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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skivone. Israel today intensified its ground operation in Gaza with tanks and infantry by land and strikes from the air and sea.

Communications were cut off in the region, leaving more than 2 million people with little or no contact with the outside world.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant declared that his nation's fight against Hamas had entered what he called the next stage.

The Gaza Health Ministry today reported the Palestinian death toll in Gaza over the past three weeks has risen to 7700.

Families of hostages taken in a Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today as NPR's Liz Baker tells us the urgency has skyrocketed as Israel escalates the fighting Gaza.

For weeks, members of the hostages and missing families forum have been demonstrating outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv with one deceptively simple demand. Bring them back.

In the two-hour meeting, they urged Netanyahu to agree to a prisoner swap with Hamas in order to get the hostages home as quickly as possible.

Over 220 people are estimated to still be held captive in Gaza, which has been under constant bombardment. Hamas claims 50 hostages have already been killed by Israeli air strikes.

In a press conference after the meeting, Netanyahu said he would exhaust every possibility to return the abductees to their families, while emphasizing his top priority of eradicating Hamas.

Liz Baker and Pierre News Tel Aviv.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Pence made the announcement during a meeting of the Republican Jewish coalition in Las Vegas, and PR Sarah McCammott has more.

Mike Pence is the most high-profile Republican presidential hopeful to drop out of the race for the 2024 nomination so far.

His campaign has struggled to gain traction as former President Donald Trump has continued to dominate primary polls.

Pence has sought both to run on his record as a former Vice President, and distance himself from Trump, his former boss.

Speaking to the Republican Jewish coalition in Las Vegas, Pence said he realized that, quote, this is not my time.

So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for President defective today.

During a speech last month, the New Hampshire Pence warned against what he described as dangerous rising populism in the Republican Party.

Sarah McCammann, in PR News.

The United Auto Workers Union has announced a tentative deal with Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler Jeep and Ram.

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