Up First from NPR - Airstrikes On Gaza, Shutdown Pressure Points, Venezuela Boat Strikes

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

Israel says the ceasefire is back on after it launched strikes on Gaza in response to clashes over the weekend that threaten to unravel a fragile deal. It's day 20 of the government shutdown, but the usual pressure points that push lawmakers toward a deal haven’t been felt yet. And the U.S. steps up military operations in the Caribbean, raising fears and tensions in the region.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Rosman, Jason Breslow, Tara Neil, Mohamad ElBardicy and Ally Schweitzer.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher ThomasWe get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel and Hamas say a ceasefire is back on after a day of violence in Gaza. Israel says Hamas shot its soldiers and Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes. What kind of ceasefire is this if both sides were firing? I'm Steven'skeep with Leila Fadl, and this is up first from NPR News. On day 20 of the government shutdown, the White House finds ways to pay some federal workers easing pressure on Congress to act, but how long can that last? Every day that the shutdown continues, it's harder for the administration to try to play whack-a-mole and mitigate impacts.

And the Trump administration is continuing to destroy boats in the Caribbean that it says are tied to the drug trade. How does it affect people in Trinidad and Tobago? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. I love space. I love physics. And I love movies. And when I tell people all three of those things, they often ask me about one specific movie, Interstellar. In the words of a 2013 Facebook relationship status, it's complicated. So on NPR Shortwave podcast, we rewatch Christopher Nolan's Interstellar to separate the science facts from the science fiction. Listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's tempting to try to maximize your productivity. Cross everything. off your to-do list as fast as you can so you can finally rest. But getting more efficient is not going to lead to this moment of peace because there will always be more.

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Each side is accusing the other of violating the truth that was brokered by the United States. NPR's Rob Schmitz joins us now from Tel Aviv to talk about all this. Good morning, Rob. Morning, Lila. Okay, so this doesn't exactly sound like a ceasefire if both sides seem to be firing. What do we know about what Israel says prompted the airstrikes? Yeah, officials from Israel's military say their soldiers who are working in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, which remains under Israeli control, came under rocket-propelled grenade and gunfire attack by Hamas militants.

Israel says two of its soldiers were killed in that attack. In a statement, Hamas said it was unaware of this attack, saying, it had lost contact with its fighters there months ago, and President Trump now says it appeared to be a rebel group inside of Hamas that did this. Israel responded by launching dozens of missile attacks throughout the day yesterday on what it called Hamas targets in various parts of the Gaza's trip. Gaza health officials have just updated the death toll to at least 46 Palestinians who were killed in those attacks yesterday. Okay, so this comes a week after President Trump visited the region to celebrate this

ceasefire that he basically brokered. But is that ceasefire just now unraveling if both sides appear to be attacking each other? Yeah, I mean, it's clear yesterday's events, Mark, the most serious threat to this ceasefire since it was signed a week ago. And it shows kind of how jittery both sides are in the wake of this war. Nadav Shashani, a spokesman for Israel's military, said this about what this means for the ceasefire agreement. We are not eager to fight, but we are eager to make sure that our people are safe, that our troops are safe, and that this agreement is kept, and it is a mutual agreement like any agreement. It needs to be held by Hamas. They need to do their part of the agreement. And what has Hamas said about this? Yeah, in a lengthy statement, Hamas said it was

Israel that had violated the ceasefire agreement since what it says was the first day of the ceasefire, saying that Israel has committed numerous violations of the agreement, including shooting civilians in Gaza after the deal was signed and crossing the so-called yellow line behind to which Israeli soldiers were supposed to fall back to. But what's interesting here is that both sides, Hamas and Israel, are saying that despite what's happened, they're still committed to the spirit of the ceasefire. Okay. And this brings us to a delegation of visitors arriving today from the Trump White House who hope to get things back on track. Who's heading there? Yeah, so U.S. Special Envoy, Steve Whitkoff, and Trump advisor, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived already

today. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to arrive in Israel tomorrow to try to get this ceasefire agreement and peace process back on track. Whitkoff will try to facilitate the return of the remaining deceased Israeli hostages. This is an important part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement because Israel has threatened to withhold aid to Gaza until all those bodies are returned. And it's worth pointing out here that when you have a day like yesterday full of air attacks, that tends to put a stop to the flow of aid into Gaza anyway. Now, Vice President Vance plans to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the next phase of this ceasefire plan. But, you know, first things first, they'll need to ensure that these attacks stop before they

can carry out these next steps. That's NPR's Rob Schmitz in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. it. We are still well short of history's longest federal shutdown, which was 35 days during President Trump's first term. But there is a factor in this shutdown that makes it hard to see yet how it would end. NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh is here to talk about this. Good morning. Good morning, Leela. Okay, so you've covered previous shutdowns. What makes this one different? Usually it's lawmakers who feel pressure from the public to help constituents who rely on programs that are shut down or pay essential workers who are showing up. But this time it's the Trump administration who's deciding which federal workers get paid, which government programs

get infusions of cash to keep operating. Congress is really just on the sidelines. It's the Office of Management and Budget that's making the decisions. And the president admits they're targeting agencies that Democrats care about for cuts. We've seen the Pentagon move around money to pay the military. The administration has tapped tariff revenue to pay for a program providing nutritional assistance to low-income families. And OMB is canceling transportation and energy projects targeting blue states and districts. So what does this mean for talks on the hill? There's just less pressure to get a deal because some of the impacts are not being felt as widely by the public yet. And instead of Democrats feeling pressure to fold because their projects

are being targeted, they're digging in saying this is more of the same thing from the Trump administration, cuts and layoffs. Those were happening before the shutdown. Most Democrats say what the Trump administration is doing is illegal. It's a Congress that holds the power of the purse. I talked to Virginia Democratic Congressman James Walkenshaw at a rally on the East Front steps last week. He supports paying the troops, but says what the administration is doing is just not sustainable. Every day that the shutdown continues, it's harder for the administration to try to play whack-a-mole and mitigate impacts. I mean, the question we've had every day for 20 days is, how does this end?

So are we just going to see more of the same in the week ahead, Deirdre? We are. The Senate has voted 10 times on the House passed stopgap bill. You know, that one funds federal agencies through November 21st, and they're going to vote again tonight. But it takes 60 votes to advance that bill in the Senate. Senate Democrats are expected to keep blocking it, insisting any deal to reopen the government has to address these health care subsidies that are accepted. expiring at the end of the year. Also this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning to

bring up another targeted bill that will ensure federal employees who are working during the shutdown get paid. But there's no real bipartisan talks in the Senate about a way out, and the House hasn't voted or even been in town for a month. So, I mean, how long can this last, though? It depends how much longer OMB can keep plugging these holes to keep some programs afloat, and they haven't responded to NPR's request to explain their plans. For example, example, air traffic controllers are still working but not getting paid. If we see more airport delays, that could really be a pressure point. Democrats also point to November 1st. That's the start of open enrollment as a possible pivot points when people will get notices about how their premiums are

going up. Another factor is President Trump. If he gets engaged, that could change the dynamic here. That's NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Thank you, Deirdre. Thanks, Leila. President Trump says he is stopping all subsidies to Colombia and promising to add new tariffs after Colombia's president said Trump's attacks on boats coming from Venezuela amount to murder. U.S. forces have destroyed boats in open waters and what the U.S. government describes the counter-narcotics operation. NPR's Ader Peralta is in Port of Spain and Trinidad and Tobago to report on this story. Good morning, Ader. Hey, good morning, Leila. Okay, so catch us up. What do we know so far? far about the Trump administration's strikes on boats in the Caribbean?

I mean, Lila, these strikes, they've happened in the open waters, so there have been no independent witnesses. A lot of what we know comes from the U.S. and what they're saying is they've struck at least seven vessels, which they alleged were loaded with drugs coming to the U.S. last week, U.S. forces attacked a semi-submersible. A U.S. official told NPR that it appeared to be headed toward Europe. Two were killed and two were taken into custody in that incident. The two survivors were sent back home to Colombia and Ecuador. Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth said another strike had occurred on Friday in that that boat belonged to a leftist Colombian guerrilla group. Three were killed in that attack. And Colombia's president

said what the U.S. blew up was a fishing vessel. I think the big picture here is that it has been decades since the U.S. military has taken this kind of posture in the Americas. So the region is tense. Okay, so you're in Trinidad on land, not far from where the U.S. says strikes. are occurring. What's it like there? It's tense. Over the weekend, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning telling American citizens to stay away from American facilities because of a threat that they did not elaborate on. I was at a fishing village here, and the fishermen are scared. I spoke to Renut Roberts, and he says when he's out at night, he can hear drones circling. So he just heads back to shore. He told me that his daughter was dating one of the young men who was believed

killed in one of these strikes. And he says he was just a fisherman. I asked, asked him what he would tell President Trump if he could talk to him. He's trying to do something good because the drugs is really a problem. But the way are we going about doing it, we're bombing the boats and them. And we know he could do better than that. So what he's saying, right, is he knows the U.S. can do better than bombing boats out of the water. Yeah, I mean, and these guys, they've spent their whole lives in the water. They know what drug boats look like.

And he says some of the videos released by the U.S. of the strikes, they don't look like drug boats. He says those boats don't carry more than three people. They have bigger engines. And he says what scares him is that sometimes they make trips with medicine, food, and toiletries to Venezuela. And when you pack all that up, the packages can look the same as drugs. What have you heard about the people aboard these boats that have been struck? You know, I spoke to the family of Chad Joseph. He's 26.

And his family says he's a fisherman who went to Venezuela for work about six months ago. He had told his family he was coming back to Trinity. that on the same day a U.S. strike happened, and since then they've had no contact with him. I spoke to his grandma who says she hopes that one day the phone rings and it's him, but in her heart, you know, she knows that he's very likely dead, so much so that they're going to have a funeral service without a body on Wednesday. It's worth noting that the government here says that no Trinidadians have died in any U.S. attack, but I think that is the tough part of this story. Those boats and those attacks are in open waters, and the U.S. has released limited

information, and so it leaves all these families filling in the details. The only thing they know is that their family members went out into the Caribbean, and they never came back. That's NPR's Ader Peralta, reporting from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. Thank you. Thank you, Leila. A daring robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris has stunned France. Masked thieves used a bucket lift to break into one of the museum's most iconic gallery, smashing display cases, and making off with what French officials say are priceless royal jewels. All in just seven minutes, and they made their escape on scooters. Two pieces of the royal jewels were recovered, including a diamond-encrusted crown,

which belonged to the wife of Napoleon III. Police say the robbers were highly organized and a major manhunt is now underway. And that's up first for Monday, October 20th. I'm Leila Faldol. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Thanks for joining us. You can find more coverage at the stories

we talked about today and lots more on NPR's Morning Edition, the radio program that Leila Michelle A&I co-host. You can find it on your NPR station. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Rossman, Jason Breslo, Tara Neal, Mohamed Erberdisi, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziyadh, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange.

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