CBS Evening News 10.18.23

Tonight, President B is on his way back to the US after historic visit to an active war zone. The trip, a dramatic show of support for Israel and his push for humanitarian aid to be allowed to enter Gaza appears to have had some success. And new tonight, the White House just announcing that President B will address the nation tomorrow at 8 P.M. Eastern time in an Oval Office speech. Tensions are rising in the Middle East after that deadly hospital’s explosion in Gaza. US Senators just getting out of an intelligence briefing. The B administration telling them it has high confidence that Israel was not responsible and that a misfired rocket from a terror group inside Gaza led to the blast. Now, that assessment is based on intercepts and satellite images. But all that data has little to tamp down the anger sweeping across the region. Many still blaming Israel for the carnage. Back here at home, this scene on Capitol Hill, where around three hundred protesters demanding a cease fire were arrested. And there is new warning tonight that terrorist groups like Hezbollah and an al-Qaeda affiliate are calling for attacks against the United States.

President B was only on the ground for about seven hours, and there was actually a lull in fighting. It was an extraordinary show of support for the people here and amid massive and growing anger for the explosion that took place at that hospital in Gaza. It wasn’t long after President B touched down in Tel-Aviv to the embrace of a prime minister at war that he addressed the hospital explosion that has left hundreds of people dead. The other team, meaning Palestinian militants citing US intelligence. US officials tell CBSN that includes communication intercepts and satellite images, giving high confidence Israeli forces were not responsible. That supports intelligence from Israeli Defense Forces saying this independently shot video shows that rocket comes up and down, fired by a nearby cemetery landing on hospital grounds releasing what they say is an audio intercept, implicating Islamic Jihad militants in the launch. Daytime images of the aftermath show extensive explosion damage in the parking lot not necessarily a direct hit to the hospital. Hamas still insist Israeli airstrike is to blame. The president’s visit is much a pledge of solidarity as a message to Israeli’s neighbors. At the same time, he urged restraint over retaliation, persuading the Israeli Prime Minister to allow basic humanitarian aid to deliver to southern Gaza from Egypt, desperately needed food, water and medicine. Even as the two men spoke, not far away, heavily armed bulldozers were getting in position to plow into Gaza.

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