in just over a year, 15 months or so of fighting.
--:-- Scott Simon: The health system has collapsed. The few hospitals that haven't been destroyed are overwhelmed. More than a million people are already suffering famine-like conditions. And there are fears of a genocide against African ethnic groups in the western region of Darfur.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: It happened 20 years ago and it appears to be happening again. And the volume of aid just hasn't been high enough. And both sides have blocked aid from being delivered across the country.
--:-- Scott Simon: I spoke to Mohamed Rifat. He's the head of the International Organization for Migration's mission in Sudan. It's a UN agency which has been responding to the refugee crisis. And he says aid delivery has been even harder during the rainy season.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: We have now floods that started almost a month ago that have been cutting roots. We are not able to access some of the major cities in Sudan. Over 73,000 have been impacted and dozens of people are missing. The situation is really dire.
--:-- Scott Simon: Aid groups say millions of people and children could die of hunger in the next few months if there's not an intervention. And tell us about the peace talks in Geneva, because past attempts have failed.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: Well, there are two main parties to this war. There's the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, who are the military government in Sudan. And there's the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. These two parties were allies and now they're fighting essentially for control of the country.
--:-- Scott Simon: At these talks so far, the SAF haven't actually showed up, which has undermined the talks from the start. They are upset that the talks give legitimacy to the RSF and positions them as equal players and they also object to the role of the United Arab Emirates at the talks.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: They and other organisations accuse the UAE of backing the RSF who of course deny this. So overall it not been a great look for these US efforts Tom Perriello is the US envoy to Sudan, and he spoke about this in an interview yesterday.
--:-- Scott Simon: We really respect their right to give their own explanation of why they're not here. But we've gone forward with a really strong diplomatic coalition. The focus is on results. We are moving forward and we could do so much more if the SAF delegation were to arrive.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: So they're still hoping the SAF will show up. At this point, a ceasefire seems unrealistic, but there have been some attempts towards opening up aid routes, but not a major breakthrough as of yet.
--:-- Scott Simon: Emmanuel, why is it more being done to pressure various parties to stop the war and end this horrific humanitarian crisis?
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: Well, Scott, it's been virtually impossible to get a consensus between all the international actors who have a stake in Sudan. This country has been this battleground of international competition for its resources and for influence. For several years, several countries are fueling this war, providing arms, supplies to both sides, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia. But a major factor has been the UAE. They've been accused of heavily funding the RSF. Essentially, as long as this support continues, so will the war.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Perez Emanuel Akinwoto, thank you so much for being with us.
--:-- Emmanuel Akinwotu: Thanks, Cole.
--:-- Scott Simon: And finally, some news about home, quite literally home for Scott. That's right. Sweet home Chicago. Once again, host to the Democratic National Convention, NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Ron Elving: Good to be with you, Scott.
--:-- Scott Simon: The nominees, of course, are already in place at the DNC for the Democratic National Convention. And so will the next four days just be an infomercial? That's what these conventions have become now. Four nights of pep rally, fundraising, and free airtime for personal promotion.
--:-- Ron Elving: We haven't had a convention with real suspense about the outcome since the 1970s. It's all been decided in the primaries. Still, it's a major task to stage a successful convention, one that really boosts a candidate.
--:-- Scott Simon: And this one in particular has a lot at stake, both inside and outside the convention hall. Inside, it'll be about sustaining the energy that Vice President Harris has going for her right now.
--:-- Ron Elving: But outside will be a different story. Demonstrators angry about U.S. support for Israel or angry at the Biden administration for other issues are expected to turn out for the thousands, maybe tens of thousands.
--:-- Scott Simon: And this could well bring back memories of the street violence that ruined the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. That was when the Vietnam War brought huge crowds of protesters marching in the streets where many were beaten by police.
--:-- Ron Elving: Lots of enthusiasm now and encouraging information in the polls, but there is a lot of road between now and November. What kind of challenges does the vice president's campaign have to keep up that sense of surge in popularity? She's made a good start, but she needs a strong follow-through.
--:-- Scott Simon: So, for example, this week she's been in North Carolina laying out some programmatic detail about her economic plan. She knows it's not enough to tell consumers that inflation has slowed, which it has. Consumers want prices to come down.
--:-- Ron Elving: And they are ready to believe that many businesses have profited, perhaps excessively, by keeping them elevated. So tax policy is another area for siding with working families.
--:-- Scott Simon: And here she is talking about the tax cuts in her economic plan. Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut. And we will do this by restoring two tax cuts designed to help middle class and working Americans. The earned income tax credit. And the child tax credit. through which millions of Americans with children got to keep more of their hard income
--:-- Ron Elving: Trump and his campaign have struggled to find their footing since Biden dropped out and Harris stepped in. They had a playbook that was working for them all year until the end of June, and now it's largely irrelevant.
--:-- Scott Simon: Trump himself has not been out there stumping the way Harris has. He had a press conference at Mar-a-Lago and a rather glitchy two-hour conversation with Elon Musk, and both produced as much negative news as positive.
--:-- Ron Elving: In fact, both contributed to a storyline that's been circulating, asking whether Trump is in fact okay or whether he is showing signs of his age more than before.
--:-- Scott Simon: And this week, Trump did what troubled baseball teams sometimes do. Scott, he brought in a new manager. In this case, it's an old manager, Corey Lewandowski, a name from 2016.
--:-- Ron Elving: He was around for the first part of Trump's rise in the primaries that year, but he was replaced soon thereafter.
--:-- Scott Simon: I have to ask you about an unusual moment this week. Donald Trump, speaking at his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, Thursday night, said that the presidential medal of freedom he gave out while president are valued above the Medal of Honor.
--:-- Ron Elving: And he became, I think it's fair to say, what I'll call painfully specific. Those Medals of Freedom are certainly a worthy accolade, Scott. They've been used to salute achievement in many fields, sports and entertainment, but also at times used by presidents in both parties as a reward for political allies.
--:-- Scott Simon: Trump used it in office to honor radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, for instance, and also to honor the wife of a billionaire donor, Shelton Adelson, a woman who is now his widow, Miriam Adelson.
--:-- Ron Elving: And she was at a Trump event this week, and he referred to his giving her that medal, and he called it the equivalent of the Medal of Honor, sometimes known as the Congressional Medal of Honor. That's the highest and most revered honor in the military.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's given in recognition of the extraordinary actions of soldiers, sailors, and Marines who risked and often sacrificed their lives for others.
--:-- Ron Elving: But then Trump went on to say that the medal he gave Miriam Adelson was, quote, actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, that's soldiers. They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they're dead, end quote.
--:-- Scott Simon: And last night, the head of the VFW, the nation's oldest and largest veterans group, called Trump's remarks asinine and said they forced him to question Trump's fitness to be commander in chief.
--:-- Ron Elving: NPR's Ron Elvin, thanks so much.
--:-- Scott Simon: Thank you, Ron.
--:-- [Closing music plays]
--:-- Scott Simon: And that's up first for Saturday, August 17th. I'm David Folkenflik. And I'm Scott Simon. Fernando Naro and Andrew Craig produce today's podcast. Danny Hensel directed. Our editors were Dee Parvaz, Shannon Rhodes, Greg Dixon, and Matthew Sherman. Hannah Glovna is our technical director with engineering help from Nisha Hines, Arthur Laurent, and Andy Huther. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Oliver is our executive producer. And Jim Cain, he's our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow, here in the Up First podcast feed, a close look at the New Hampshire Youth Detention Center and why 1,300 former residents from as far back as 60 years ago have filed lawsuits over alleged abuse.
--:-- Scott Simon: And why not listen to more news, analysis, interviews, and even some game shows? Hey, we all need a little joy on your local NPR station. Find it by going to stations.npr.org. Do it now. Click the first view on the》 ensuring in the mind. The
