Up First from NPR - Israel Calls Reservists, NATO & Ukraine, Hurricane Erin

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Israel plans to call up 60,000 reservists for a new Gaza City offensive, even as Hamas says it has accepted a ceasefire deal. U.S. and European officials are drafting security guarantees for Ukraine. And Hurricane Erin is flooding North Carolina's Outer Banks and forcing evacuations as it tracks up the East Coast.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 Ryland Barton, Andrew Sussman, Susanna Capelouto, Adriana Gallardo and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Destinee Adams, and Christopher Thomas. We 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 is calling up 60,000 reservists as the military moves forward with plans to take over the largest city in Gaza. But there's a ceasefire proposal on the table. Hamas says it has agreed will Israel. I'm Leila Faudil. That's Michelle Martin, and this is up first from NPR News. The U.S. is working with Europe on new security guarantees for Ukraine. I strongly continue to believe that the only solution is NATO membership. for Ukraine. This would stop the war. This would stop Putin's aggression because Putin is afraid of only one thing NATO. But Moscow won't accept any NATO presence there. So what do these guarantees actually look like for Ukraine? And Hurricane Aaron has pushed water over roads

in North Carolina's outer banks, forcing evacuations. We're tracking the storm, so stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Israel is moving ahead with a new mission to take control of Gaza City. The Israeli military is calling up tens of thousands of soldiers, and the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered military officials to speed up preparations to seize Gaza's biggest city. At the very same time, Israel is considering a new offer for a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv to tell us more about this. Good morning, Daniel.

Good morning, Michelle. So can you just help us make sense of this? What direction is Israel heading in here, a ceasefire or expanding the war and taking territory? Israel is giving off contradictory signals. On the one hand, the military yesterday called up 60,000 new reservist soldiers there to report for duty beginning in September, and that will bring the total number to 120,000 mobilized reservists. That's a huge number. The plan is to encircle Gaza City, send soldiers in, and then later on send soldiers to central Gaza. These are the last major areas Israel has not yet taken over because it's where hostages are believed to be held. At the same time, there is a ceasefire offer on the table since Monday. Egypt and Qatar finally got Hamas to accept that offer without any changes, and now the ball is in Israel's court. And Israel has not yet replied. But Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu has put out statements that suggest Israel does not like the offer. Hostage families, people who have loved ones held in Gaza are calling on Israel to accept the deal on the table not to carry out the Gaza city operation that could endanger their loved ones in Gaza. There were major protests earlier this week calling for a deal with Hamas. And so Israel finds itself at a major crossroads in the war, and it has not decided what strategic direction to take. If Israel does go ahead with plans to capture Gaza City, what would that look like and what's the military objective? Well, Israel sees Gaza City as a major stronghold of Hamas. Soldiers are already beginning to carry out strikes on the outskirts of the city as

kind of initial steps of beginning this new operation. It would be a major offensive and it would be very complex. It would entail Israel ordering the displacement of many hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, and aid groups are warning that would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. And it also makes Egypt very nervous about Palestinians streaming potentially across the border into Egypt. It would also be a very tough fight. And there was a rare incident in southern Gaza yesterday that provided a preview of what may come. There were more than 15 Hamas militants who stormed an Israeli military outpost in southern Gaza. One soldier was severely wounded, according to Israel, and Israel estimates it

was an attempt to take a soldier hostage. So that just shows that Hamas does have guerrilla units and does have battlefield motivation. But, Michelle, this might not be an either or, either a Gaza city offensive or a ceasefire deal. Israeli media are quoting the defense minister as saying in a closed forum that just starting the ground operation in Gaza City and entering the city could force Hamas to agree to a more comprehensive ceasefire and hostage deal. So, Dan, and before we let you go, what is the ceasefire deal on the table and why would Israel not accept it? They are the same terms that the U.S. had actually proposed weeks ago.

It would be a 60-day ceasefire. Hamas would release half of the hostages. There would be a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the world's experts on hunger and famine say famine is unfolding. But Israel is now publicly demanding all the hostages in Gaza be released. Not half. And so Netanyahu is under the same political pressure. If he agrees to kind of a ceasefire deal now, his far-right political partners could topple his government. That is. NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you. You're welcome.

Senior Pentagon officials have been meeting their counterparts in Europe this week. The mission is to work out security guarantees for Ukraine to help end the current war with Russia. and prevent a future one. This effort comes as Russia unleashed one of its largest ever airstrikes overnight. For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myrie in Ukraine's capital Kiev. Greg, good morning to you. Hi, Michelle. To start, tell us what ideas the U.S. and European countries are kicking around. Yeah, President Trump asked the chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs, Air Force General Dan Kane, to develop plans for security guarantees for Ukraine, but in a U.S. role would likely be limited to some form of air support. Trump is clear he doesn't want U.S.

troops on the ground in Ukraine, even as peacekeepers after the war ends. Now, General Kane is talking to European defense officials. Some European countries say they could send troops at some future point, but I really want to stress, this is all very preliminary right now. The war is still raging. Russia carried out one of its largest ever air strikes overnight, more than than 600 drones and missiles. And President Volodymyr Zelensky said this includes a Russian cruise missile that hit an American electronics factory. More than a dozen people were wounded. This plant, which makes civilian electronics, is in an isolated part of far western Ukraine. We're trying to get more details.

What's the view in Ukraine on possible security guarantees? Yeah, Ukrainians just aren't holding their breath. They think Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to keep fighting. They say that any Western security promises really need to be iron-clad. I spoke with Alexander Marejko, a member of parliament who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee. I strongly continue to believe that the only solution is NATO membership for Ukraine. This would stop the war. This would stop Putin's aggression because Putin is afraid of only one thing, NATO. So many Ukrainians do feel this way. Ukraine was promised a path to NATO membership way back in 2008. It hasn't gone anywhere, and Trump says it's not going to happen now. Trump's envoy,

Steve Whitkoff, has talked about a guarantee that could be something like NATO's Article 5, which says an attack on one, is an attack on all. But Ukraine has had these limited security promises in the past, and that hasn't stopped Russia from invading. It wants something much stronger this time. And he's on Russia would accept any type of Western troop presence or NATO guarantee for Ukraine. Russia is really a hard know on this. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, repeated the country's position that Russia should have veto power over security guarantees for Ukraine, which would make any guarantees essentially worthless. Russia has always rejected a NATO presence in Ukraine, and that's really one of the main reasons Putin launched this war to make sure Western troops didn't move closer to Russia's borders. So given that Ukraine and Russia have these polar opposite positions, is there any way forward? Well, right now it's hard to see any middle ground. Again, here's Alexander Moreshko, the member of parliament.

At present moment, interests and positions, stances of Ukraine and Russia are diametrically opposed and they cannot be reconciled. And really, just one final note, Michelle, this flurry of diplomacy has seen a little bit differently from this end. There is high interest, but just lots of skepticism. They just don't see Russia or Ukraine, for that matter, hinting at any major concern. sessions. That is NPR's Greg Myrie and Keefe. Greg, thank you. Sure thing, Michelle. Hurricane Aaron remains well offshore as a category two storm, but its massive size and strength means it's already disrupting life on the Atlantic coast. North Carolina, Governor Josh Stein gave his own brief, but very clear warning. No one should be in the ocean. Forecasters continue to warn of potential coastal flooding, high winds, and life-threatening rip currents from the Carolinas to New Jersey.

Well, Michaels, has been monitoring the storm's impact from member station WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and joins us now. Good morning. Good morning. So what are you seeing in North Carolina? Where is Hurricane Aaron having its greatest impacts? This storm has been hitting the famous outer banks. So if you look at a map of the East Coast, of course, you'll see these islands kind of bulge out into the Atlantic. And so they're often subject to the impacts of these storms, even if they don't make landfall. There's only one main road on the outer banks, and a huge portion of it is closed. The storm surge breached protective sand dunes last night, and the road is underwater. Most buildings there, oceanfront buildings, are on stilts, and so we're seeing photos and videos from business owners of water coming up the shore and underneath those buildings.

Two islands, Okrako and Hatteras, were under mandatory evacuations. We know most people listen to those warnings and left, but the National Weather Service expects ongoing storm surge as high as four feet through tonight, and they call this a prolonged event. So that means even after the storm leaves, it could be a few days before the water level returns to normal. Well, how prepared is North Carolina for this type of storm? The coast has plenty of experience with flooding,

but has to deal with it more often. We know that climate change has accelerated beach erosion and washed away dunes in many areas. So when we have exceptionally high tides, low-lying areas that were once protected are now more likely to flood. And it's also worth pointing out that it's not just happening on the coast. North Carolina is still recovering from Haleen, which tore through the western part of the state almost a year ago. Then Chantal flooded parts of central North Carolina this year over the 4th of July weekend, and both of those were deadly storms.

And Governor Josh Stein said the state is still waiting on $100 million in reimbursements from the federal government. And it creates real financial strain, especially for the local governments, but also the state. And so we'll continue to work with our federal partners to make sure that the reimbursements are processed as quickly as possible. And then we'll have to wait and see what the impacts are for Hurricane Aaron to see whether we need federal assistance. And of course, we'll know more in the coming days. You just described all this stuff that the state has already been through. Now this storm hit when summer tourism is still going strong along the outer banks. What impact will that have on this industry there?

Yeah, well, we know that there were more than 2,000 people who had to be evacuated by ferry from Ocarcoke and thousands more tourists left the Outer Banks before the storm hit. So that's a lot of lost revenue for hotels and vacation rentals in a popular destination in the two weeks before Labor Day. Cape Hatteras National Seashore and its famous Spiral Lighthouse are closed. Most of the homes on the Outer Banks, as I mentioned, are on stilts so they can avoid flooding.

but cars that were left behind could likely be flooded. So what do forecasters expect from Aaron in the coming days? Yeah, the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states are next. There are high surf advisories now all the way up the east coast, and the farther north it goes, the less likely it will be to produce tropical storm force winds or flooding, but strong rip currents are likely, which brings us back to that warning to maybe just stay out of the ocean for the next few days.

Will Michaels with Member Station WUNC. Thank you, Wilton. Stay out of the ocean. Thanks. You're welcome. And that's Up First for Thursday, August 21st. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Layla Fawden.

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