Transcript of North Gaza Aid, VP Harris Courts Black Voters, Zillow Climate Score

A new Israeli military offensive in North Gaza has humanitarian organizations raising alarms.

The situation in North Gaza is like a catastrophe within a series of catastrophes.

What's behind the latest warnings?

I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Vice President Kamala Harris is on a push to shore up support among a key group of voters.

Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote.

The push comes as support for Harris among Black men, waivers including in swing states. A look at what Harris is doing to earn back that vote.

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Is Israel trying to starve people in North Gaza?

Aid workers and human rights groups are concerned that that is what Israel is trying to do with its new offensive. Jonathan Fowler is with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that aids Palestinians.

The situation in North Gaza is like a catastrophe within a series of catastrophes.

His UN agency says civilians are given no choice but to leave or starve. Tarv.

With us now is NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, so help us understand what's happening in North Gaza.

Israel is carrying out a new offensive there over the last two weeks, particularly in the Jabbalia Refugee Camp. Israel says Hamas has been trying to regroup there. Residents have been telling us about artillery hitting their buildings, about armed drones flying through the neighborhood, opening fire, about Israeli tanks in the streets. The United Nations says hundreds of people have been killed, including children, in that area in the last for the last two weeks. It says Israel has blocked food deliveries to North Gaza for the last two weeks, and Israel has ordered all of North Gaza to evacuate. We spoke to one man who did flee his home in Jebalia. His name is Mohamed Alba'alawi.

He said he was in a group of 25 people fleeing, and they lost 10 of them who were injured or killed as they fled under fire.

He said no one looked behind them as they fled. His story really encapsulates what is happening in North Gaza. He fled to another part of North Gaza, but his relatives who stayed behind told him they've run out of food and drinking water.

Okay, so when the UN aid agencies for Palestinians says that civilians are given no choice but either to leave or starve, Is that actually Israel's stated policy?

It's not a stated policy, but it could be an unstated policy. A former Israeli National Security Advisor has published a proposal to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages by ordering civilians to leave North Gaza, and whoever doesn't will be without food and water, and will, along with Hamas militants, have to either surrender or die of starvation. Now, this is a proposal that's not an official government plan, but Israeli officials have said that they considered it. On the other hand, the Israeli army denies that it's being implemented. But this proposal has gotten a lot of international attention and concern from human rights groups in Israel because of the implications of starving a civilian population. Also, Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted her concern yesterday about the lack of food that has reached North Gaza.

Could that international attention make Israel change its course?

It might be. After Harris tweeted her concern about the lack of food yesterday, Israel did allow some flour into North Gaza, although rights groups say it will not be sufficient for the population there. I did speak to a former Israeli military official who closely follows the war, Mikhael Milstein, and thinks that Israel did try to partially implement this flee or starve plan, but then Israel realized it doesn't seem to be working. He thinks Israel realized many civilians are not fleeing North Gaza, and that policy might even endanger hostages. I think the big picture here is that Israel is not clearly explaining what its aims are and what its objectives are in North Gaza with its new offensive. And that points to the fact that there continues to be no explicit end game for Gaza, for the Gaza war, and civilians continue to pay the price.

That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thanks.

You're welcome.

Vice President Kamala Harris is on a push this week to court Black voters, specifically men.

While Black voters overwhelmingly back the Democratic ticket, Black men are not showing as much enthusiasm for Harris as they did for the Democratic nominee when President Biden ran in 2020 or when former President Barack Obama ran before him. As some Black men gravitate toward former President Donald Trump, Democrats are concerned that even in small numbers, this could cut into Harris's chances in key swing states.

Npr's White House Correspondent, Deepa Chibram, is traveling with Harris, joins us now from Detroit, Michigan. Deepa Harris is rolling out new policy proposals focused on Black men. She's going to be talking about it today. What's on the agenda?

She's going to talk about a lot of proposals with an economic lens, and she has a big focus on entrepreneurs. So part of this plan is to give one million loans to Black entrepreneurs and others, up to $20,000, and those loans are forgivable. She also says she'll legalize recreational marijuana and make sure there's a role for Black entrepreneurs in that business. And Harris says she'll do more as President to try and protect cryptocurrency assets, and she points to how more than 20 % of Black Americans own or have owned crypto.

Okay, so that's the message. How is she going to get that message out?

So she'll be talking about her plans today at a town hall she's doing with radio host, Charlemagne the God. He's one of the hosts of the popular morning show The Breakfast Club. It airs on stations across the country and is popular among younger Black people in particular. It's a show candidates running for President often appear on. Charlemagne can be a tough interviewer. He's been critical of Democratic candidates in the past, like with President Biden, when he was a candidate for President back in 2020.

Last week, former President Barack Obama said he thinks Black men are having an issue with voting for a woman for President. How is Kamal Harris responding to that?

She was asked about Obama's comments by The Shade Room, which is also very popular with Black audiences, and she didn't really acknowledge anything about her polls that have been showing some weakness with Black men. But she did say, in essence, that she doesn't take anyone's vote for granted just because of who she is. Take a listen.

Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote. That's why I'm out here doing the work that I'm doing about talking with folks, listening with folks.

This This is an election that's going to be so, so close. We keep saying it. So Harris has to drum up enthusiasm and support from her base voters, even as she also tries to spend time here trying to appeal to independent voters and Republican voters. And that's something we saw from her last night at a rally.

Where was that rally at?

So we were in Erie, Pennsylvania. It's a pivot county. So it went twice for Obama, then Trump in 2016, and then Biden last time around. And Harris did something new last night. She had a giant video screen, and she played a highlight reel of things that Trump has said recently that her campaign feels haven't been getting enough attention. And in these final weeks, they're trying to break through to moderate Republican voters and independents and say, Hey, there are some things that Trump is saying that are dangerous, particularly his recent comments that if he wins the election, the National Guard or even the military could be used to handle what he called, The enemy within, in other words, his opponents. And I've been to a lot of Harris's rallies. This highlight reel approach was a first, and we'll see if she uses it again later this week.

All right, so Erie, Pennsylvania, last night. In Detroit today, where does she go next?

She'll be ping-ponging around the Blue Wall states this week, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. She's doing a lot more interviews as well, including a big one coming up tomorrow. She's sitting down with Fox News host, Brett Baer, and it's her first time ever interviewing with the network.

That's NPR's Deepa Chivron. Thanks, Deepa.

Thank you.

Zillow, which might be best known for its home buying app, says it is adding a new feature to its services.

Yeah, you'll soon be able to find out if a property might be at risk for five key climate-related disasters. Now, these risk scores for homes will arrive next year, and the announcement came as Hurricane Helene made landfall.

Here to tell us more about this is Hannah Ziegler. She's a business reporter for the Washington Post. Hannah, thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me.

How will this work? Who's providing this information? How will we see it? Is there a different key or color for what risk there is?

Give us the basics. The scores show a home's climate risk based on how susceptible it is to flooding or wildfire or heat, air quality, and wind damage. The scores estimate a home's current risk and its risk 15 and 30 years in the future because that's how long typical mortgage loans are. You'll be able to see them on an interactive color-coded map and along with every single home listing that's on Zillow right now.

Where's this information coming from, and do you have confidence that it's accurate?

Zillow is partnered with a nonprofit called First Street, which has been working on these climate risk models for years. First Street assigns risk scores based on how likely a climate disaster is and how severe it could be. They update these models once a year based on natural disasters that have happened in an area. First Street sees this as democratizing information that banks or insurance companies already have on climate risk for properties. But Climate modeling experts say home buyers should take these scores with a grain of salt. They're still developing the best way to measure a home's climate risk, so data can be uneven depending on where a person is house hunting. Home buyers should treat the scores as warning flags rather than deal breakers.

Does anybody else already offer this? I feel like Redfin offers this information. Is Zillow offering something that's unique or easier to access or something like, what's so special about this?

Yeah, Redfin already does offer the climate risk scores. The main thing that Zillow is adding to this is the map and the color coordination and those shiny newer features that people might think make it more interactive. But Redfin does have the same data and the same system.

I understand that this has just been announced, and so the tool isn't available for us to see in the real world yet. But I'm wondering how home buyers and sellers and realtors are reacting to this.

Yeah, there has been a lot of conflicting information about how much people care about climate risks affecting their properties, especially in comparison to if you get a really great rate on a home, if you get a really good price. But Zillow released a survey last year saying that 80% of buyers now consider climate risks when shopping for a home. Zillow has been very transparent about the information they have about just how many homes are facing climate risks now. Even compared to five years ago, there are a lot more homes on the market that might have greater risk of flood or fire or heat. So it definitely is something that remains to be seen about how much buyers will ultimately care about all of this. But now that this information is in their hands and they're able to use it in a much more accessible way on Zillow, a lot of experts say that this is only the beginning and how much this is going to affect their decision-making process moving forward.

That's Hannah Ziegler, business reporter for the Washington Post. Hannah, thank you.

Thank you.

That's a verse for Tuesday, October 15th. I'm E. Martinez.

And I'm Michelle Martin. For your next listen, Consider this from NPR. The United States has never seen a multiracial presidential candidate like Vice President Kamala Harris, but she's certainly not alone in her racial identity. Hear what people with similar backgrounds are thinking about Harris's historic candidacy. Listen to Consider this from NPR.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Roberta Rampton, Janaya Williams, Lisa Thompson, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Paige Waterhouse, Nia Dumas, and Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and her technical director is Zack Coleman. Join us again tomorrow.

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