Global News Podcast - Gaza: US pledges $30 million to controversial aid system

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

The US pumps millions into Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - but MSF calls the scheme "slaughter masquerading as aid." Also: US set to get rare earth metals after deal with Beijing, and a breakthrough against a rare disease.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Uncle Desai and at 13Hours' GMT on Friday 27th June, these are our main stories. In the Middle East, millions are pumped into the controversial aid distribution system in Gaza, but concerns remain. Peace beckons between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, with the US taking the credit. Also in this podcast, in South Sudan, students continue to wait for exam results while the government says it doesn't have enough money to pay for exam markers. And?

The dreaded blue screen of death sound when your Windows computer has a problem is set to be retired by Microsoft. we explain why. Ever since the US and Israeli backed Gaza humanitarian hub began operating in the territory one month ago, we've been getting daily reports of Palestinians being killed while trying to collect food. This has continued today with seven people reportedly killed by Israeli forces while waiting near a distribution site. Dozens more have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling elsewhere in Gaza. The Israeli military has repeatedly said it will investigate reports of deaths near its aid sites, but the charity Medecins

Sans Frontieres or Doctors Without Borders described the scheme as slaughter masquerading as aid. Joanne Perry is a medical advisor working with MSF in northern Gaza. The situation is best described as catastrophic. Basically, it's not humanitarian. Humanitarian principles exist to enable the facilitation of aid to those in need with dignity. The GHF is not fulfilling any of those principles. People are walking long distances. Their choice is either starvation or possibly getting killed. The US, however, has reaffirmed its support for the scheme and has said it will contribute

$30 million to the Gaza humanitarian hub. I heard more from our correspondent in Jerusalem, Dan Johnson. I think this is a sign that both the Americans and the Israelis prefer the mechanism in place now, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has effectively sidelined or replaced the United Nations and the other international organizations that were involved in distributing aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. The Israelis prefer this because they say it's a way of undermining Hamas by ensuring that food isn't commandeered

by militants, that it isn't stolen from the population who need it. But there are these criticisms, there is this controversy, because this has reorganised the whole aid distribution network in Gaza. It means rather than hundreds of aid points, there are just four central distribution centres, which means Palestinians have to travel much further to get that aid. There are confusions about exactly where they need to go, what's available and when. And that's why we've seen these large crowds building up the tension and the chaos, which has resulted in these incidents of soldiers or the private security contractors who are working with the foundation opening fire on those crowds.

And the UN says more than 410 Palestinians have died over the last month in those sorts of incidents. The Israeli military and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation denied that there are killings at its facilities but these reports have been repeatedly coming through. The UN says that it is Israel weaponizing food as part of its war against Hamas. But I think for the time being the fact that the US is providing this sort of funding shows that it is the preferred mechanism and that that is going to be in place for the future. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has recognized that there have been some issues in its supply chain, but

it says it has delivered 46 million meals so far to Palestinians. But international agencies are still warning it's not enough that there are people who are starving who need food fuel and clean drinking water. And what about the latest on the fighting in Gaza Dan what are you hearing? It continues there are more Israeli airstrikes and Palestinians who've been killed not just in these incidents at the aid centers there is continued loss of Israeli soldiers' lives in Gaza too, and that's bringing some pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to find a resolution now to the war that continues in Gaza. With the ceasefire in place and holding with Iran, the attention

does seem to have turned back to the war in Gaza. And you've got figures like Yair Lapid, opposition leader, saying it's not going anywhere, no one understands what we're getting out of that war in Gaza now, it's time to stop. He said that he didn't want to see any further loss of Israeli life there. Benjamin Netanyahu did say last night that he thought now there was a wider chance for a broader peace settlement for negotiations that could include resolving the conflict in Gaza, But we've been at this point before. There have been talks, there have been negotiations. Still the war goes on there. And the hostage families are concurring and wanting peace.

They want this brought to an end sooner rather than later too. Absolutely, yes. Worth remembering there are still Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Their families have campaigned relentlessly for their release. And now that gatherings are allowed here once again in Israel having seen that ceasefire in place for a few days now there was a large protest in Tel Aviv last night putting pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to make some moves now to end that conflict in Gaza with some sort of peace negotiation with Hamas but then

there are figures in the Israeli political structure in government who would never accept that, who want the military strategy to be stepped up in Gaza. Some figures who've called for a complete blockade of aid as a strategy to completely weaken Hamas. There are some figures in Israeli government who think that's the only way of securing an Israeli success in Gaza. Dan Johnson in Jerusalem. There were tariffs and recriminations and then an agreement which wasn't fully implemented. Now there seems to be a breakthrough.

Beijing has confirmed how it will put into place the China-US trade deal agreed a few weeks ago. Rare earth metals will be shipped to America with sophisticated computer chips heading in the other direction. So what's the latest and what next? I asked our Asia Pacific editor, Mickey Bristo. Listeners might be forgiven for thinking this is quite a confusing story. It is. These two

countries have been engaged in a trade war essentially since President Trump came to power. January, he put massive tariffs on Chinese imports. China retaliated last month in Geneva. The two sides agreed to reduce tariffs and seem to come to some agreement, but there have been problems with implementation since then. What the two sides were paid to have agreed on now is a way to effectively put into practice the agreement or the details that they came to in Geneva. Primarily this involves the speeding up of the exports of rare earth minerals or metals to the United States and in return the United States will ease some of the restrictions it's placed on the exports of high-tech, particularly chips, to China.

Now these rare earth metals, we hear a lot about them but maybe we don't know why they're so important. Yeah I mean they're vital components to so much of what we use in everyday life. We're talking about electric vehicles, smartphones, wind turbines, even missiles, all kinds of technology. It is vital, these are vitally 17 rare earth metals are absolutely vital. And China at the moment has the majority of production and processing of these rare earth metals. And so it has really a lot of leverage over the United States. What happened when Donald Trump put these tariffs on China a few months ago, China just restricted the export of these

rare earth metals. And all across the world, there were problems with supplies. And in the United States, a number of major car manufacturers, they had to halt production because of the restrictions and the limits in supply of these rare earths. So it just shows you the leverage China has. And really, the United States has had no choice but to back down on tariffs because of this leverage that Beijing holds over it. And finally, Michael, I mean, it's not been the smoothest journey so far. There've been some road bumps, so could there be some roadblocks to come, I guess? I would say that's definitely going to be the case. President Trump sees it as an advantage,

a way of dealing with other countries to constantly change the way that he views them and changes his mind and brings up new ideas, new limits, new restrictions all the time. He sees that as of benefit. China, not so much. It believes more in stability. That's how world trade can really take off if there are not a lot of chopping and changing. So it won't want many more roadblocks. What it will have done is it will have seen that when President Trump a few months ago introduced tariffs, China was effectively the only country which stood up to President Trump and introduced its own tariffs.

It's seen how it's got its way and President Trump back down. It will take that forward regardless of what President Trump does. Asia Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow. In a few hours from now, Washington will host officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for the signing of a peace agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict between the two African countries that have seen thousands killed. Each side accuses the other of stoking unrest by supporting rebel movements.

One of the most powerful, the M23 group, seized large parts of eastern Congo this year. The peace deal was mediated by Qatar and the US and could open the way for billions of dollars of Western investment in the mineral rich region. But there's plenty of criticism. Here's Abdollahi Halaki, senior advocate for East and Southern Africa for Refugees International. The commitment of these leaders will not be to their people. The commitment of these leaders will be to please the United States and particularly the person of Donald Trump. So they can commit

egregious human rights violation, no rule of law, kill, evict the people that they do not agree with them, shut down the media. As long as the United States is happy and getting their minerals, no problem. I had more from our senior Africa correspondent, Ann Soy, who's in Nairobi. This agreement covers territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and disengagement, the disarmament of the rebel groups in that region, including the conditional integration of the armed groups. Now, that has been a particularly contentious issue because at the center of this conflict

are two armed groups, one which the Rwandan government says threatens their territorial integrity, the FDLR, Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda. These include some of the former Genoesee des, and that is what Rwanda has said. It has deployed defensively and offensively to the border to try and block this group from attacking it. But on the Rwandan side, there's M23, which Rwanda has been accused of backing and arming. And this year, it has seized control of the two largest cities in the mineral rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now these two groups, as per this agreement, are to lay down arms and perhaps reintegrate

into the national force, the FARDC, the Congolese force. Now that is still apparently a contentious issue. But also critically, it's the withdrawal of Rwandan forces. It is thought that Rwanda has up to 7,000 soldiers on Congolese soil. It has in the past denied this, but the fact that it is part of this agreement would indicate that indeed they may have soldiers on Rwandan soil. So up until very late the contention has been whether that withdrawal will be immediate or will be phased.

Just briefly, why are the Americans pushing for a deal in this? The Americans were invited by the Congolese government to mediate. In February, the Congolese president said that he had reached out to President Trump, offered critical minerals in exchange for support in trying to bring an end to the conflict in the east of the DRC. The DRC is reaching some of the critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and coltan that are critical for the energy transition and smartphones. Our senior Africa correspondent Anne Sawi who's in Nairobi to Japan where for the first time in three years a death row inmate

has been executed. The so-called Twitter killer murdered nine people in 2017 who he'd approached online. Our correspondent in Tokyo, Shima Khalil, has the story and a warning there may be some distressing details in her report. The case of Takahiro Shiraishi, the man known here in Japan as the Twitter killer, shocked this country and for years gained so much media and public attention. The Justice Minister, who today issued the execution order, said that the bereaved families and the victims themselves suffered beyond imagination. Details of this case are very distressing and they involve

suicidal victims. It all came into light in 2017 when police were searching for a woman who turned out to be one of his victims. Her dismembered body was found in his flat near Tokyo. Chiraishi then admitted to killing nine people. They were suicidal victims whom he was in contact with on Twitter now known as X. He told them that he could help them die and in some cases claimed that he would kill himself alongside them. Nine dismembered bodies were found in cooler boxes and in toolboxes in his house. Local media here described it as the house of horrors. During his trial the prosecution asked for his execution.

His defense team however asked for more lenient sentence-citing murder by consent and what was remarkable during the trial is that the killer himself, Shirai Ishii, contradicted his defense team and said that he killed those victims without consent. These murders pushed Twitter to change its rules and it said that members should not discuss suicide or self-harm on the platform. When he was sentenced in 2020, hundreds of people came to watch the verdict. At the time, the judge described him as cunning and cruel and completely

responsible for his murders. Today, he was executed the first time that Japan inacts capital punishment in three years in a case that has really stunned the nation and pushed a big debate on how suicide should be discussed online. Shyamakalil in Tokyo. Coming up, a breakthrough in the fight against a rare genetic disease. There's always a fear that I'd die young too, but with this medication I know I can have a longer life, which is what she'd want. There were signs earlier this year that one of the world's longest running conflicts may

be coming to an end, but evidence of progress since then has been slim. The leadership of the PKK militant group which has waged a 40-year insurgency against Turkey said it would disband and disarm. The group, which is a designated terrorist organisation in Turkey, the EU, UK and US, had been fighting for greater Kurdish rights. Turkey's president welcomed the move as a step towards a terror-free Turkey. 40,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began. BBC Arabic's Salih Nabil reports from Northern Iraq on the families waiting for peace. It wasn't an easy journey to the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern

Iraq. This remote rugged area has been a stronghold for the outlawed Kurdish militants known as the PKK. It's a PKK controlled area. Even the checkpoints we're meeting on the way are manned by PKK fighters. I can see from a distance a big picture for their ideological leader, Abdullah Ojalan. Now a peace process may be on the horizon. After Ojalan, jailed since 1999, announced that the group should disband and disarm.

We've been turned back at the checkpoint and we had to leave without doing any filming. It's still not clear what Turkey, who along with the UK, US and EU designate the PKK as a terrorist group, will agree on to end this conflict. Turkey says the group should disband and surrender its weapons unconditionally and without delay. The KGK, an umbrella group for the PKK, told us in a written statement that the PKK is sincere and serious about the peace process, insisting its leader must be freed, and calls on Turkey to meet a list of demands to move the process forward.

But possibly in a sign of the hurdles ahead, a senior local commander in the mountains told us in a written statement that in his view disarmament is off the table. We are here in the house of a family whose son has been fighting with the PKK over the past three years or so. He has left his family behind and went up the Kandil mountains and since then they haven't seen him. Layla, whose real name has been changed upon her request as she fears reprisals from the group, shows me a video her son has sent her last March. It's just the second message he's sent in three years. As we were talking, she broke into tears a few times and accused the PKK of brainwashing her boy, who is in his twenties.

There are so many mothers like me. I know a family who hasn't seen their son in 13 years. At the beginning we were hopeful but now it's just talk, no real steps taken. If they were serious they would have allowed me to see my son. They won't hand over their weapons. They might even regroup and fight under another name. Last March, Leila visited Kandil Mountains when the fighters were celebrating the arrival of spring at the festival.

She was eager to get a glimpse of her son, but in vain. The PKK fought first for an independent homeland for the Kurdish people, who are spread across Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. But more recently it called for more autonomy and greater Kurdish rights. Kawa, a PKK fighter, was only 21 when he was killed in the conflict two years ago. His sister Rondeck remembers the last time she was with him in Kandil in 2019. I asked him whether he wants to go back home with me. He said, never. I would rather you join me. Without such sacrifices, we wouldn't have reached the point where leaders can sit

down for peace talks. It's good, but also painful for a family like us, who lost a dear relative. In a bustling local market in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, people have mixed feelings. Some believe the time has come to enjoy a quiet life. They wish Turkish airstrikes on PKK strongholds in Iraq will stop once a deal is reached, while others say their dream of independence will never die and will be passed on to the next generations. Salih Nabil reporting from Northern Iraq. Waiting for school exam results is always a stressful time, so imagine what it's like for children and parents in South Sudan now, where it's been over six months since students finished their final secondary

school exams, but they're still waiting for their results. The reason the government doesn't have the money to pay exam markers. It's part of the economic crisis facing the country due to the war in neighboring Sudan. South Sudan's main income comes from oil exported through its neighbor, and it's been severely disrupted by the war. Let's hear from someone impacted by all of this. 19-year-old Mary Uddott is among those who've been stuck in uncertainty since finishing exams last year.

She's been telling James Copnell about her frustration with the delay. It feels sad not only for myself but for the other 50,000 candidates who were sad last year. And they are facing a lot of challenges, not only us but also in the villages. Most of the girls will be married off as their parents will be like you've delayed without going to school for quite a few months so what are we waiting for? It's better just get married instead. So it's a real challenge. Why do you think the government hasn't been able to find the funding to mark the exams?

It feels like education is not being prioritised due to the economic situation of our country, South Sudan. For example, now over 2.8 million children are out of school. And each year the investment that is all percentage allocated to education usually reduces. You and your fellow students who have been waiting now for month after month for your results, what have you, what have your friends been doing in the meantime while you do wait? Well, for me, I've just been staying home and doing some advocacy.

Others, I don't know about them, maybe working. Those in the city are actually good, but most of them in the villages are the ones having problems. So the government says it has got funding now that the exam marking should start taking place next week. Have they given you some sort of idea about when you will get your results exactly? No, no, they didn't. I don't think it will happen next month, probably in August or September, I don't know. Student Mary Adot speaking to the BBC's James Coppenall.

A teenager here in England has become the first patient in Europe to be given newly licensed treatment, which doctors say could potentially cure her life-threatening inherited disorder. APDS was only discovered 12 years ago, and researchers at Cambridge University's Addenbrookes Hospital have found the life-changing treatment. Mary Katchpole lost several family members to the rare condition. Our medical editor, Fergus Walsh, went with her to one of her dance classes. All her life, Mary has carried the burden of a rare disease that killed her mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle. Now that weight has lifted, the 19-year-old feels liberated.

I just hope it will give me any lease of life. It's really just a miracle. It means everything. It's bittersweet because obviously my family members who passed away before, they could have it. It's a new hope and a new joy about my life. And it makes me feel like I can just do anything. Mary's ultra-rare condition is called APDS and makes her highly vulnerable to infection but she's the first patient in Europe to get a transformative new drug. Lenula Zip also called Joenger should stabilize Mary's immune system by blocking the faulty

gene which causes APDS. So here we're looking at a CT scan of a chest scan of Mary. APDS can cause lung damage and trigger blood cancers. Mary's consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital hopes the new drug will prevent that. It's extremely significant. We have a treatment that's targeted specifically for the disease so that in itself is absolutely transformative and amazing. The future is that she potentially has a drug that leads to a cure and it's a simple tablet. Mary's mother was just 43 when she died.

Other affected family members also died prematurely. She died quite young, which was always a fear that I'd die young too, but with this medication I know I can have a longer life, which is what she'd want. Mary's dad feared he'd lose her too. To know that that is possibly the future for your daughter was really gut-wrenching. This has given her a chance to just live a normal life and have a family herself if she wants to. It's wonderful.

Mary's family played a crucial role in pinpointing the genetic origins of APDS by providing blood samples for researchers at Addenbrookes. The drug is one of several new targeted treatments which are helping to transform the lives of patients with rare diseases. The drug Mary is taking is giving her a sense of independence. I want to go on more adventures and take risks and just find me without the illness if that makes sense because whatever the name is, medication, needles, hospital appointments,

whereas now I can find out who I am truly. Mary Catchpole speaking to our medical editor, Fergus Walsh. There's change coming for inpatient computer users around the world. Microsoft's so-called blue screen of death is disappearing. The Windows update page has been around for decades and was seen by millions around the globe last year during an infamous IT outage. The newsroom's own computer nerd David Lewis has the details. Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart and a sad face icon. That's the excruciating message many of us will recognise blasted onto the Azure background on your monitor.

But not for much longer. The infamous blue screen of death, the one we've all endured during unexpected restarts on Windows computers, is dead and almost buried. And it's been a long time coming. Millennials and Gen Zers have grown up with a network recovery glitch. Homework, downloads, online dating, social media postings, all momentarily falling victim to that uninvited and interminable update for your PC.

There's a serious side here. The refresh comes a year on from the major global Microsoft outage. In the summer of 2024, hospitals, airlines, banks and other major businesses that use Windows were taken offline after a faulty update from cyber security company CrowdStrike. Photos went viral after the hitch was fixed, showing train terminals, flight check-in desks, supermarket tills, drinks dispensers, even the iconic Times Square electronic billboards in New York all lit blue as the virus took hold. That meltdown caused 8.5 million systems to crash around the world and companies lost billions of dollars as trade was suspended.

So what's coming up in its place? Well, computer users can be assured a new black screen of death is on its way. Microsoft is promising it will streamline the unexpected restart experience. Well, the times are changing. From this summer, restarts will be slashed to just two seconds for most users, according to the company. David Lewis logging off. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast

later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. And you can also find us on X at BBC World Service. You can use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was produced by Harry Bly and Stephanie Zachrisson. And it was mixed by Ben Martin. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Uncle Desai.

Until next time, goodbye.