By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin By — Eliot Barnhart Eliot Barnhart Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/israel-may-delay-gaza-ground-invasion-for-hostage-negotiations-and-aid-for-palestinians Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio It's day 19 of the Israel-Hamas war and Israeli forces continued a heavy air assault on Gaza as rockets were fired back into Israel. But there are new signs that an Israeli ground invasion may not be imminent after all. Nick Schifrin reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: We turn now to the Middle East.It's day 19 of the Israel-Hamas war, and Israel continues a heavy air assault on Gaza, as Palestinian groups fire rockets at Israel. But there are new signs that an Israeli ground invasion may not be imminent after all.Nick Schifrin begins our coverage. Nick Schifrin: On the Gaza border, they are parked and poised for a fight, hundreds of thousands of Israeli soldiers readying and training to invade Gaza. But the ground invasion appears to be on hold for now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated tonight. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter): We are working to ensure the ideal conditions for our troops for the next operations. Nick Schifrin: The delay discussed by Netanyahu and President Biden, as the U.S. military wants the USS Eisenhower and air defense systems to arrive in the Middle East before the invasion begins.Already, 21 American service members were injured in drone attacks last week that the U.S. blames on Iranian-backed munitions.Today, President Biden warned Iran's supreme leader.Joe Biden, President of the United States: My warning to the ayatollah was that, if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared. Nick Schifrin: But a delay in the ground invasion also buys time for negotiations to release more hostages, as Biden told Netanyahu. Joe Biden: What I have indicated to him is that if that's possible to get these folks out safely, that's what he should do. It's their decision, but I did not demand it. Nick Schifrin: But Israel refuses to halt its air campaign, and across the Gaza Strip, the most vulnerable victims continue to need desperate care.Gaza health authorities controlled by Hamas say 17,000 have been wounded and more than 6,500 killed. President Biden today cast doubt on those numbers. Joe Biden: What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war. Nick Schifrin: Mr. Biden also called out violence committed by Jewish settlers. Joe Biden: I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank that — pouring gasoline on fire is what it's like. Nick Schifrin: The fire Gazans wants stopped is Israeli airstrikes. Today, they lifted a pile of rubble that used to be a bakery, as the bombs continue to fall. Asad Al-Bairoti, Gaza Strip Resident (through interpreter): The Israeli occupation has proven that it's incapable of achieving any of its goals. Nick Schifrin: And, yet again, Gazans run for safety, as if there was any safe place in this war.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Oct 25, 2023 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin By — Eliot Barnhart Eliot Barnhart Eliot Barnhart is an associate producer at the PBS NewsHour.