Morning headlines: State of the Israel-Hamas war and a big start to the NFL playoffs

Today is Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Let's get caught up.

Keep scrolling for celebrity birthdays and a look back at this date in history. Plus, check out our daily news podcast:

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White House says 'it's the right time' for Israel to scale back Gaza war as fighting hits 100 days

JERUSALEM — The White House said Sunday “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli leaders again vowed to press ahead with their operation against the territory’s ruling Hamas militant group.

The comments exposed the growing differences between the close allies on the 100th day of the war.

Also Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon following a Hezbollah missile attack that killed two Israeli civilians — an older woman and her adult son — in northern Israel. The exchange of fire underscored concerns that the Gaza violence could trigger wider fighting across the region.

The war in Gaza, launched by Israel in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, devastated vast swaths of Gaza, driven around 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population into starvation.

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White House says 'it's the right time' for Israel to scale back Gaza war as fighting hits 100 days

JOSEF FEDERMAN, SAMY MAGDY and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press

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Wild start to the NFL playoffs

The regular season is behind us on the the NFL returned to action this weekend with games in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Houston Texans defeated the Cleveland Browns 45-14 and the Kansas City Chiefs knocked off the Miami Dolphins 26-7.

Sunday's action turned into a big day for the NFC North. In the afternoon game, the Green Bay Packers, a team with a 9-8 regular season record that had to fight for a playoff berth the final weeks of the season, upset the Dallas Cowboys (12-5) 48-32.

And in the nightcap, the Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years, beating the Los Angeles Rams 24-23.

Two more games in this opening round are scheduled for today: The Buffalo Bills host the Pittsburgh Steelers at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Philadelphia Eagles at 8:15 p.m. ET.

Read more about the weekend's games:

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Houston has no problem

KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press

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Harrison Ford honored with Critics Choice Career Achievement Award

Harrison Ford was honored with the Career Achievement Award during Sunday’s Critics Choice awards telecast.

“I’m really happy to be here tonight to see what our business is turning into and all of the talented people who are getting opportunities that probably would not have existed in my early part of my career. I’m really happy about that,” Ford said during his speech. “I’m here because of a combination of luck and the work of wonderful directors, writers, and filmmakers. I feel enormously lucky.”

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MORNING LISTEN

On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast we are joined by Robert VerBruggen from the Manhattan Institute to discuss a new documentary which claims to disprove that George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin, as well as a new research study which claims to disprove that income inequality in the U.S. has been rising since the 1960s.

The documentary in question, The Fall of Minneapolis, was produced by Alpha News, an organization that has a history of low-quality journalism that is often inaccurate, biased, and misleading. Podcast host Lawrence Eppard and guest Robert VerBruggen will discuss the claims in the documentary and why they fall short.