Final Campaign Push, Israel Cuts Ties With UNRWA

0:00Hi, it's Steve Inskeep. And Michelle Martin, it's Election Day. Before we dive into the show, do I need to remind you of how exciting and exhausting this election has been? Well, you get one more night of it, maybe a few. You can tune in for special coverage throughout this night on the NPR app in your local station. And we will be back here tomorrow and the next day and the next day, if necessary, guiding you through it all with updates, reporting and analysis. And as you continue to follow things here on Up First, we want you to know that there are two other ways to make sure you don't miss a development throughout the day.

0:30Every weekday, you can find a new episode of the NPR Politics Podcast with context and analysis on the big stories whenever they happen. So you get an alert, big breaking news, don't know what to think. Look for the NPR Politics Podcast a few hours later. And consider this is the podcast where NPR covers one big story in depth every weekday evening. They will be all over this election. And as Steve said, the day after and the day after, if necessary. You've got up first in the morning. Consider this in the evening. the NPR Politics Podcast. And should we mention, we're on the radio a lot as things develop anytime big stuff happens.

1:07And around the clock, election news survival kit from NPR News. Okay, thank you for listening. And now here's our show. Former President Trump gave what he called his final rally this morning in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Vice President Harris finished up in Philadelphia, referring to her opponent only as the other guy. On this election day, I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Trump told his supporters they just have to finish the job. All we were doing is putting ourselves in a position to win, which we can do tomorrow very easily if we show up. Both candidates made stops in Pennsylvania and all of Harris' events were there.

1:48Oh, it's good to be back in the city of brotherly love. We'll take you there. Also, Israel formally ends its agreement with the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency. What's the effect on ordinary people? Stay with us. You've got the news you need to start your day.

2:23Exactly what a business needs. Sign up today at odoo.com. This message comes from Dell Technologies. The new Dell PC with Intel Core Ultra helps you fast forward through busy work, leaving more time for you time. Get a new Dell PC at dell.com slash ai dash pc. This message comes from NPR sponsor Walmart. Did you know that Walmart is one of Fortune's 100 best companies to work for in 2025? It's no surprise. Walmart is investing$1 billion in training and development to help associates build lasting careers with or without a degree. In fact, 75 % of Walmart management started in hourly roles. With benefits like health care, paid parental leave, and tuition support, Walmart isn't just a place to work.

3:15It's a place to grow. Learn more at walmart.com slash spark. This message comes from Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Last month in Philadelphia, I went for a run. Ended up going up the rocky steps. the ones Sylvester Stallone's character runs up in triumph during the movie Rocky. Generations after the movie came out, it is still an iconic spot, as Steve just told you. And that is where Vice President Harris chose to end her presidential campaign late last night.

3:57And here at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory. Harris was speaking just before midnight. Former President Trump was in another swing state, Michigan, where he spoke in the early hours of the morning in Grand Rapids, the same place he finished his last two campaigns. It's unbelievable. Think of it. This is it. This is the last one that we're going to have to do. We've reached two NPR correspondents who've been following the campaigns all this time. We'll begin with political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. Danielle, good morning. Hey, good morning.

4:37OK, so how did Trump close it out? Well, as we just heard in that clip that you just played, Trump's been doing this thing lately where he's been getting kind of sentimental during his speech about all of this being over, all of this being the campaign, but especially his campaign rallies. He's done this a few times in recent weeks. He had a bit more to add in Grand Rapids late last night. But here's the good news. All we were doing is putting ourselves in a position to win, which we can do tomorrow very easily if we show up. Now at these recent events, I will say he's been getting smaller crowds than he's gotten in the past.

5:13He didn't quite fill the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee Friday night. Yesterday at an arena in Redding, Pennsylvania, it was about half full. That's where I was. He also didn't fill his arena in Raleigh yesterday either. Now, you can read that a couple of ways. One is that enthusiasm is waning. Maybe that's true. But also, it's also possible that he's just been to these states a lot and his supporters just don't feel the need to see him for the fifth, sixth, seventh time. Yeah, and ultimately elections are decided by who votes, not who shows up at the rallies. But how did the substance of these rallies sound?

5:47Well, he's still saying a lot of the same stuff. He's promising mass deportations. He's saying tariffs are a grand economic fix, though there are some real doubts about that. He also, though, the last couple of days has been spreading election disinformation preemptively. He's been spreading false stories about the Pennsylvania system while he's been in that state, which lays the groundwork for him and his supporters to deny the results if they so choose. Now, beyond that, a couple other points about this final day of campaigning. At least one of his stops you can see is very intentionally chosen because Redding is two-thirds Latino and a lot of those Latinos are Puerto Rican specifically.

6:24So that is a way you can see him maybe extending an olive branch to those voters who might have been offended by some recent comments. But to zoom out, if this is his last campaign, this is the end of an era. It's the end of the Trump rally. He has been this singular personality in politics. He has reshaped the Republican Party. And if he loses, they're really going to have to figure out its identity after Trump. OK, I want to hang on to something that you mentioned there because you said that Trump went to a heavily Latino city, Redding, Pennsylvania. Our colleague Deepa Shivram joins us next.

6:57Deepa, good morning. Hey, good morning. And I bring you in now because, if I'm not mistaken, Kamala Harris also stopped in Reading yesterday. Is this right? Yeah, she did. So after a comedian at last weekend's Trump event called Puerto Rico a, quote, floating island of garbage, that just has been mobilizing Puerto Rican voters, and Democrats have really been seizing on that. And that's been a real focus for the Harris campaign. She had celebrities like rapper Fat Joe with her yesterday. Here's what he said in Allentown. Now, I started this with telling you, where's the orgullo? Where's the pride?

7:33Where's your pride? If you're still out there talking about you might be voting for somebody or you're not decided. Where's your pride as a Latino? And as Danielle pointed out, I mean, there are more than 500 ,000 Latino voters in the state of Pennsylvania, most of them with ties to Puerto Rico. So people at this Allentown rally had huge Puerto Rican flags. And then after that, you know, Harris drove for an hour to make it to this stop at a cafe called Old San Juan Cafe in Redding, like you mentioned. And, you know, on the last day of her campaign, you're running up against the clock. The fact that she drove an hour to get there, that says a lot.

8:09So, you know, zooming out a little bit here, it's definitely notable that Harris spent her final day campaigning just in Pennsylvania. This is a state that has 19 electoral votes. A majority of voters there don't vote until Election Day itself. So this is a huge battleground state and one where the vote is going to be really, really close. Right. And because of that, every voter group is critical to turn out. And that 19 is a critical number. It is hard to find another swing state. You can't find another single swing state to replace it if you lose it. That's what makes it so essential. So what was that final day like for Harris?

8:42Yeah, I would describe it as, you know, the events sort of building in size and scale over the course of the day. Harris started at a canvas kickoff in Scranton that had about 200 supporters. There was a big homemade banner there to help get out the vote. Then she went to that Allentown event, then that stop in Reading, and ended the day with these really big rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. That one at the Rocky Steps, like you mentioned, had 30 ,000 people. And Harris kept her message to voters pretty brief. She wants them to vote. She wants them to tell people that they know to go out and vote.

9:13But I will say one thing that was different here was that she didn't really talk about Trump at all at any of her events. She mentioned him briefly, sort of referring to him as the other guy. But that was really it. Really, for her, it was emphasizing this final message about who she is, her story, you know, growing up, going to civil rights protests. And she's been wrapping up her rally saying that her campaign is not just about being against something and that she wants to be a president for all Americans. Well, we're talking here about getting the last few people out to vote. But, Danielle, what's known about people who have already voted?

9:44Well, we know that more than 82 million people have cast ballots thus far. Now, there hasn't been as much mail voting as in 2020 during the pandemic. But the in-person early voting has been really big. I mean, we've seen those record numbers in states like Georgia and North Carolina. Now, one thing that's interesting, though, is that Republican messaging for their voters to turn out earlier has gotten through because in the past they had cast doubt on some of these methods. And those Republican voters are turning out. But it's hard to say if that means anything. It could just be that people who would have voted on Election Day are now voting earlier.

10:18I really appreciate that note. 2020 was so different. It's hard to draw comparisons now. It's hard to take any clue and really know who's winning or who's going to win. But Deepa, when will we know something for real? Oh, that is that is the question, Steve. If you find out, let me know. As we know, mail ballots are taking longer to count. They have to be verified. So, you know, less mail voting means that we may see faster results in some places compared to 2020. But the key thing here to remember is that this race is about the margins. We've been saying that for so long. So a state can count ballots relatively quickly.

10:54But if the margins in this race are so tight, outlets like the Associated Press, which, you know, NPR here and many other outlets rely on to call these races, places like the AP won't be able to make these quick calls. So election officials have been urging a lot of patience. And we'll use all the patience we can and get you the best information we can. NPR's Deepa Shivaram and Daniel Kurtzleben, thanks to you both. Thanks for having us. Hope you get some rest.

11:25And let's go overseas now to hear the sound of a rescue from the rubble. Video from Gaza shows people in orange vests digging through the remnants of a building, believing someone under the wreckage is alive after an Israeli airstrike. Maria. Kavisha Maria. Kavisha Maria. Yelah Maria. At the end of the video, the rescuers bring up a little girl in pigtails. You can hear them calling her Miriam. She was alive, a rare bright spot in a war that has claimed so many lives. One of the latest moves in that war comes from Israel, which says it will stop cooperating with the United Nations Agency. NPR's international correspondent, Aya Petraoui, is with us.

12:07Hiya, good morning. Hi, Steve. Why does Israel say it'll stop working with the U.N. Relief Agency? So Israel says UNRWA, which employs around 13 ,000 people in Gaza, has been infiltrated by Hamas. Here's Israeli government spokesman David Menser. The state of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations, but not with organizations that promote terrorism against us. So UNRWA's chief, Felipe Lazzarini, says Israel has not provided the agency with evidence to address these allegations. And he notes that Israel has killed at least 237 UNRWA staffers in Gaza in this war. Now, the agency did let nine people go out of its staff of 13 ,000.

12:49And the UN's investigative body says those nine may have been involved in attacking Israel, but that they could not authenticate the information used by Israel in their allegations. And to be clear, the U.S. says it is concerned about the implications of these Israeli laws that were passed last week, banning contact between Israel and this UN agency, and banning it from operating in Israel, which would impact the West Bank as well. And so whoever wins this White House will also have an impact on how this moves forward. I'm trying to understand what this Israeli move means on the ground for people in Gaza.

13:23Well, in short, people are going to suffer because there's already hunger and starvation across Gaza. UNRWA says that last month in October, Israel permitted just 30 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza on average per day. If you look at markets and shelves anywhere in Gaza from the south to the north, they are bare. Now, UNRWA is seen as a key element to staving off famine because they're the main agency distributing whatever little aid is trickling in and coordinating with Israeli forces over how and when to pick up that aid that's entering Gaza, including fuel supplies from Egypt that keep hospitals running, bakeries, water desalination plants.

14:00Now, UNRWA's senior emergency officer in Gaza, Luis Waterbridge, told me a major problem now is what comes next. There's less than 90 days for this legislation to come into effect. We're talking about people's lives. You know, this is so there are systems in place, there's mechanisms in places that, you know, 13 months has kind of got a rhyme and a rhythm going. And if you change everything now, if you pull the cord now, it's going to take a while to find other ways of doing it. So what is the alternative to UNRWA, right? Well, Israel hasn't offered a plan. Some in Israel say Israeli soldiers should take the lead.

14:35Others say that aid agencies could fill the gap. But every UN agency in Gaza is saying they cannot replace UNRWA. I want to come back to that image we began with, the image of a little girl being pulled from the rubble. A bit of good news, regardless of what side you're on in this war, humanitarian news. Are rescue workers able to operate that way all across Gaza? Actually, they're not, Steve, because the northern part of Gaza, just north of where she is in Gaza City, has been under a full Israeli siege for a month now. Now, Israel says it's operating against Hamas in response to the group's October 7th attack on Israel last year that killed 1 ,200 people and took hostages, some of which are still being held in Gaza.

15:16But by Israel's own account, the military has already dismantled all of Hamas's brigades. And so it's going after what they're calling scattered and shattered brigades trying to regroup. But to do this, the military has launched a punishing assault and siege that's drawn criticism, including from the White House. But Israel is doubling down on this assault. They just deployed another brigade to the area. Now, Palestinians there fear the aim is permanent expulsion. You already have tens of thousands forcibly fleeing the north this past month. The UN says there's still 100 ,000 people in north Gaza.

15:47They do not have access to food, ambulances, and rescue services. These rescue crews have said they've been under attack, they've been arrested, and they cannot operate. So what we know is that there are families and there are children just like her dying under the rubble. NPR's Aya Batraoui, thanks so much. Thank you.

16:13Here's an update on one more news story. Boeing workers have voted to accept a new proposed contract, ending a strike that lasted nearly eight weeks. Wow, the deal provides 38 % raises over four years and will help the company turn the page on billions of dollars in losses over the work stoppages and safety issues. Here's Union District President John Holden announcing the results. You stood strong and you stood tall and you won. This is a victory. Thank you, everyone. Stay tuned to NPR for the latest updates.

16:49And that's up first for this Tuesday, Election Day, November 5th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. For your next listen, tune in to Consider This from NPR. A bit of counter-programming for those who need a break from the election. Just One Man has worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles. Of course, we're talking about Quincy Delight Jones Jr. Jones passed away this week at 91. You can't tell the history of popular music without telling the story of his legendary career. Listen to Consider This from NPR. I did not know his middle name was Delight. That is... Delightful.

17:23Thank you. Thank you very much. Today's Up First was edited by Megan Pratt, Roberta Rampton, Russell Lewis, Olivia Hampton, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Lindsay Totti. We get engineering support from Carly Strange. And our technical director once again in this election is Zach Coleman. Join us tomorrow. This message comes from NetSuite. What does the future hold for business? Can someone invent a crystal ball? Until then, over 42 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle. the number one AI cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform.

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