Transcript

7.8.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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July eighth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for today is Cindy Fraser. Today's
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front page headlines from The Washington Post are in Gaza,
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A fatal rush for aid in hot zones. US fact
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relief project routes crowds through militarized landscape. Next tears back
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on front burner fourteen nations may face higher import tax.
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White House eyes quick deals, markets on edge. Next, When
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children Die grief is exponential. Loss of young lives turns
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tragedy of Texas flooding into something worse. Next, US reports
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its highest number of measles cases since nineteen ninety two.
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Our next headline, Trump hosts netn Yahoo amid hopes for ceasefire.
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And the final headline from today's front page, Ben's Chili
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Bowl overhaul. With an eye on preservation, the famed d C.
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Half Smoke restaurant wants to ensure it retains links to
1:19
its nostalgic past. Now let's turn to our first item,
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entitled in Gaza, a fatal rush for aid in hot
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zones US fact Relief Project routes crowds through militarized landscape
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by Louisa Lovelock, Jerry she Miriam Berger, Imogen Piper, Jarrett Lay,
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and Hazambalusha from Jerusalem. The repeated fatal shootings of Palestinians
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seeking food at distribution centers in Gaza since late May
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are an outcome of the AID project's flawed design, which
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drew enormous crowds and brought them in proximity to Israeli troops,
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who opened fire on multiple occasions, according to experts in
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humanitarian aid programs, witness testimony, and visual evidence. Shortly before
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the centers opened, the United Nations warned in a briefing
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paper that the model, developed by a group of former
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U S intelligence and defense officials and business executives working
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in close consultation with Israel could lead to violence sparked
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by overcrowding Israeli forces or private military security companies may
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use force to control crowds, the UN Office for the
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Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. A Washington Post investigation found
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this occurred at least three times in just the first
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week of operations, with witnesses saying Israeli troops shot in
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the direction of crowds. Since the American backed Gaza Humanitarian
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Foundation GHF opened the first of four distribution centers in
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late May, in areas controlled by the Israeli military, Palestinians
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have been shot in the vicinity of the sites nearly
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every day, killing more than four hundred people and wounding thousands,
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according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
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Human Rights. The Post found that this violence was in
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part the result of ignoring long established norms for aid
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distribution in Gaza, and the predictable consequences of dynamics baked
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into a program that repeatedly culminated. Witnesses said in Israeli
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forces firing towards crowds during the first week of operations.
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The Israeli military said it fired warning shots towards quote
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suspects advancing on soldiers positions close to a RAFA distribution
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center on at least five occasions. In interviews, ten witnesses
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recounted that on May twenty seventh, June one, and June third,
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they saw shots fire toward or directly at Palestinian crowds
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that came from near locations where they had seen Israeli forces,
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including tanks and drones. Over those days, at least forty
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eight people were dead on arrival at the Red Cross's
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Field hospital or died shortly afterward, and the facility received
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about four hundred additional people who had been injured, most
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with gunshot wounds, according to the International Committee of the
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Red Cross. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement
4:26
that it was reviewing reports of incidents in which civilians
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arriving at the JHF distribution centers were harmed and is
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working at quote minimizing possible friction between soldiers and the
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local population. As part of this effort, IDEA forces have
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recently worked to reorganize the area through the installation of fences,
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signage placement, the opening of additional routes, and other measures,
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the military said in its statement, following incidents in which
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harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported,
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thorough examiningations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions
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were issued to forces in the field. Following lessons learned
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the route toward the distribution center that the GHF had
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instructed gozens to follow, including in Facebook posts, took them
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within three quarters of a mile of two military positions
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visible in satellite imagery, and along the same path where
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witnesses said they had seen tanks. Witness testimony and video
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evidence show that once gunfire broke out on the three
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occasions that first week, some people who were following the
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approved route to the center began running toward it and
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thus came even closer to the two military positions. The
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GHF said that recent violent incidents in Gaza were unrelated
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to its aid centers, and rejected the criticism of so
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called experts, saying in a statement that they were unfamiliar
5:54
with the complexity of the group's operations. Israel has backed
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the JHF project since late last year, saying that the
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pre existing system that relied on UN agencies and a
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network of non governmental organizations to deliver aid in Gaza
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needed to be overhauled because Hamas had enriched itself by
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seizing convoys and re selling goods. Israel has not provided
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public proof that Hamas systematically stole aid brought into Gaza
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under the UN system, and despite requests by the Post
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to officials in the IDF, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and
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the Prime Minister's Office. No evidence has been provided to
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substantiate reports of widespread diversion of UN food e. The
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UN's efforts to deliver AID in Gaza have been curtailed
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by Israel. Most of the organization's a trucks have been
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prevented from entering the Enclay, which is largely under siege
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by the IDF. The UN says its activities inside Gaza
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have been significantly restricted. Under its model, the JHF operates
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four distribution centers inside areas of Gaza occupied by the
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Israeli military. The centers rely on armed American private contractors
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for security and logistics. Food is provided on a first come,
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for a served basis, without any requirement that recipients register.
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The centers have variable opening times posted on social media
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the day before. Since late last year, the plan's architects
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have envisioned a role for the Israeli military as well.
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The planners said that as a condition of deploying resources
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to Gaza, IDEA forces outside the AID side's perimeters would
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have to target suspected militants with direct fire. According to
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internal documents reviewed by the Post, the routing of Palestinians
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through a militarized landscape was just one of the flaws
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that experts in humanitarian affairs identified in the GHF design.
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The design, set up, layout, an execution of the distribution
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all contributed to an environment that increased stress, tension, panic,
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and hazardous situations for the people receiving the items, said
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Alex Davies of the Norwegian Refugee Committee. Experts working for
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UN agencies and other eight groups say that the small
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number of distribution centers located one and a half miles
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or more from Palestinian encampment sites was a recipe for
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extreme overcrowding and panic. The GHF also didn't adopt other
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measures traditionally used by agencies to coordinate the provision of
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aid and avoid overcrowding and chaos, such as registering recipients,
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notifying them by text message and other means when to
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pick up their rations, and using vouchers that identify the
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timing and quantity of aid for each recipient. Instead, the
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GHF provided food on a first come, first served basis.
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Unless properly managed, you can eatas create confusion, allow for
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misinformation to spread quickly and induce panic and fear in
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the people waiting to receive food. Davy said the biggest
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fear is that there is not enough for everyone. Their
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survival is at stake. The GHF, in its emailed statement,
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defended the caliber of its operations. Our team includes very
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experienced humanitarian experts who designed our model to avoid the
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pitfalls and failures of UN and other groups whose aid
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isn't reaching aid seekers, the group said. The organization said
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that killings have occurred, but added, to date, there has
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not been a single casualty at or in the surrounding
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vicinity of any of our sites. The GHF added, we
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continue to experience a growing pattern of false information, seemingly
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formulated by the Gaza Health Ministry, an arm of romas,
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and echoed by the UN. It is unfortunate that the
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UN continues to push false information regarding our operations. But
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one JHF official acknowledged that there has been violence in
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connection with the operations, saying in an interview that the
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organization believes the repeated shootings have occurred because there have
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not been enough aid distribution sides. The official also said
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that people have drawn idea of fire by trying to
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take shortcuts to bypass the crowded designated route, or arriving
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before dawn to line up for scarce food packages, only
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to get lost in the dark and straight toward idea
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of positions desperate crowds. UN agencies and many other humanitarian
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groups operating in Gaza have over the years developed procedures
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designed to provide aid in a regulated and orderly manner.
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During the three months ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this year,
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for example, the UN World Food Program operated four hundred
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aid stations across the Gaza Strip, often in bakeries, hot
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meal centers, and elsewhere. You avoid the chaos by making
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sure that there is sufficient aid and lots of locations,
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because people aren't worrying about getting their first so they
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don't missed out, said one American aid worker, who spoke
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on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed
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to talk with the press. Aid recipients have in the
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past registered for assistance and been notified by text message
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and through community leaders of where to collect items. Some
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agencies provided electronic vouchers, for instance, using selphone ewalls, entitling
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the recipient to obtain a certain amount of supplies based
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on their family's need because the level of need has
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consistently been high. To mitigate the problem of crowd control,
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to mitigate what you're seeing, a lot of organizations were
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using smaller community level distributions, said Anne Mary mackenzie, a
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humanitarian expert with a decade of experience, including in Gaza.
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The jhf's approach diverged from these standard practices. According to
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humanitarian experts, you cannot manage with that many people who
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are starving to death, and that overcrowding was very foreseeable,
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set another expert in a distribution who spoke on the
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condition of anonymity out of concern for their family's safety.
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In its statement, the GHF rejected this criticism, alleging that
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the UN and other humanitarian groups have failed to deliver
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a to gozens and cited the looting of a trucks
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as proof. GHF is the only one who is delivering
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a directly to the Palestinian people. If the UN and
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others would collaborate with us, we could scale up operations,
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the organization said. In response, Ogochirefko, a UN spokeswoman in Gaza,
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said for organization will not be part of any program,
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quote that contravenes humanitarian principles. Any operation that channels desperate
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civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. Israeli troops engage
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as crowds of desperate Gosmans repeatedly swelled and surged toward
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the Ratha distribution site. They neared Israeli troops who have
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been engaged for a year and a half in battling
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Commas militants and not managing civilians. These soldiers don't have
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the know how to deal with civilians. For them, every
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one is a suspect until considered otherwise, said not of Wymen,
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executive director of Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization of
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IDEA veterans that has collected the testimonies of many soldiers
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who have fought during the conflict. Under the military's rules
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of engagement, soldiers say troops are permitted to open fire
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if they believe their lives or the lives of their
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comrades are in danger. According to Israeli activists at multiple
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rights groups, this has created a permissive environment in which
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there are rarely significant consequences for making a wrong decision.
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When you have tens of thousands of people running to
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coard boxes with a little bit of food. These kinds
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of incidents will continue happening under the current IDF rules
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of engagement, Wyman said these rarely. Military declined to answer
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questions about the testimonies collected by the group or about
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the rules of engagement under which troops are permitted to
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open fire. After Israel's Haratz newspaper reported late last month
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that military commanders ordered troops to open fire on aid seekers,
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the IDF rejected the accusations, and senior officers were quoted
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in local media as saying that civilians had been killed
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because of quote inaccurate and uncalculated artillery fire, and that
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the army had since shifted to quote other methods. The
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IDF also said last week that it had temporarily closed
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the initial aid distribution center, located in the Talal Sultan
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area of Ratha, and established a new one nearby, in
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part to reduce friction with the local population. The UN
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reported that fatal shootings continued to occur outside JHF centers
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since the early months of the Gaza War. Many Israeli
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military leaders have argued against placing soldiers in situations where
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they would be in close contact with Palestinians or distributing
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aid directly to crowds of civilians precisely because they feared
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outbreaks of chaos, unruly crowds, or shooting incidents, according to
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current and former Israeli military officials involved in the GHF
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planning process. One current official, who spoke on the condition
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of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly,
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cited an example from February twenty twenty four, when IDF
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troops protecting an a convoy were sworned by a crowd
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and opened fire, killing more than one hundred Palestinians. May
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twenty seventh, when the first of the four distribution centers
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opened in Rafa's Talleslotan neighborhood about two p m. Tuesday,
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May twenty seventh, it initially attracted just a trickle of people.
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Gossins recalled they had walked south along the coastal of
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Rashid Road from an area known as Fish Fresh in
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the city of Communis to a place known locally as
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Flag Circle before turning inland toward the DHF site. The
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area had been declared a closed military zone by the IDF,
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mini the Israeli military had banned Palestinians from entering it.
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Along the route, according to photographs, were signs warning them
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of danger if they veered from the road. An IDs
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spokesman said the military had not put up the signs
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and is unclear who did. As Mohammed twenty six turned
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left along the final stretch toward the AID site, he
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said all appeared calm. He entered through a fenced passageway
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and was checked for a weapon before he was allowed
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to collect a box of cooking oil, tea and rice.
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On the roads outside, however, crowds were starting to grow
17:00
as words spread to Khanyunis that the food center had opened.
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He recalled. The crowd swelled into the thousands. Witnesses said
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the situation eventually turned chaotic, with some gossins pulling down
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the perimeter fences as they raced to reach the AID first.
17:16
Some time after four p m, according to four Palestinian witnesses,
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gunfire erupted in the direction of the crowd, coming from
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near two locations where they had seen Israeli tanks or
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quad copt drones. The gunfire happened when people left the
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path that the army set for them, said Bajashirab forty nine,
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who said he watched the scene unfold after hitting the ground.
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A video from that afternoon posted by local journalist Tomarkishta
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and verified by the Post shows several Palestinians appealing to
17:49
one of the contractors for help through the wire fence.
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I swear by God, we want your safety, the contractor
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shouted back through the fence. If you don't go, the
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tanks will attack you, he said in Arabic. In a
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statement that night, the IDF said that it had fired
18:05
warning shots in the area outside the compound. Mahaned Kishta,
18:10
another local journalist, said that gunshots, which he believed to
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be warning shots, cracked out shortly after he saw a
18:17
group of children fear off the road, but people heading
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in the direction of the aid center along the approved
18:23
route kept running toward it. Their hunger and their desire
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to get food for their children outweighed their fear, Kishta said.
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About seven pm, local photographer Doa Albaz started taking pictures
18:37
of several tanks to the east of where she stood.
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Shortly afterwards, she said, an armored vehicle on the road
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directly in front of her opened fire. That day, forty
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eight people were admitted to the Red Cross Field Hospital
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with gunshot wounds. The International Committee of the Red Cross
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ICRC said June first, similar events unfolded on subsequent days
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in the vicinity of the Toallosulton site. On Sunday, June first,
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the center opened early in the morning, and people began
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gathering hours before that in the hope of reaching the
19:12
site before aid Ram dry. Mohammed al Gharib, a local journalist,
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was among those on the Al Rashid Road close to
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Flag Circle who said they heard an Israeli drone announced
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to the growing crowd about four a m. That the
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site would not open until six a m. Not long
19:30
after shooting began again. He said. Four witnesses said in
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interviews that they saw gunfire toward the crowd, coming from
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multiple locations where they said they saw Israeli tanks or
19:42
quad copters. These Raleigh military said that troops about a
19:46
kilometer from the distribution site had opened fire. IDF troops
19:51
acted to prevent several suspects from approaching. The military said
19:55
warning shots were fired towards several suspects. A video provided
20:00
to the Post by the g h F shows three
20:03
tracer rounds ammunition that leaves an illuminated trail to help
20:07
a targeting being fired over the distribution center. A clip
20:12
of that video is included in this article. Every One
20:16
was running, said Moas Kisha, who had been seeking aid.
20:19
Part of the problem was that no one knew the way,
20:22
he said. The ICRC reported that two hundred people were
20:27
taken to the Red Cross Field Hospital, most with gunshot wounds.
20:31
Twenty one of them were dead on arrival. Additional casualties
20:35
were taken to other medical facilities, according to doctors at
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those sites, June third, The following Tuesday, June third, proved
20:44
even more deadly. Two witnesses said they saw shots fired
20:48
directly into the crowd, coming from locations where Israeli forces
20:52
had been Sighted Journal's Mohana Kisha said that the gunfire
20:57
began as he ran with a large crowd toward the
21:00
distribution site. There was constant firing on civilians trying to
21:04
get the aid. He said, why did they shoot at us?
21:07
Because we entered the wrong way. When gunfire erupted, Maj
21:12
Solma dropped to the ground. He recounted there was direct
21:16
gunfire on the people who had gathered along the nearby
21:19
coastal road as they waited for the center to open,
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he said. The IDF said in a statement that it
21:25
had opened fire closer to the side, this time approximately
21:29
half a kilometer away, after troops quote identified several suspects
21:34
moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routs. The
21:38
military said the soldiers had fired warning shots and then
21:42
additional shots near people who kept moving forward. The IDF
21:46
had no further comment about how warning shots are targeted.
21:50
In video footage filmed by Mohannad Kishta about six hundred
21:54
meters from the JHF site, bursts of rapid gunfire are audible.
21:59
He said that the shot came from an Israeli tank
22:01
he saw just south of the road. In the video,
22:04
which was verified by the Post, gosins carrying white sacks
22:08
of food aid are seen streaming away from the side
22:11
and toward the sea, but those yet to get aid
22:15
continue to move toward the distribution side along the approved route.
22:19
At one point, the red glare of a tracer round
22:22
streams across the road as gunshots rang out. The path
22:26
of the tracer fire is horizontal, near or slightly above
22:30
had height, According to two ballistics experts who reviewed the
22:33
video and a clip of the video is included in
22:37
the article. The trajectory of the round is not the
22:40
type of trajectory I would expect for a warning shot,
22:44
especially in a humanitarian situation filled with civilians, said Wes Bryant,
22:49
a former US Air Force Special Operations targeting expert and
22:53
former Chief of Civilian Harm Assessments at the Pentagon. Warning
22:57
shots are not supposed to go directly at or into
23:00
the entity you were warning. The Red Crossfield Hospital received
23:04
one hundred seventy six people who had mostly suffered gunshot wounds,
23:09
and an additional twenty seven who were dead on arrival
23:12
or died shortly afterward. The ICRC reported other victims were
23:17
treated elsewhere doctors at other locations, said Berger reported from Jaffa, Israel,
23:23
Piper from London, Lay from New York, and Belusha from Hamilton, Ontario.
23:29
Cap Brown in Washington, Hiba Paruk Mafus in Cairo, Suzan
23:33
Handeyamos Mohammed el Shama and Abi Chiefsman in Berut, and
23:38
Mustafa Sealin in boddav contributed to this report. Our next
23:43
autumn is entitled Tariffs Back on front Burner. Fourteen nations
23:48
may face higher import tax. White House Eyes quick deals
23:53
markets on edge by Aba Batari. President Donald Trump on
23:59
Monday threatened tariffs between twenty five percent and forty percent
24:03
on imports from fourteen countries, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand,
24:08
and Bangladesh, the first of what he said would be
24:11
a series of higher duties as the administration continues negotiating
24:15
trade deals ahead of a new August first deadline. In
24:19
a string of near identical letters posted on Truth's Social
24:23
his social media site, Trump said the United States quote
24:27
has agreed to continue working with each country despite large
24:30
trade deficits. Our relationship has been unfortunately far from reciprocal,
24:36
he wrote, adding that the proposed tariffs are just a
24:39
starting point. If for any reason, you decide to raise
24:42
your tariffs, then whatever the number you choose to raise
24:46
them by will be added to the country's import fees.
24:50
The new tariffs released Monday are strikingly similar to the
24:53
Quote Liberation Day levies Trump announced in April, and would
24:57
begin at twenty five percent for Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan,
25:03
and Tunisia, and go as high as forty percent for
25:06
Myanmar and Laos. Meanwhile, South Africa, Bosnia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Thailand,
25:14
and Cambodia would face tariffs between thirty percent and thirty
25:18
six percent, and a chart of the terraffs is included
25:21
in this article. The President is determined to light a
25:25
fire under those trading partners whom he thinks are not
25:27
moving fast enough, said Wendy Cutler, vice president of the
25:31
Asia Society Policy Institute and a former U s trade negotiator.
25:36
But to hit two of our closest allies, Japan and
25:39
South Korea, with high terraffs, particularly when we have benefited
25:43
from co operation with them on semiconductors and energy and
25:46
ship building, and when their companies invest a lot in
25:50
the United States, it is hard for me to circle
25:52
the square here. Cutler said she was particularly surprised by
25:57
the measures against South Korea, which has had a free
26:00
trade agreement with the United States since twenty twelve that
26:03
the new tariffs would violate. Trump has long criticized the alliance,
26:07
calling it a job killing trade deal during his first campaign.
26:11
His willingness to go after a long time trading partner,
26:14
Cutler said, signals a bigger shift in US trade policy.
26:19
This certainly caused into question the value of a free
26:22
trade agreement with the United States, she said. The administration's
26:27
ninety day pause on tariff said Trump rolled out in April,
26:30
ranging from ten percent to about fifty percent on imports
26:33
from dozens of countries, is set to lift Wednesday, though
26:37
Trump issued in an executive order later Monday delaying that
26:41
day to August. First, if you wished to open your
26:44
heretofore close trading markets to the United States and eliminate
26:48
your tariff and non tariff policies and trade barriers, we
26:52
will perhaps consider an adjustment to this letter. Trump wrote
26:56
the letters with odd capitalizations and broad assertions about the
27:00
causes of bilateral US trade deficits with the country's targeted
27:04
were a break with the norms of trade diplomacy. Economists,
27:08
business owners, and foreign officials struggle to interpret the onslaught
27:12
of new terror proposals Monday. It was unclear, they said,
27:16
whether the administration was serious in his plans or just
27:19
hoping to jumpstart stalled conversations, though both scenarios added to
27:23
mounting economic uncertainty. There's this enormous threat, but it's like
27:29
he doesn't want to squeeze the trigger. Marcus Noland, Executive
27:32
Vice president and director of studies at the Petersen Institute
27:35
for International Economics said of Trump, he keeps extending the
27:40
deadline to give people time to make a deal. Whether
27:43
or not this is another bluff, it certainly leaves things unsettled.
27:48
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant on Sunday says the tariff letters
27:52
were a way to encourage other countries to move things
27:54
along in trade negotiations. I think we're going to see
27:58
a lot of deals very quickly, he said on CNN's
28:01
State of the Union. Despite the administration's repeated assurances that
28:06
it is close to negotiating major trade agreements, deals have
28:10
been slow to materialize. Last week, Trump said on social
28:14
media that he had reached a trade agreement with Vietnam,
28:18
including a twenty percent tear off on the country's imports,
28:21
though details remain fuzzy. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt
28:26
told reporters Monday that the president's teriffs are aimed at
28:30
fixing trade imbalances that have cut into US manufacturing. He
28:34
is literally looking at the map and looking at every
28:37
country on the planet and seeing where they are ripping
28:40
off the American people, seeing where they have hollowed out
28:43
our industrial base, seeing where our jobs have gone to
28:47
other countries overseas because of their tariff policies, and he's
28:51
trying to correct that, Levitt said. Still, investors are on edge,
28:56
with all three major stock indexes falling as the new
29:00
trade announcements rolled out each end of the day, down
29:03
less than one percent. Though, you just don't know what
29:07
truck's going to do tomorrow, and that's what's scaring the markets,
29:11
said Desmond Lochman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute,
29:15
a Washington think tank. Even if all this gets rolled back,
29:20
there's going to be a price for the economy. Rachel
29:24
Siegel and David J. Lynch contributed to this report. Next
29:29
from Today's front page and item entitled When Children Die
29:34
Grief is exponential loss of young lives turns tragedy of
29:39
Texas flooding into something worse. By David Ovali, the Central
29:44
Texas flash flooding that killed at least one hundred four
29:48
people is among the deadliest flood events in the past
29:51
fifty years, but it's the disproportionate number of children who
29:55
perish that sets it apart from others in recent history.
29:59
As of my at least twenty seven children were among
30:02
the dead, about a third of the total casualties, a
30:06
number made more jarring in an era of modern forecasting
30:09
and communication meant to prevent such disasters. Angry river water,
30:15
engorged by historic levels of rain, attacked the most wholesome
30:19
of American institutions, summer camps for kids. Unlike the Children's
30:24
Blizzard believed to have killed hundreds of young people in
30:27
the Midwest in eighteen eighty eight, or the Galveston, Texas
30:31
hurricane that collapse an orphanage and claimed ninety kids in
30:34
nineteen hundred, the scenes of innocence lost unfolded almost immediately
30:39
on social media and television for a global audience. The
30:43
ten girls from Venerable Camp Mystic who remained missing amid
30:47
the thread of more floods. The father desperately searching for
30:51
his eight year old among twisted trees and water log
30:54
stuffed animals near the banks of the Guadalupe River. Twin
30:57
sisters killed are granddaughters of a former Miami Herald publisher
31:01
who founded and chairs an organization that advocates for early
31:05
childhood education. The Texas tragedy comes as experts worry that
31:11
children around the globe are increasingly at risk from extreme
31:15
weather events because they are smaller physically, less developed psychologically,
31:19
and dependent on adults for support and protection. An estimated
31:24
seven hundred ten million young people around the world, most
31:27
in developing countries, are at particular risk because of climate change,
31:32
the abbe Zey Group Save the Children, estimated in twenty
31:35
twenty one. In the United States, research on how natural
31:39
disasters affect young people remains limited. Almost two decades ago,
31:43
US researchers analyze mortality data and concluded that among young victims,
31:49
children between ages five and fourteen are most likely to
31:53
die as a result of cataclysmal storms and flood events,
31:56
but such fatalities are few and far between. Overall, child
32:01
death and disaster is very rare in the United States,
32:04
said Lori Peake, sociologist and director of the Natural Hazard
32:08
Center at the University of Colorado who co authored that study.
32:12
This is what makes a tragedy of this scale all
32:15
the more disconcerting and makes it feel all the more
32:18
urgent that we come together to prepare for future weather extremes.
32:23
In Texas, the larger toll won't be clear immediately. Child
32:26
survivors such as those displaced by Hurricane Katrina in two
32:30
thousand five will suffer psychological trauma long after the spotlight
32:34
has receded. That could include separation, anxiety, nightmares, depression, engaging
32:40
in risky behaviors, or withdrawing from activities, said Alice Fothergill,
32:45
professor of sociology at the University of Vermont, who, along
32:49
with Peak, studied the long term effects of Katrina on kids.
32:54
Disasters last a very long time in the lives of children.
32:57
Father Gill said, they are incredibly vulnerable in so many ways.
33:02
Taking stock of history, tallying the number of children killed
33:06
in natural disasters is difficult, particularly for events that happened
33:10
decades ago when record keeping was less precise. Even declaring
33:15
them natural disasters can be complicated. Scholars point out that
33:19
the impacts of floods, fires, storms, and earthquakes are exacerbrated
33:23
by human produced vulnerabilities. Earthquakes in Pakistan two thousand and
33:28
five and Sischwan, China two thousand and eight claimed thousands
33:33
of young people who were crushed when their shoddily constructed
33:36
schools collapsed. In nineteen eighty eight, more than eight thousand
33:40
children in Columbia are thought to have died when a
33:43
volcanic eruption caused mudslides in a town near the volcano,
33:47
a tragedy marked by searing images of a thirteen year
33:50
old girl who succumbed after she was trapped in the
33:53
rebel for days. How we define children is different too.
33:58
The flood of eighteen ninety nine in d Johnstown, Pennsylvania,
34:01
in which a hallacious storm caused a neglected dam to burst,
34:05
killed more than two thousand, two hundred people, most certainly
34:08
in undercount Officials recorded almost four hundred children among the dead.
34:14
Working teenagers in the late eighteen hundreds, who to day
34:18
might be considered children were often counted as adults, said
34:21
Amy Reagan, historian at Heritage Johnstown, a historic preservation organization
34:28
in Johnstown. It could have been worse. Most children were
34:31
at home, not congregated at schools when the dam burst.
34:35
Still ninety nine entire families died. It was a matter
34:40
of what the water picked up, what debris hit, what area,
34:44
what building you were in, Reagan said. Nearly a century later,
34:48
in nineteen seventy seven, another damn failure and flash flooding
34:53
again devastated Johnstown, killing eighty four people. Including nineteen children
34:58
dead or missing. More recent US natural disasters have inflicted
35:02
high death tolls with fewer child deaths, but they are
35:05
no less heartbreaking. Estimates vary, but Katrina killed at least
35:10
a dozen children in Louisiana alone, according to state death data.
35:15
A tornado in Jaffa, Missouri, killed thirteen high school students
35:18
in twenty eleven. Two years later, a tornado in More,
35:22
Oklahoma collapsed a concrete wall at an elementary school, killing
35:27
seven students. Last week's floods stand out because so many
35:31
children were gathered in the Texas Hill Country, where about
35:34
two dozen camps offer cooling refuge for students on summer vacation.
35:39
For generations, young people have come to Hill Country to canoe, swim, fish, hike,
35:44
practice archery, and taste freedom away from their households. The
35:49
region had experienced similar tragedy before. In nineteen eighty seven,
35:54
ten teenagers from a Christian camp died when their bus
35:57
and van were swamped by delujah floodwater from the Guadalupe
36:01
River and its tributaries. The camp or deaths underscore every
36:05
parent's worst fear, tragedy striking when you have entrusted your
36:10
kids to the care of others vulnerable and far from home.
36:14
It's similar to how we think about school shootings. Schools
36:18
are supposed to be particularly safe places, said Jacob Ereames,
36:22
Professor of Disaster Studies at New York University. These deaths
36:26
are not supposed to happen. The Children's Blizzard of eighteen
36:30
eighty eight happened when what had been a mild, sunny
36:34
day suddenly morphed into a mailstream of wind and freezing
36:38
weather across Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas. At least
36:44
two hundred people died. Many students were caught while walking
36:48
home from school because the Army Signal Corps failed to
36:51
issue a cold warning the previous night. At the time,
36:55
newspaper accounts revealed more outrage about damaged crops than dead
36:59
shapes children, said David Laskin, author of The Children's Blizzard.
37:04
Almost a century later, students and staff from the Oregon
37:08
Episcopal School found themselves in a similarly freak snowstorm on
37:12
Mount Hood, marring what was supposed to be an easy
37:15
day hide to the summit. Nine people died in the
37:18
nineteen eighty six tragedy, prompting an investigation legal settlements and
37:23
a wrongful death lawsuit. Now in twenty twenty five. With
37:28
forecasters using state of the art satellite technology and the
37:32
ubiquity of smartphones, children aren't supposed to die like they
37:36
did In Central Texas. Officials have vowed to investigate whether
37:40
warning systems were sufficient or will ever be sufficient, in
37:44
a region dubbed flash flood Alley for its history of
37:48
dangerous inundations. There is something particularly frightening about flash floods
37:53
in MAYUS. Rehm said, they moved so quickly, it's so
37:57
hard to predict where it's going to happen. It's coming
38:01
in the middle of an incredible downpour. It feels very biblical.
38:06
Our next item is entitled U S reports its highest
38:10
number of measles cases since nineteen ninety two by Lena H. Sun.
38:16
The United States has reached its highest annual measles case
38:20
taally in thirty three years, hitting at least one thousand,
38:23
two hundred seventy seven confirmed cases across thirty eight states
38:27
and the District of Columbia. The milestone marks a public
38:31
health reversal in defeating a highly contagious vaccine preventable disease
38:36
as the anti vaccine movement gained strength. The nation surpassed
38:41
infections reported in twenty nineteen, reaching the largest number of
38:45
cases since nineteen ninety two, when officials recorded more than
38:48
two thousand, one hundred infections, according to data published Friday
38:52
from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation
38:57
or CORRY. It's devastating, said Clare Hannon, executive director of
39:02
the Association for Immunization Managers, a national organization of state
39:07
and local immunization officials. We worked so hard to eliminate
39:12
the thread of measles and to keep it at bay,
39:15
authorities said. At least one hundred fifty five people have
39:19
been hospitalized and three people have died of measles related
39:22
complications this year. The dead include two otherwise healthy children
39:27
in Texas and a man in New Mexico, all of
39:30
whom were unvaccinated. In contrast, only three measles deaths were
39:35
reported between two thousand one and twenty twenty four. According
39:39
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About ninety
39:43
two percent of measles cases in twenty twenty five were
39:46
in people who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status
39:50
was unknown. According to the CDC. Data from the c
39:54
d C does not yet reflect the record, as it
39:57
is updated weekly on Wednesdays, while the Johns hop Kinside
40:00
validates data every weekday. The largest outbreak has been in
40:05
West Texas, where officials have recorded more than seven hundred
40:08
fifty cases since late January and believed the true toll
40:12
is much higher. Data shows that outbreak has slowed, but
40:16
that it has spread to surrounding states. Unrelated clusters of
40:20
cases emerged elsewhere, usually originating with an unvaccinated person who
40:25
traveled abroad. Measles was officially eliminated from the US in
40:29
two thousand, with high vaccination covered and rapid outbreak response.
40:34
Cases still popped up periodically, but in recent years, large
40:38
outbreaks with fifty or more cases have become more frequent,
40:42
especially in close knit communities with low vaccination coverage. Public
40:47
health experts say the US is on track to lose
40:49
the elimination status if there is continuous spread of linked
40:53
measles cases for more than twelve months. It's a harbinger
40:57
of things to come, said Eric Ball, pediatrician who heads
41:01
the California chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Once
41:05
we see a resurgence of measles, we know that other
41:09
diseases are going to come behind it. Consequences of vaccine
41:13
distrust misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps,
41:19
and rubella vaccine fueled the one thousan two hundred seventy
41:22
four cases recorded in twenty nineteen. According to public health
41:26
officials and researchers, outbreaks that year were concentrated in ultra
41:31
Orthodox Jewish communities in New York, highlighting the risks in
41:35
tight knit communities where vaccine distrust takes hold. Confidence in
41:40
public health measures, especially vaccines, has fallen since then and
41:45
is sharply divided along political lines. The national rate for
41:50
MMR vaccination among kindergarteners was slightly above ninety five percent
41:54
in twenty nineteen, the level of community protection scientists say
41:59
is needed to prevent measles outbreaks, but that rate is
42:02
now under ninety three percent and falling. According to the CDC,
42:08
even in states with high vaccination coverage, pockets of unvaccinated
42:13
people tend to cluster together. Measles is so contagious that
42:17
a person without immunity exposed to the virus is highly
42:21
likely to be infected and to spread it days before
42:24
they developed symptoms. A recent study showed that if US
42:29
vaccination rates continued to decline, the nation could face millions
42:33
of cases over the next twenty five years. A poll
42:37
conducted in March by the Harvard TH H. Chan School
42:40
of Public Health and the De Beaumont Foundation found that
42:44
seventy nine percent of adults say parents should be required
42:47
to have children vaccinated against preventable diseases such as measles, lumps,
42:52
and rubella to attend school. Support was stronger among Democrats
42:57
ninety percent than among Republicans sixty eight percent. Five years
43:02
after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, less than half
43:06
the public says it has at least some components in
43:08
federal health agencies to carry out core public health responsibilities,
43:13
according to a poll conducted in April by the health
43:16
care think tank KFF. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
43:21
Kennedy Junior, a long time anti vaccine activist who ascended
43:25
to be the top US health official, has offered mixed
43:28
messages about measles and the vaccine to prevent it. He
43:32
initially downplayed the seriousness of the Texas outbreak after the
43:36
first child died, saying we have measles outbreaks every year.
43:41
He accompanied his calls for vaccinations with caveats, raising concerns
43:45
about the shots of public health experts call unfounded. Kennedy
43:50
has responded to the measles outbreak quote with clear guidance
43:54
that vaccines are the most effective way to prevent measles.
43:57
Ahhs's spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement, at the
44:02
same time, we recognize that some individuals and communities across
44:06
the US may choose not to vaccinate. Our commitment is
44:09
to support all families, regardless of their vaccination status, in
44:13
avoiding hospitalization and serious complications from measles, including death. To
44:19
help achieve the shared goal, Nixon said, the CDC has
44:22
developed a Measle's toolkit that is regularly updated and designed
44:26
to offer options quote tailored to meet communities where they are.
44:31
Unlike previous large measles outbreaks, the CDC has not held
44:36
any media briefings. Nola Jean Ernest, a pediatrician in rural
44:41
southeastern Alabama, said many of her patients trust others who
44:44
share their political views more than her when it comes
44:47
to vaccination. She now sees patients who vaccinated older children
44:52
refuse to vaccinate their infants. I've had several conversations in
44:57
the last few months where they will say, we still
44:59
try trust you, we just don't trust the vaccines. Ernest
45:02
said recently, that really breaks my heart. Anatomy of an
45:07
outbreak in Texas infections in late January spread quickly within
45:12
Gaines County's Mennonite community, some of whom educate their children
45:16
at home or private schools without vaccine mandates. The county
45:20
had among the lowest kindergarten MMR vaccination rates in Texas,
45:24
about eighty two percent, according to state immunization data. Public
45:29
health officials said they faced challenges in controlling the outbreak
45:33
because many people were not getting tested or vaccinated from measles.
45:38
Anti vaccine groups mobilized quickly on the ground. Many Mennonite
45:42
families turned to a prominent anti vaccine doctor who offered
45:46
unproven alternative treatments. Kennedy praised that doctor and his methods
45:51
in a visit to the region. Children's Health Defense, an
45:55
anti vaccine group founded by Kennedy, interviewed the parents of
45:59
a six year old who died of measles, blaming her
46:02
death on medical air rather than vaccination status. The organization
46:06
did not immediately return a request for comment. Eventually, thirty
46:11
six Texas counties reported Meso's cases. Young adults from El Paso,
46:16
who worked in oil fields close to Gaines County, were
46:19
among those infected this spring. El Paso went from five
46:23
cases to fifty three in a month, said Hector Ocaranza,
46:27
director of the City and County Health Authority. Ocaranza said
46:31
his community was vulnerable because a growing number of young
46:35
adults listening to what they see and hear on social
46:37
media are not getting vaccinated. Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for
46:42
the Texas Health Department, said last week that the reporting
46:45
of new measles cases has slowed, crediting rising population immunity
46:49
from infections and increased vaccination, but the outbreak is not over.
46:55
Transmission is continuing in Gaines County, as well as Lamar
46:59
County in northeast Texas bordering Oklahoma, according to Health Department data.
47:04
In Chiwaua, Mexico, which borders Texas and New Mexico, a
47:08
child who visited Texas in February started a large measles
47:12
outbreak that now exceeds two thousand four hundred cases and
47:16
eight deaths as of last week, according to data from
47:20
the Pan American Health Organization. A costly disease, measles operaks
47:26
require vast personnel, time, dollars, and messaging. Public health experts
47:31
say the twenty nineteen outbreak cost New York City eight
47:35
point four million dollars, with five hundred fifty staff involved
47:39
in the response. According to a twenty twenty report in
47:42
the New England Journal of Medicine, funding for state and
47:45
local public health agencies, including immunization programs, has been slashed
47:51
after increasing during the pandemic. Public health workers have been
47:55
laid off because of widespread budget cuts across the federal
47:58
health agencies. Because of the decrease funding, Texas had to
48:03
pull resources and staff from other parts of its health
48:06
department to respond to the outbreak, David Suckerman, a senior
48:10
CDC scientist, told a committee of agency vaccine advisers in April.
48:16
In Dallas, which has had one measles case this year,
48:19
health officials had to lay off sixteen immunization staff because
48:23
of federal cubs, said Philip Wang, director of the county's
48:27
Health and Human Services Department. The fact that this is
48:30
occurring at the same time that we are seeing more
48:33
measles cases in Texas than we have seen in more
48:36
than thirty years, makes absolutely no sense, Huang said. Next
48:42
an article entitled Trump hosts net Yahoo amid hopes for
48:47
cease fire by Madviser Claire Parker and Rachel Chasen, President
48:53
Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin net Yahoo at
48:57
a dinner Monday night, with a tune meeting at a
49:00
key moment and lavishing praise on each other amid efforts
49:04
to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and determine the course
49:07
of negotiations with Iran. I want to express the appreciation
49:12
and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the
49:16
Jewish people. Netnyah, who said he then presented Trump with
49:20
a letter he said he wrote, nominating the President for
49:22
the Nobel Peace Prize. You deserve it, Netanyahu said, as
49:26
Trump read the letter, approvingly, coming from you in particular,
49:30
this is very meaningful, Trump said, in a notable shift.
49:34
Trump also pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine to
49:37
aid the country in its war against Russia, saying they
49:40
would be aimed at helping their defensive capabilities. We're going
49:44
to sense more weapons. We have to, he said. They
49:48
have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit
49:50
very hard. Now they're getting hit very hard. We're going
49:53
to have to send more weapons. The White House visit
49:57
is Netnyahu's third since Trump took office less than six
50:01
months ago, and was scheduled to be far more understated
50:04
than his prior visits before it was open to reporters
50:07
at the last minute. Trump and net Nya, who sat
50:11
at a long table in the Blue Room of the
50:13
White House, their aids next to them and play settings
50:16
for dinner in front of them. During an extended session
50:19
with reporters, both leaders spoke of a need for shorter
50:23
term agreements, but differences were still clear in their approaches
50:27
to any long term solutions. Trump said that additional talks
50:31
with Uran were scheduled, something his aids indicated would happen
50:35
in the next week or so. Net Nyahu, however, indicated
50:39
the tensions were still lingering. The U S and Israeli
50:43
attacks on Uran led to quote a historic victory. Net
50:47
Nahu said, and I think as we sit here to day,
50:51
that this has already changed the face of the Middle East.
50:54
He said, and I hope I'd like to believe that
50:57
Urn would not test our fortitude because because it would
51:00
be a mistake. Trump expressed optimism for a ceasefire between
51:05
Israel and Hamas, saying they want to meet and they
51:08
want to have that ceasefire, but asked about the possibilities
51:13
of a two state solution that would give Palestinians control,
51:16
Trump said he didn't know and that it was a
51:19
question for net Nyahu. The Prime Minister, made clear that
51:23
he would stop far short of agreeing to the full
51:26
statehood Palestinians have sought. I think the Palestinians should have
51:31
all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the
51:34
powers to threaten us, net Yahu said, And that means
51:37
that certain powers, like overall security, will always remain in
51:41
our hands. We will work out a peace with our
51:44
Palestinian neighbors, those who don't want to destroy us, and
51:48
will work out a piece in which our security, the
51:51
sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands. He added.
51:56
Now people will say it's not a complete state, it's
51:59
not a state. It's not that we don't care. You know,
52:03
we vowed never again, never again. Is now it's not
52:06
going to happen again. Net Nahoo met earlier in the
52:10
afternoon with Secretary of State Marcarrubio and then with Steve Whitcock,
52:15
Trump's Special envoy to the Middle East and an architect
52:18
of the proposed Seespire deal. Wikoff plans to travel to
52:22
Doha this week to continue negotiations, White House Press Secretary
52:26
Caroline Levitt said, and Trump has expressed hope that a
52:30
ceasfire deal can be wrapped up this week. Net Yahoo
52:34
plans to stay in Washington for much of the week
52:36
to meet with members of Congress, Pentagon officials, and Vice
52:40
President J. D. Vance. I think we're going to close
52:44
a deal on Gaza. Good have it this week, Trump
52:47
told reporters on Sunday. I think there's a good chance
52:50
we have a deal with Hamas during the week pertaining
52:53
to quite a few of the hostages. You know, we've
52:56
gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to
52:59
the remaining messages, quite a few. We think we'll have
53:01
that done this week. The President has also expressed hope
53:05
of expanding the Abraham Accords reached during his first term.
53:10
Under an expanded version of the accords, Israel could normalize
53:14
relations with other countries in the Middle East, such as
53:17
Saudi Arabia. That has appeared unlikely, but Netnaho said before
53:22
his departure that the opportunity to expand the circle of
53:26
peace is far beyond what we could have imagined before.
53:30
Johann And Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said
53:34
several factors in Israel, the wider Middle East, and Washington
53:39
have laid the groundwork for what could be the most
53:41
significant diplomatic shake up in the Middle East since the
53:44
nineteen seventies. Since the early seventies, when President Richard M.
53:49
Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger re engineered the
53:53
architecture of the region, we have never been closer to
53:56
an entire rearrangement of regional diplomacy and posture, Pleasner said.
54:01
For decades, things have been very stagnant, and now possibilities
54:05
are opening up that we thought were unimaginable for decades.
54:10
Part of the momentum has to do with Trump's strategies,
54:12
he said, but Israel's military successes, beginning with the decimation
54:17
of Hesboalad's leadership last year and including its performance in
54:21
the Twelve Day War with Haran have also dramatically changed
54:25
the power of relationships in the region. Jonathan Reinhold, the
54:29
head of the Political studies department at Bar Lawn University
54:33
in Israel, said there is no doubt that chances for
54:36
cease far have improved Hamas is under immense pressure and
54:41
in Israel public opinion has been against continuing the war.
54:45
He said, net Yahoo owes Trump because of the U
54:49
S decision to join the attack against Iran's nuclear program.
54:52
He added, if President Trump is upset, that also damages
54:57
net yahou at home. Reinhold said. Trump said last week
55:02
that Israel had agreed to the framework of a deal
55:04
for a sixty day sease fire that mediator's hope will
55:08
provide a window of calm in which to negotiate an
55:11
end to the twenty one month war. Under the framework,
55:15
a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post,
55:18
more than half of the fifty Israeli hostages remaining in
55:21
the custody of militants in Gaza, believed to include roughly
55:25
twenty alive and thirty dead, would be released in five
55:28
stages over the course of a two month truce in
55:32
exchange for an as yet unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
55:37
The first release on the first day of the ceasefire
55:40
would see eight living hostages freed. On day seven, the
55:44
bodies of five hostages would be released on the tenth day.
55:48
According to the framework, Hamas would provide information about the
55:52
medical conditions of the remaining hostages, while Israel would reveal
55:56
information about the Palestinians it is detained from Gaza since
56:01
October seventh, twenty twenty three. The remaining hostages would be
56:05
released when a final peace settlement is concluded. Israel is
56:10
holding more than two thy four hundred people from Gaza
56:13
in administrative detention as quote unlawful combatants. According to Israeli
56:18
rights group Hamoked, that status strips detainees of rights, including
56:23
their right to a lawyer, for long periods, allowing Israel
56:27
to hold many of them in secret for months. Release
56:30
detainees reported having been subjected to physical, psychological, and sexual
56:36
abuse in Israeli prisons. Prisoners from the West Bank are
56:40
also expected to be released under the deal. If the
56:44
ceasefire holds. Additional exchanges would take place on days thirty,
56:49
fifty and sixty. Also under the deal, Israeli forces would
56:54
withdraw from parts of northern Gaza on the first day,
56:58
and a week in is Israeli forces would pull back
57:01
from parts of southern Gaza. The exact boundaries of the
57:05
withdrawal map have yet to be agreed upon. Hamas submitted
57:09
amendments to the proposal to mediators on Friday as part
57:13
of what the group called a positive response. One of
57:17
the points of contention is Hamas' desire for Israeli forces
57:21
to withdraw all the way to the lines they held
57:24
during a previous seaspire this year. According to Ibrahim Madhun,
57:29
a Palestinian political analyst close to Hamas, Ramas has not
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commented publicly on the changes it has sought, and multiple
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Hamas officials did not respond to questions. Since Israel broke
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the seaspire in March, however, it has expanded the buffer zone.
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Officials say it intends to hold permanently inside Gaza. Another
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potential sticking point how humanitarian aid gets to Gaza's civilian population.
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Haramas once aid distributed through the United read Nations and
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the Palestine Red Crescent Society rather than through the Gaza
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Humanitarian Foundation, an operation backed by Israel and the United States,
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and patrolled by private American security contractors that has largely
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taken over AID distribution inside Gaza since late May. Due
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to the constraints of time, we will be unable to
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complete this item. This concludes the reading of the Washington
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Post for to Day, Tuesday, July eighth, twenty twenty five.
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Your reader for to day has been Cindy Fraser. If
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you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
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please feel free to call us at eight five nine
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four two two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening,
58:45
and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio
58:50
I