Netanyahu’s plan to invade Rafah: “We’re not going to leave”

Good morning! It's Monday, March 11th. I'm Yasmeen Khan, in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today."

escalating violence in Haiti; the preventable disease killing more and more American babies; and the highlights from Oscars night.

But first, Israel and Hamas failed to reach a cease-fire deal before the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, which officially began on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that if a deal was not met, he would order a ground invasion on Rafah, a city in the south where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. On Saturday, President Biden warned that escalating attacks in Rafah, which would likely result in significant civilian casualties,

He must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He's hurting… In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world… It’s contrary to what Israel stands for.

Netanyahu responded Sunday, telling the German media company "Axel Springer," that October 7th was a red line for Israel. He says Israel plans to move ahead with a ground invasion of Rafah, and said, quote, "we’re not going to leave." This comes as the chief of the UN aid agency for Palestinians, known as UNRWA, says “extreme hunger” is spreading rapidly. Two more Palestinians died over the weekend of starvation, bringing the total deaths from malnutrition to at least 25.

If we knew it's getting to children in Gaza, we would do it. This does not arrive at their doorstep. This arrives into the tunnels of Hamas, that are fighting us and holding our hostages.

There's no evidence to support the idea that all of this aid is going to Hamas. Not to the rest of the population. This is intelligence only for terror. That's why they're getting… They should get only the minimum calories required to survive.

They are starving to death. They are not starving. They are starving to death. You know what? If they are starving to death, give us back… give the hostages back. No single loaf of bread should go there till our hostages are coming back.

Netanyahu told "Axel Springer," he does not believe people in Gaza are starving. And a recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 68 percent of Jewish Israelis agree that no more aid should be getting into Gaza until hostages are released. Now that Ramadan is underway, there are growing fears that the war will only escalate,

both in Gaza, but also, in other parts of Israel. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that the holy month could bring violence at religious sites in Jerusalem. Now, to two other stories we're following in international news. In Haiti, the U.S. military flew in marines to Port-au-Prince over the weekend, to evacuate some U.S. embassy staff members

and beef up security for the U.S. mission there. State department officials say they arranged for the evacuation because of “heightened gang violence” in Haiti’s capital. Haiti has descended into chaos in recent days, with gangs overrunning the city. They have attacked police stations and prisons, looted seaports and public buildings, and shut down the airport. They're calling for the removal of Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry.

The country just deteriorated really, really quickly. The real fear is that if the police force collapses in Haiti, you become very vulnerable as a hostage, quite frankly.

And in Nigeria, the country is grappling with mass abductions. Gunman kidnapped some 15 children over the weekend from a boarding school in the Northwestern part of the country, just days after armed men abducted nearly 300 children from another school. The army is on the hunt for those students,

who range in age from seven-years-old to 18. The kidnapping late last week was the largest mass abduction there in three years. Over the last five or so years, the United States has seen an alarming rise in cases of syphilis, a highly contagious sexually transmitted infection.

As of 2022, the most recent year the CDC has data, cases were up nearly 80% nationwide. And for one particularly vulnerable group, pregnant woman and babies, cases were up more than 250 percent. The spike has physicians and public health experts deeply concerned because syphilis is entirely treatable and preventable. But it can be devastating when transmitted from pregnant mother to infant in the womb.

In infants that survive, they can have very severe consequences, including deformed bones, excruciating pain, problems with their organs, sometimes they struggle to hear or see.

Physicians and public health experts told her they’ve been able unable to treat the surge in cases because of repeated shortages of a critical drug. It's a form of penicillin. It's the only syphilis treatment safe to take during pregnancy. And Pfizer is the only U.S. drugmaker that produces it.

So, in one case, a nurse in a county jail in South Dakota found that one of the people in the jail had syphilis and was pregnant and needed treatment. And so, she started calling around to all the pharmacies and no one had it. She started calling to all the pharmacies she could find within an hour and no one had it. She reached out to the state and they could give her one dose, but this woman needed three.

It ended up taking the nurse three weeks to secure the doses for her patient. Health experts told Barry-Jester that Pfizer, and the federal government, are falling short in their response to the growing crisis.

Providers on the ground say they don't have enough information about when the shots will be available and the timelines and how much will be available when.

The FDA says it cannot force Pfizer, or any drugmaker, to produce more. So, for now, the government has a task force working on the crisis. And it approved the import of a similar drug made in France, which many clinics say they cannot afford. Some have suggested the U.S. government create a stockpile, manufacture the drug itself, or declare a federal emergency. Others want to see the government flex its power as the number one buyer of this drug, and add more pressure to Pfizer.

And since this is entirely preventable, this is seen as just an absolute tragedy.

Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, the Oscars, belonged to "Oppenheimer." The film took home seven out of 13 awards it was nominated for,

including the very first Oscar win for Christopher Nolan, who directed the film. And actor Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for playing Oppenheimer.

You know… We made a film… We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. And for better or for worse, we’re living in Oppenheimer's world. So, I'd really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.

Global politics, and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, hung heavy over the night. Some stars wore pins to show support for a cease-fire in Gaza, and some attendees were delayed by protesters outside the Dolby Theater. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was among those honored in the 'In Memoriam' tribute. And the first Ukrainian filmmaker, Mstyslav Chernov took home an Oscar for "20 Days in Mariupol." It won best documentary feature.

And I’m honored. I’m honored. But probably I will be the first director on this stage who will say: I wish I never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.

And it was a big night for several other winners. At 22 years old, Billie Eilish became the youngest person ever to have won two Oscars. And Godzilla, an iconic movie monster that had never been nominated before, took home its very first award for best visual effects.

"Godzilla Minus One" beat out several films with much larger budgets. As they accepted their award, members of the excited crew hugged small Godzilla figurines that they carried on stage. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you’re already listening in the News app right now, we've got a "Narrated Article" coming up next from the "San Francisco Chronicle." Reporters investigated a lethal, national trend, police chases are killing more and more Americans.