News Wrap: Israel lowers military presence in southern Gaza as war hits 6-month mark

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• John Yang:

  Good evening. I'm John Yang. It was six months ago today that the brutal of hostile attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. Today Israel set it's pulling some of its troops out of southern Gaza, which has been the center of military operations for the last few months.

  The move brings the Israeli presence in Gaza down to one of the lowest levels of the conflict. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in the area where the troops spent the last four months, Hamas is no longer what he called a functioning military unit.

  Other Israeli officials cautioned against reading too much into the move about the future of the war. On ABC this week, White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby echoed that view.

• John Kirby, White House National Security Spokesperson:

  It is really just about rest and refit for these troops that have been on the ground for four months and not necessarily that we can tell indicative of some coming new operation for these troops. They've been on the ground for four months. The word we're getting is they're tired they need to be refit.

• John Yang:

  Fears of a wider regional conflict was stoked today when a top Iranian military adviser said no Israeli embassy is safe. That's after last week's strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, blamed on Israel that killed several Iranian generals. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is prepared for anything.

  Russia has declared a national emergency as the Ural River has flooded causing a dam to break near the Kazakh border. Rising waters of force more than 4,000 people from their homes and officials say the situation is getting worse. Russia has launched a criminal investigation into the construction of the dam.

  In Kigali, Rwanda, somber ceremonies marked 30 years since an estimated 800,000 people were killed by government backed extremists. Bill Clinton, the U.S. president at the time, joined African and Western leaders to lay wreaths in light of memorial flan.

  Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the international community's inaction allow the genocide of ethnic Tutsis at the hands of Hutu extremists.

  And there's finally a winning Powerball ticket. It was sold in Oregon and is worth $1.3 billion. That jackpot built up over a record time 41 straight drawings without a winner. If taken as a lump sum rather than paid out over 30 years, the haul would be $621 million. That is, of course before taxes.

  Still to come on PBS News Weekend. What's behind the effort to protect a style of architecture in Phoenix and how it clips tourism is brightening the economies of some small towns.