Reuters World News - Israel's Gaza endgame, Venezuela in from the cold and Hollywood's holiday drama

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza is expected soon. But what’s its endgame for the enclave? President Joe Biden links Israel to Ukraine in a rare prime-time address to the nation. Venezuela comes in from the cold after the United States eases some Trump-era sanctions. Plus, looking forward to that Thanksgiving cinema trip? Maybe curb your enthusiasm, the Hollywood strike is scrambling the holiday lineup. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, the US downs missiles from Yemen and fends off drone attacks in Iraq and Syria. Diplomats express fear that the war is spreading, while Israel lacks an obvious endgame for its relentless onslaught in Gaza. Plus, what an easing of sanctions on Venezuela means for the oil market and Hollywood's depleted fall lineup. It's Friday, October 20th. is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Thunel.

We're facing an inflection point in history. One of those moments where the decisions we make today are going to determine the future for decades to come. President Joe Biden calling on Americans to stand behind Israel and Ukraine in a rare Oval Office address. The primetime appeal for billions of dollars of aid comes as a U.S. Navy warship shot down three cruise missiles and several drones, fired by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen. Here's U.S. Brigadier General, Pat Ryder. We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen, heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel. Our defensive response was one that we would have taken for any similar threat in the region.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, another Iran ally, is firing rockets at the Israeli border, and U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria are increasingly coming under drone attacks. Biden said the U.S. needed to support Israel against Hamas after the militant group killed 1,400 Israelis and took around 200 people hostage. The president also stressed the urgency of getting relief to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. We mourn every innocent life lost. We can't ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians. A Greek Orthodox Church was struck on Thursday

as it sheltered hundreds of displaced civilians. This survivor said he came here to try and escape the war. Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu meets with troops gathered along Gaza's northern border, preparing for what it's calling, Operation Swords of Iron. The invasion will be unmatched in its ferocity, according to regional and Western officials.

But then what? What does a post-war Gaza look like? I spoke to Crispian Barmer, who's working in our busy bureau in Jerusalem, and you may hear some of the office noise in the background in this interview. Crispian, what is Israel's endgame here? The truth is we don't know. Their stated aim is to eliminate Hamas. Beyond that, they haven't said. That is a very daunting challenge in itself. Hamas is an idea. How do you defeat an ideology? It is being governing Gaza now for 15 years. It's deeply rooted into the enclave. And by that, I mean, it has got a huge network of tunnels where its military will operate. It is a very, very difficult proposition.

to get rid of Hamas from Gaza will take a huge military effort by the Israelis, and they are focused on that as far as we can tell. They have admitted that they have not thought of what to do the day after, i.e. if they do succeed, and it isn't if, if they do succeed in eradicating Hamas from Gaza, then who will take over running the enclave? Do we have an answer to that? I think it's probably very fair to say that Israel does not. want to have to go back in there and occupy it. I think there's a big question mark as to whether

Israel has enough soldiers to occupy Gaza. It was struggling just to keep a lid on the West Bank, taking charge of Gaza, which has got 2.3 million people living there, densely populated, largely urban, that's a huge proposition. I think the Israelis would hope that they could pass it over to the Palestinian administration, which government. in parts of the West Bank where it's allowed to. But I doubt whether they would want to sort of follow in on the Israelis coat tails and be seen to be sort of doing the Israelis bidding. I think the feeling from the capitals around the region

that our correspondents have been talking to is, if Israel breaks this, Israel has to fix this, and it cannot expect us to come and pick up the pieces. These are questions that the Americans are pushing to the Israelis, saying to the Israelis, listen, you have to think of the day after Biden himself said that after 9-11, America made mistakes. And I think one of those mistakes is that they did not plan for how they were going to run Iraq after invading the country. And I think the message that U.S. officials have been saying is,

do not make our mistake. Have a plan. Concerns Israel's war with Hamas may spark a wider regional conflict are pushing oil prices higher. but there could be some relief coming from an unlikely source, Venezuela. The United States this week eased sanctions on the South American oil producer. Mariana Paraga is in Houston. So why is this happening now? Well, mainly because the U.S. was a presidential election in the second half of 2024 in Venezuela, which would solve the very deep political and economic crisis the country is in,

but also because the Joe Biden administration is trying to counter the OPEC cuts that have been taking place since last year. And also the fact that the Russian barrels are no longer flowing freely to the markets. It's not just oil markets that are spooked right now. The tension is everywhere. Carmel Crimmons is here to talk markets. And Carmel Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been talking to investors. Has he lifted the mood? Well, he hasn't added to the fears, if I can put it like that.

He suggested that the Fed is inclined to hold rates steady again at its next meeting while it watches the data, so his remarks have been interpreted as being generally dovish. And the market is now back-focused on surging US yields and worries in the Middle East, so shares are down and oil and gold are up. Leadership of the US House of Representatives remains in limbo. Ohio Republican Jim Jordan flip-flopped on Thursday, first backing a plan to keep temporary speaker Patrick McHenry in the top spot through to January. Jordan then reversed course, saying he planned to push ahead for a third vote.

He needs 217 votes to take the role, but had just 200 and 199 in his first two rounds. Donald Trump's former lawyer, Sidney Powell, has pleaded guilty to helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election. Powell has agreed to testify against the former president, if called. U.S. Army private Travis King has been charged with discharges. for running into North Korea in July. The army has also charged King with assault against fellow soldiers and solicitation of child pornography. In a statement, King's mother asked that he be afforded the presumption of innocence.

Italian Prime Minister George Maloney says she has separated from her television journalist partner, Andrea Gianbruno. The announcement comes after Gianbruno was caught on camera, making lewd and sexist remarks. As the screen actors Guild Strike nears day 100, it's starting to hit upcoming movie releases. And with the holidays right around the corner, studios are taking notice. Lisa Rich Wine is in Hollywood. The strike has definitely left some big holes in the fall movie lineup.

The biggest is June Part 2, which was a highly anticipated sequel to June, which the first one had to come out during the pandemic. But this time, they were hoping to do a big theatrical release of it, but they have postponed it because the actors are on strike. So Zendaya and Timothy Shalema cannot go out and get on a red carpet or get on a talk show and promote it. So they've moved it to next March at the moment. So there's some big titles like that that have been moved that will not be coming to your local theater this fall. How will the strike weigh on end of the year movie going?

The holiday season is Hollywood's second biggest period of the year after summer. So it's crucially important to them. and again, they've had to move a couple movies out of the Christmas season. There's still a pretty full schedule. There's movies like Aquaman that's scheduled to come out at Christmas, but the situation with the actors is so fluid that it's unclear how the rest of the season will shake out. It's possible that other studios might decide they also need to have their stars out promoting films, so they're going to shift them into next year.

So is that putting pressure on studios to come to the negotiating table? The delays are definitely a concern. The studio executives do not want big holds in next year's lineup. Next year's movies should be in production right now, but actors are not on sets, so they're not being filmed. One thing that theaters will have is Beyonce in cinemas in December. She has a concert film coming out following in the steps of Taylor Swift, which did huge business this past weekend. So theaters do have concert films, and they're looking for other things like that to try to fill the holes that they're facing because of the stuff. track. That's it for today's show. We'll be back over the weekend with a deeper look at the

hostages being held inside Gaza and the global diplomacy at play in this conflict. And then we'll be back on Monday with our daily news show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.