JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, as residents of Gaza fleet Israel's impending ground invasion, defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declares unwavering support for the Jewish state's fight against Hamas.
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: We're going to continue to do everything we can to provide them the support that they need so that they can be effective in the battlespace.
JOHN YANG: Then, a new international study reveals how gender affects how cancer patients are treated and why thousands of undocumented immigrants are being held in jail because they're potential witnesses in human smuggling cases.
(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.
I'm John Yang.
Tonight, tension is building across Gaza as the Israeli military says it's ready in coordinated strikes from the land, sea, and air.
Israel urged residents of northern Gaza to evacuate, while Hamas is urging them to stay in their homes.
Palestinian officials say more than 2,200 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Last week's, bloody Hamas attack on southern Israel left more than 1,300 dead, most of them civilians.
And there's late word from the State Department tonight that now 29 Americans are accounted among the dead, and there are 15 unaccounted for.
Our report tonight is from special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: One week after Hamas's devastating terror attacks on Israeli soldiers along the border with Gaza prepare for the next phase of the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited some of those soldiers today, asking if they are ready for what comes next.
Residents of Gaza have the same question as they scramble desperately to get out of harm's way.
Israel warned them in airdropped leaflets to evacuate to the south of the strip before 04:00 p.m. local time this afternoon.
Even as they tried to flee, Israeli airstrikes hit convoys on the way out of Gaza City.
Airstrikes also hit the southern city of Khan Younis, inside the area to which more than a million Palestinians had been told to flee.
IBRAHIM ABU DAKKAH, Resident Of Khan Younis (through translator): They didn't send any warnings or messages.
We were safe in our homes.
Homes that are filled with displaced people.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Khan Younis residents said the Israeli blockade means clean water and other essentials are nearly gone.
KAYED BAKR, Resident of Khan Younis: Water and power were cut off.
Now the children are bottling water transported from the hospital.
There is no water, no electricity, and no bread.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: And on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces deployed additional troops as the Hezbollah militant group intensified shelling.
Back in Israel, families of people held hostage by Hamas are continuing their desperate search, many with little idea where their loved ones are or whether they're even alive.
Yoni Asher was on the phone with his wife away visiting her mother with their two small children when she started screaming that Hamas terrorists had broken into the house.
The phone cut out and he hasn't heard from her since.
He discovered through a video that his wife and little girls had been kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
YONI ASHER: I don't want to eat without knowing what they are eating.
I don't want to sleep without knowing that they are sleeping well.
I can't.
I don't want to, but my body sometimes collapses.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In an interview with 60 Minutes, President Joe Biden said the hostages are a priority.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. President: I think they have to know that the President of the United States of America cares deeply about what's happened to them.
Deeply.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The U.S. announced a deal to open Egypt's Rafah border crossing to allow foreigners in Gaza to leave.
People waited at the crossing for it to open.
Around the world, from Islamabad to Dusseldorf, there were rallies in support of the Palestinian people.
For PBS news weekend, I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Tel Aviv.
JOHN YANG: In France, amid a heightened security alert because of rising concerns of extremist violence, two of the world's most visited sites, the Louvre Museum and the Palace of Versailles, were both evacuated today after receiving bomb threats.
The French government says it's deploying 7,000 troops around the country to beef up security.
This follows Friday's fatal stabbing of a teacher by a suspected Islamic extremist.
New Zealand elected its most conservative government in years, ending six years of Labor Party rule.
The next prime minister is former businessman Chris Luxon.
And voters in Australia resoundedly rejected a referendum that would have created a committee to advise the government on policies affecting indigenous peoples, the country's most disadvantaged ethnic minority.
And a spectacular show in the skies today as a rare ring of fire solar eclipse was visible across the western United States and parts of Central and South America.
It happens when the moon doesn't completely cover the sun, leaving a bright, blazing border visible.
There won't be another one that can be seen from the United States until 2039.
Still to come on PBS News Weekend, the disadvantages and discrimination faced by women seeking cancer treatment and jailing undocumented migrants as they wait to give evidence against human smugglers.
(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the Pentagon will give Israel everything it needs to wage war on Hamas, even as it continues its strong support of Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Austin visited Israel yesterday and this morning in Brussels before the deal to allow U.S. citizens to leave Gaza.
He sat down with Nick Schifrin for an exclusive one on one interview.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for your time.
Welcome.
LLOYD AUSTIN: It's good to see you, Nick.
NICK SCHIFRIN: We're about 36 hours after Israel called for an evacuation of Gaza City 1.1 million people.
Do you agree overall with Israel's evacuation order at this point?
LLOYD AUSTIN: Well, I'll -- let Israel speak to its decisions.
It's not my place to evaluate their approach to anything.
What I'm focused on, Nick, is making sure that we provide them the security assistance that they need to protect their sovereign territory and to protect their people.
And that's why I was there.
I had a good day with Minister of Defense, spent some time with the prime Minister.
As you saw, I spoke to Minister Gallant on Saturday of last week.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Right after the attack.
LLOYD AUSTIN: Right after it's happened.
He expressed a need for air to ground munitions, precision guided weapons, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to provide them the support that they need.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Yesterday, a senior IDF official was talking to me during our visit, and he dismissed any concerns, humanitarian concerns about the evacuation.
He said, look, we're at war.
The evacuation is Hamas's problem.
Do you think that the evacuation is Hamas's problem, or does Israel need to consider the humanitarian effects of the evacuation?
LLOYD AUSTIN: I think anytime you construct, you know, plan and operation.
You have to account for civilians that are part of that landscape.
And we talked about that, and we talked about the need to make sure that, you know, as you conduct your operations, you construct safe zones and corridors so civilians can transit the area and move out of the way of the hostile.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Did you ask them to create those humanitarians corridors?
LLOYD AUSTIN: We talked about that, yes.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Are you asking Israel to delay a ground invasion until those safe corridors can be established?
LLOYD AUSTIN: We are not asking Israel to delay or to speed up.
That's their call, Nick.
My focus is to support them, provide them security assistance they need so that they can be effective in the battle space.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Zooming out.
Do you think that Israel can accomplish its stated goals, which are capturing or killing all Hamas leaders, destroying the group's military units, and making it impossible for Hamas to govern Gaza at a reasonable cost to human life in Gaza?
LLOYD AUSTIN: Well, I won't assess their goals speculative as to whether or not they're going to be successful.
What I have asked them to do is to be thoughtful about how they select their objectives in, you know, taking into consideration the entire battle space.
What's in that battle space, civilians, you name it.
This is a very complex environment, potentially, Nick.
This is an urban environment, and this is probably a three dimensional battle, because, as you know, Hamas has constructed a number of tunnels under the city.
And so if they conduct a campaign into the city, a land campaign, they'll have to account for that.
They've done this before.
They've learned lessons, and so they really have to think this through, and I think they will.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Yesterday, standing next to Minister Gallant, you said, this is time for resolve, not revenge.
And you reiterated what President Biden said, that it was important to uphold the laws of war.
Do you believe so far Israel has upheld the laws of war?
LLOYD AUSTIN: I haven't been in the battle space, Nick.
I can only just see the images that you've seen.
And again, this is very complex, and we'll have time to make those assessments going forward, but I would continue to encourage them to be professional, leaders to do the right things and to remain focused on the right things and keep in mind all those things that they were trained to do and conduct our operations in a very responsible manner.
NICK SCHIFRIN: I spent a lot of time in Gaza, and a lot of Gazans do not support Hamas.
Do you believe that they have to pay the price, though, given Hamas launched the attack from that territory?
LLOYD AUSTIN: As you pointed out, Hamas is not the Palestinian people.
These are separate entities.
And so, I do not think that the people should pay the price for the actions of this terrorist organization.
NICK SCHIFRIN: What's your assessment right now of the chances of Lebanese Hezbollah opening up a second front?
LLOYD AUSTIN: Well, that possibility is always there.
We would highly discourage any entity, any country, any organization from doing that.
As you saw, Nick, when this happened, we rapidly moved a carrier battle group into the region, and that carrier battle group provides us with a number of options.
So, you heard President Biden say the other day that if anybody ever is thinking about this, you know, we would say, don't.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Is the U.S. prepared to attack Lebanese Hezbollah if it opens up a second front?
LLOYD AUSTIN: I won't speculate on what we will or will not do.
But again, the important part is we have options.
We have the combat capability to deter.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Does deterrence get more difficult as the fight in Gaza gets more protracted and gets even more bloody?
LLOYD AUSTIN: It certainly will.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Israeli government officials have embraced the idea that this is their 9/11.
You were in the middle of two wars that the United States has fought since 9/11.
And I wonder if you have any lessons learned over the past 20 years from your own experience that might apply to Israel's moment today and going forward.
LLOYD UASTIN: One of the things that we learned is that you have to really think through next steps.
You have to be very thoughtful about that because they will have long term implications.
Don't operate on reflex activity.
Think through what you're going to do, what implications it's going to have for the country, for the region and beyond.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.
JOHN YANG: Nick also spoke with the Defense Secretary about the war in Ukraine, and we'll have that tomorrow.
According to the Setters for Disease Control and Prevention, cancer has been one of the two top leading causes of death in the United States for 75 years.
And women with cancer can face unique challenges that make it harder to overcome the disease.
Ali Rogin's part of our ongoing series Unequal Treatment.
ALI ROGIN: Each year, 2.3 million women around the world die prematurely from cancer.
Those deaths could be prevented by early detection, timely diagnosis, and increased access to optimal treatment.
But experts say it doesn't just stop there.
A recent global study outlines why systemic changes in healthcare, health policy and cancer research are all necessary to eliminate the gender based barriers women fighting cancer face.
Dr. Ophira Ginsburg is a senior advisor for Clinical Research at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Global Health.
She's also one of the co-authors of the study.
Dr. Ginsburg, thank you so much for joining us.
This report compiles testimonies from women from 185 countries around the world.
What were some of the common themes and experiences that you and your co-authors picked up on?
DR. OPHIRA GINSBURG, National Cancer Institute: One of the key themes that we uncovered, it was kind of hiding in plain sight, was that many people, women included, don't realize what a huge problem cancer is in every country.
In fact, cancer ranks in the top three causes of premature mortality that's death under the age of 70 in all but two countries.
Our overall effort really uncovered that there are power, asymmetries in terms of knowledge, decision making, and economics, that influence women's opportunities to understand their risks, to take action, to prevent cancer for themselves, to find resources for early detection when cancers are early detectable, and to make it through the care pathway even if quality treatment is available.
ALI ROGIN: It's interesting to me because one of the most prevalent causes of these disparities is not related to a clinical phenomenon, but rather is about the word patriarchy.
What does that power imbalance mean in terms of medical encounters and cancer outcomes?
OPHIRA GINSBURG: First of all, the enemy of, let's say feminism isn't men, right?
It's patriarchy.
This is a system.
This has to do with structural power imbalances that impact people wherever they are, and also particularly women who are disadvantaged for other reasons, whether it's because of race, ethnicity, migration status, income, et cetera.
So we're talking about overlapping forms of discrimination that compound what's already a problem in terms of patriarchal notions of a woman's role in society.
And when you think about caregiving, how many people out there are providing care for family members in their homes?
Most of the people providing that caregiving are women, and that's largely unpaid.
So what is the value of that to society?
What would it mean if we actually took a more feminist economics case for cancer?
There's a lot that could be achieved if we just looked at things through a gendered lens that would be for the benefit of all people men, women, and children, for that matter.
ALI ROGIN: One of the findings in the study was that women are more likely to undergo financial hardships following a diagnosis than men.
Why does cancer seem to have an undue economic burden on women?
OPHIRA GINSBURG: We looked at women after one year of a diagnosis of cancer and found that three in four had suffered financial catastrophe that refers to 30 percent of their annual household income spent just on cancer related health expenses.
That doesn't even include the indirect costs such as transportation, childcare, the fact that women who are in the paid workforce have to leave those jobs in order to seek care.
And most of the work at home is performed by women.
And so we see in this particular study of eight Asian countries, which included upper middle income and low income countries, we see that women tend to face greater financial risks than men do.
ALI ROGIN: This report also looks at women's underrepresentation in the research that goes on to inform cancer conclusions.
How does that inequality impact cancer care?
OPHIRA GINSBURG: Even though we are women leaders, were surprised when we looked at a few things.
Number one, the union for international cancer control, which is based in Geneva, is an umbrella civil society organization of 185 member organizations that were classified as hospitals, treatment centers, and research institutes, only 16 percent were led by women.
And another important data point of the 100 top cancer research journals, the top 100 had only 16 percent female editors in chief.
So what does that mean?
Right?
Let's just take breast cancer, for example.
There's a lot of research in breast cancer.
There's a lot of research funding.
We know there's a lot of important breakthroughs and treatments, but nonetheless, we only know about one third of the causes of breast cancer.
Even here in the U.S. if you change John to Jill on a grant application, there's research from other countries showing that the chances of that person getting the grant are greater if it's a man who wrote the grant.
ALI ROGIN: Dr. Ophira Ginsburg with the national Cancer Institute's Center for Global Health.
Thank you so much for your time.
OPHIRA GINSBURG: Thank you.
JOHN YANG: Over the past 20 years, tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants along the southern border have been sent to jail, hundreds of them for six months or longer.
They weren't sent to jail because they'd been charged with a crime.
They were being held as material witnesses against the people accused of helping them cross the border.
A New York Times investigation examined this largely over aspect of the immigration debate, they found that the material witness law has been administered haphazardly, often with little regard for the constitutional rights that apply to all people inside U. S. borders.
Sarah Cutler is the lead author of the times investigation and a fellow here at the NewsHour.
Sarah, in your article you've got a story about a young woman from Guatemala who was pregnant when she was sent to jail.
What happened to her?
SARAH CUTLER: Yes, that was a really tough story.
This was a woman who was 26, came from Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States, and she was chosen, selected as a witness.
And while she was detained, she gave birth.
She gave birth zip tied with U.S.
Marshals standing watch in the hospital.
And after three days after the birth, she was forced to give up her child.
Her sister was going to come pick up the child, and she wasn't reunited with the child for another two months.
And what really jumped out to us about this story is that after all of this happened to her, she never actually gave testimony.
JOHN YANG: How common is that?
SARAH CUTLER: That's actually very common, because in the vast majority of cases, over 99 percent of cases, these cases don't go to trial.
They end in a plea bargain.
A plea deal.
So it's very common, actually, for witnesses to be detained, but not actually give testimony.
JOHN YANG: Let's take a step back.
Why are these witnesses in jail to begin with?
SARAH CUTLER: Right.
This is actually the material witness law is very old.
It goes back to George Washington's presidency and the original intent, or many of its uses have been in cases where a witness may be afraid of a defendant may not want to testify, perhaps a situation like gang violence.
But basically, the law says if a witness has material very important information and there's reason to believe the witness won't come to trial, then that is sufficient to hold a witness in jail.
So in this situation, because these folks are undocumented, the claim is that they either will flee and won't show up to trial, or they might actually be deported before the trial takes place.
So there is a bit of a disconnect between the courts and immigration.
The idea that you might be deported before the courts are done with you.
JOHN YANG: What kind of conditions are they held under?
Are they being held literally like a criminal defendant?
SARAH CUTLER: Yes.
So in many cases, folks are held.
They're in U.S.
Marshals custody and U.S.
Marshals contracts with a range of federal facilities, local jails.
So we spoke to one sheriff in Laredo.
Or in a facility that holds most of Laredo's material witnesses, and he said, yes, these folks are wearing the same uniform, the orange uniform.
They have to be handcuffed and ankle cuffed during transit.
So they are in many cases, treated just like prisoners.
JOHN YANG: What surprised you the most in your reporting?
SARAH CUTLER: I think what really jumped out to me was that we continued from a lot of folks, we heard this perception that, you know, you are here illegally.
You committed a crime by coming to the country illegally, so you could be in jail for that crime.
But what we learned, which was surprising, is that, especially since COVID it's quite common that folks who are charged for coming illegally for the first time, illegal entry, receive very short, very light sentences, perhaps time served or a couple of days.
So the irony is that you may spend more time in custody as a witness than you would have if you had been charged for the crime offendering illegally.
JOHN YANG: And as I said, this has been going on for two decades, for 20 years.
Talk about sort of the how many we've seen since the George W. Bush administration.
SARAH CUTLER: Right.
So those numbers went up significantly under the Bush administration.
They went up significantly under the Trump administration.
They dipped with the onset of COVID I think there was a slowdown in prosecuting smuggling cases, but we have seen them rise again, so those numbers do continue to stay pretty high.
JOHN YANG: And this is an overlooked aspect.
Why do you think no one's been saying more about this?
There aren't more advocates talking about this.
SARAH CUTLER: Yeah, that was something that surprised us as well.
I think that along the border this is fairly well known that this practice occurs, but away from the border less so.
And I would say that it's because these folks kind of fall through the cracks.
They're not looking at as much potential jail time as a defendant in a case like this.
And so there's not as much focus on them from the court's perspective.
And I think that it's just something that's fallen through the cracks for that reason.
JOHN YANG: And under the material witness law, is there any limit in the law about how long they can be held?
SARAH CUTLER: The law does not specify a limit.
It says you can be held for a reasonable period of time and actually kind of advocates that your testimony be taken by a video deposition and then you be released quickly because it's not specifically stated.
There's a wide variation along the border.
So, for example, in Arizona, there tends to be in Tucson there's a 30-day limit typically.
In New Mexico, actually, they've found a way to let most of their witnesses out on bond or into the community until trial.
Whereas in Laredo, for example, folks tend to be held until trial as long as they're needed.
JOHN YANG: And is this variance is just judge by judge, court by court.
SARAH CUTLER: It totally varies.
Sometimes there's local rules at a district level, sometimes there's standing orders in a court, but it varies.
There's no uniform policy coming down from DOJ governing how this should happen.
JOHN YANG: Sarah Cutler, thank you very much.
SARAH CUTLER: Thank you for having me.
JOHN YANG: Now, online analysis of the PBS NewsHour/NPR Maris poll on Americans' opinions about the war between Israel and Hamas.
All that and more is on our website, pbs.org/NewsHour.
And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.
I'm John Yang.
For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.
See you tomorrow.
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