1/ The House entered its third week without a speaker after Republicans dropped Jim Jordan as their nominee while nine other Republicans have lined up for the speakership – seven of which voted to overturn the 2020 election. After three failed floor votes for his speaker bid, Republicans voted by secret ballot to drop Jordan as their nominee. Since then, nine Republicans have announced bids for the job and the conference is scheduled to vote Tuesday morning on a nominee. Only two of the nine – Tom Emmer and Austin Scott – voted to certify Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s allies in the House, however, have criticized Emmer for voting to certify the election and it’s not clear if any of the Republican lawmakers will be able to secure the 217 votes needed to serve as speaker. Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, meanwhile, threatened to quit if his Republican colleagues try to move legislation on the floor without an explicit vote to expand his powers. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3, called the stalemate “embarrassing for the Republican Party.” (CNN / NBC News / Axios / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Hamas released two more hostages for “humanitarian and health reasons,” which follows the release of two American hostages last week. It’s believed that Hamas abducted more than 200 people during its Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, which killed 1,400 people. The death toll in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, has reportedly passed 5,000 as Israel continues its bombardment ahead of an expected ground invasion. The Biden administration, meanwhile, advised Israel to delay any ground invasion, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave. At the same time, Biden sent a Marine three-star general and several military officers to Israel to advise the Israeli military about its operation in Gaza. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press /