Hello, from CNN, I'm Chris DeBeau with The Five Things You Need to Know for Monday, November 13. Major hospitals in Gaza are crumbling, with one becoming the site of intense fighting and conditions at another are catastrophic. A U.S. official who has knowledge of American intelligence says Hamas has a command center under the Alsheba Hospital, Northern Gaza's busiest hospital.
The official says the group is using fuel intended for the hospital, and that Hamas's fighters regularly gather around it. Hamas and hospital officials have denied this. This comes as doctors at that hospital are refusing to leave their at-risk patients, even after a mandatory evacuation order from the Israeli military. The Director General of the Hamas Run Health Ministry in Gaza says those doctors fear that around 700 patients will die if they're left behind.
What's more, he says the evacuation order they've been given isn't in coordination with any international humanitarian agencies, raising concerns about safety. The Alcoons Hospital is the second largest in the Gaza Strip and is no longer operational because of the lack of fuel and electricity. Israel's military said today it had killed a group of Hamas fighters embedded amongst civilians at the hospital entrance, but CNN cannot verify if any civilians were injured in the cross air. Congress is staring down yet another threat of a government shutdown before Friday's funding deadline.
House Speaker Mike Johnson's two-step plan to keep the government open will face a major hurdle on the House floor this week, after conservatives work quick to say they won't support it. CNN's Lauren Fox explains Johnson's two-step proposal that will likely need democratic support to pass the House. This is going to set up a very unique fiscal cliff because it's going to happen in two parts. If this bill passes, part of government agencies will run out of funding on January 19th.
The other half will run out of funding on February 2nd, so it's going to be a very busy winter if indeed this bill can get through the United States House and sign by the President by Friday. Donald Trump Jr. is back in court in New York today as the first defense witness in the civil fraud trial against his family and their business. CNN's Karis Canal is outside the courthouse with more on what to expect.
You already testified for the state and the difference here is that as a defense witness, they will be able to shape the narrative. He previously testified that he had nothing to do with the financial statements. He was not involved in their preparation. Then he said he signed off on them only after he was consulting with accountants and lawyers so distancing himself from them.
Today, he will have more of an opportunity to lay out the defense, which is that they didn't intend to defraud anyone and that the banks were not victims and they were not harmed in this and that many of them continue to do business with them. Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips is vowing to invest much of his own multi-million dollar fortune to take on President Joe Biden for their party's presidential nomination. He launched his Longshot 24 campaign two weeks ago and it was met with swift and overwhelming rejection from his fellow Democrats. Instead of backing down, the Minnesota Congressman is opening the door to super PAC money that could air attack ads in key primary states, like New Hampshire and Michigan.
Phillips told CNN he thinks he differs from the president on the economy and border policy and says the stakes are too high not to run. I think in 2020 he was probably the only Democrat who could have beaten Donald Trump. I think in 2024 he may be among the only ones that will lose to him and that's why I'm doing this. If you're wondering what a second Trump term might look like, he's planning an expansion of his first administration's hard-line immigration policy.
That's according to sources familiar with those plans. Let's say they include rounding up undocumented immigrants in the US and placing them in detention camps while they wait to be deported. Are you getting your holiday travel plans in order? I've got some info that might be helpful next.
It's that time of year again when the most stressful part of your Thanksgiving could be just getting there in the first place. AAA is predicting the busiest holiday period in several years, forecasting over 55 million people traveling between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after it. And if you're flying instead of driving, the aviation firm says the Sunday after Thanksgiving will be the busiest air travel day of the year. It expects airlines to fly more than three million seats on 22,000 flights that day.
All right, that's all for now. I'm Krista Deboe, our next episode drops at 5pm. Until next time.