Global News Podcast - Hamas health officials: 33 die of starvation in Gaza

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry say 33 people have died of starvation in the past 48 hours. Also, former US police officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor sentenced, and Pakistan cracks down on keeping lions as pets.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and at 13 Hours GMT on Tuesday the 22nd of July, these are our main stories. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says dozens of people have died of starvation in the past two days. And the World Health Organization has denounced Israel for attacking its aid operations, calling it a pattern of systematic destruction. A former US police officer is sentenced to nearly three years for the killing of a black woman, Breonna Taylor, a case that sparked widespread Black Lives Matter protests. Also in this podcast...

How can you tell they're happy? They want to play with us and they don't show aggression. What about this one? This lion is aggressive. A crackdown against keeping big cats as pets is launched in Pakistan. We start in Gaza where the Hamas-run health ministry says 33 people, 12 of them children, have starved to death in the past two days. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says that members of its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, are fainting

while on duty in Gaza because of hunger. Juliet Tuma is UNRWA's communications director. Gaza is a hell on earth. Our own staff at UNRWA are fainting while on duty due to hunger and exhaustion. Many of them were also forced to flee given the latest displacement order. The people of Gaza are being deliberately starved and there should be a ceasefire, a deal, a release of the hostages and a standard flow of humanitarian supplies managed by the UN including UNRWA. Journalists at the French news agency AFP say they also fear their colleagues in Gaza could die of starvation. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says the latest Israeli ground offensive, launched

on Monday in central Gaza, has compromised its aid efforts. It says Israeli forces attacked its warehouse and staff residence in Deir al-Bala, mistreating those sheltering there and seizing one of its staff. Until this week, Deir al-Bala had been one of the few remaining parts of Gaza not destroyed by the Israeli military, where tens of thousands of displaced people had sought shelter. In recent weeks, hundreds of people have been shot dead trying to get food from a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid distribution system.

One displaced woman, Asma Mustafa, told us that young people seeking aid from these sites face a stark choice. Risk being shot dead or risk dying of starvation. Gaza is a place of death, hunger and exhaustion. I couldn't believe it. This is the ninth time that I am being displaced with my two daughters, with my family. I couldn't believe it. We have been hungry for days too. We didn't know where to go. What's worse is that so-called aid entry points have become death traps. Yesterday my friend, who is my neighbor, who called me to come to his shelter his his four sons went to fetch flour only three of them came back the third one was killed none of them had eaten it was a very very

hard day for all of us 28 mostly Western countries, but not the US have denounced Israel for the quote drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians. Britain is one of those countries demanding an end to the war in Gaza. Its foreign secretary David Lammy said the UK was looking at taking further action in the coming days. I feel the same as the British public, appalled, sickened. I described what I saw yesterday in Parliament as grotesque. These are not words that are usually used by a foreign secretary who's attempting to be diplomatic. But when you see innocent children holding out their hand for food and you see them shot and killed in the way that we have seen. Of course Britain must

call it out and we will continue to pressure, we will continue to act, we will continue to urge this Israeli government to listen to 83% of its public. In a statement the Israel Defence Forces told us, the IDF is committed to minimising civilian harm and ensures that all strikes are assessed for military necessity in accordance with international law. Ilon Levi is a former Israeli government spokesman. What Israel wants from the government of Gaza is to accept a ceasefire that will open a pathway to bringing back all of the hostages and letting Hamas relinquish power.

And the statement we saw from the Foreign Secretary and other countries today was a profoundly misguided intervention that is only going to prolong this war. That is why Hamas has welcomed it. It is encouraging Hamas to dig in its heels, refuse to show any wiggle room in the negotiations and accept a ceasefire. Because the world is telling Israel, if Hamas doesn't accept a ceasefire, you're going to pay the price. We need to have a ceasefire now. And the path to that is by pressuring Hamas, the party that is refusing a ceasefire and is insisting on continuing to fight this pointless war.

We asked our chief international correspondent, Lisa Doucette, whether other governments criticizing Israel will make any difference. Months ago there was also a strongly worded statement from the United Kingdom with a few of its allies. Now this is a much bigger group. The number keeps changing, but we understand, according to the Foreign Secretary, it's around 28 countries and they come from Japan to Canada to many European countries. The most strongly worded statement yet calling for the end of the war, criticizing the new aid system, which has been set up with consultation between the Israelis and the Americans.

But Israel immediately issued a statement after that saying the statement was, in their words, disconnected from reality. They said that these countries were playing into Hamas's hands. And yes, as you indicated, it is only really President Trump who can pick up the phone and say to his most strategic partner in the region, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and say this war has to stop. And we do hear reports, but the president has said it many times that he wants the war to stop, but he has not been been willing to do much more to bring it to an end. And Prime Minister Netanyahu keeps saying that the war is not over, they still have to, in his words, destroy Hamas, even though as long as a year ago his top military generals said that they had done all they could

militarily and that really the priority now had to be a deal to bring the hostages, the Israeli hostages home. Lise Doucet, to the United States now and the shocking case of a young black woman who was shot dead by police officers as she was in her own home. It became a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement five years ago. Breonna Taylor, a medical worker, was repeatedly shot at by officers who broke down her door in Kentucky at night when she was in bed. Now one of the officers involved, former policeman Brett Hankinson, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison. The officers that entered Breonna Taylor's home used what is known as a no-knock raid. They wrongly believed her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was storing drugs in the building.

He survived the raid and made this emergency call. 911, Operator Harris, where is your emergency? I don't know what happened. Did somebody kick in the door and shot my girlfriend. Bernie, oh my God. You said 26th, where was she shot at? I don't know. She's on the grill right now.

I don't know. The sentencing comes days after the Trump administration to the outrage of Breonna Taylor's family asked the judge to give the former police officer a one-day sentence. Ben Crump is a prominent civil rights attorney who's represented the family. Ben Crump The prosecutor from the Trump administration, the Department of Justice, came down and tried to advocate for the police officer who had been

convicted by the jury. I mean, as Breonna Taylor's mother said, it was as if there were two lawyers in the courtroom fighting for the police officer not to go to prison. It was just very disturbing, not only to me and my clients, the family of Breonna Taylor, but even the judge expressed frustration at the prosecutor's position. The fact that they were trying to suggest that there was really no crime committed. But the judge told the prosecutor, no, there was a crime committed. The jury convicted him of a crime. Our North America correspondent, David Will Willis has been following the case.

Brett Hankison is the first and so far the only police officer to have been convicted, charged and convicted in connection with Breonna Taylor's death. He was found guilty by a jury last November but only a few days later Donald Trump was elected to a second term in the White House and the approach of the Trump administration to matters relating to police brutality has been starkly different to that of Mr. Trump's predecessor Joe Biden and in this case the Trump Justice Department recommended that Mr. Hankinson serve only one day in prison because they maintained that the ten shots that he fired into Breonna Taylor's residence, none actually struck Breonna Taylor. Well, that was met

with some consternation, I can put it that way, on the part of Breanna Taylor's family. And the judge today shared that consternation, throwing out that sentencing recommendation from the Trump administration and the US Justice Department, and sentencing Brent Hankinson to two years and nine months in prison. Now afterwards, Breonna Taylor's family and friends expressed relief at that sentence, but went on to make the comment that in their view, it doesn't go far enough.

I mentioned that Brent Hankinson is the only person to have been charged in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor, a death which of course gave rise at least in part to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest that took place in cities and towns both across this country and around the world. Well, three other former officers of the Louisville, Kentucky police force have been charged with falsifying records in connection with that case, but none of them has yet to stand trial. David Willis

A growing number of people are keeping big cats as pets despite the practice being outlawed in many countries. The problem has become so bad in Pakistan that a crackdown has been launched in the province of Punjab. So far 26 big cats have been rescued and eight people arrested. This comes after a lion escaped in the city of Lahore attacking a woman and two children. The moment was captured on film two weeks ago and triggered public outrage. Our Pakistan correspondent Azadeh Mashiri joined wildlife officials on their raids. It's been raining, so there is mud everywhere and there's a really strong pungent smell, given that there are so many lions here.

Some of them are roaming around, some of them are sleeping. There are little baby cubs who are only days old. We're at a breeding farm with rangers. They've given the owner three months notice to upgrade his facilities. I'm walking past these cages with several lions and cubs inside them.

There are about 26 here. These three lions are in one cage. The male, the largest one, started roaring. It's triggered all of them to start roaring. Fayaz Ahmad has been told the cages for his lions need to be taller and that his property needs to be converted into a local zoo. What about their welfare, their wellbeing? We have a vet, veterinary doctor. He visits like every after two, three days. They are happy, I think. They're eating, they're breeding. How can you tell they're happy?

Because they come to us, they want to play with us and they don't show aggression. What about this one? This lion is aggressive. Aggressive? Yeah. This lion is aggressive. Aggressive? Yeah. We're following Wildlife Rangers on a raid. They've been receiving tip-offs for the past week and so far have recovered dozens of lions. This time they've heard that there's one location on the outskirts of Le Hord, where a man has been holding lions for breeding purposes to then sell cubs.

When we arrive, there are five little cubs, also covered in mud. The owner is missing. One of the cubs is frantically pacing in a cage. Wasim Khan, the assistant chief wildlife ranger for Punjab, tells us raiding these locations is essential. WASIM KHAN, Chief Wildlife Ranger, Punjab People breed lions and then sell the cubs to others who keep them as pets on rooftops. So these breeding farms are the root of the problem. This is where they are being kept? So we followed these cubs to their final destination.

It's a government zoo in Lahore and they are putting them into a large cage. Now it's quite dark here and all the cubs are huddled together. You can tell they're quite confused. Big cats are extremely popular in Panjab. In fact, there are so many, officials worry these raids are only scratching the surface and that the province may not have enough space to relocate them. Activists are also unconvinced that the public zoos are suitable. For now, officials are telling the public these raids will continue until Punjab's big cats and residents are safe.

Azadeh Mashiri reporting from Pakistan. Still to come... The bombing that happened a few weeks ago, yes, I've seen plenty of footage, with plenty of people talking about it. With a beautiful musical score and cinematic shots. Some bells and whistles, now I'm kind of more interested in the truth of human experience. Should AI be used to create documentaries? A natural disaster, the words of the Premier of South Australia,

where a rapid increase in algae has turned the usually pristine coastal waters a toxic foamy green and left the beaches littered with the carcasses of fish and marine mammals. The premier, Peter Malinouskas, announced that the federal government was providing millions of dollars of financial assistance for his state. This is a natural disaster. There's a lot of work that is going on with government

regarding the algae bloom. And I'm very keen to make sure that we're constantly examining opportunities to increase that effort. This is an unprecedented challenge. Unprecedented events require unprecedented responses. I won't surprise people that I've been on the phone to the federal government in recent days. I've got more details from our correspondent in Sydney, Phil Mercer. It's been estimated to be about the size of Kangaroo Island that sits off the coast of South Australia. That is Australia's third largest island covering an area of more than four and a half thousand square kilometres. So the state government in South Australia

is saying that this toxic outbreak is a catastrophe killing an unknown number of marine animals. So there are significant ecological consequences. There are political, social and economic impacts to oyster farms and the fishing industry have been affected. Surfers have also reported respiratory problems. There's also political friction. The South Australian government has declared a natural disaster, which is usually reserved for bushfires and floods, for example. But the federal government in Canberra is so far refusing to designate this as a natural disaster instead, setting aside around nine9 million in a support fund. Why is that important that the federal government assess it as a natural disaster?

This has ramifications for the scale of the response when we have natural disasters such as floods, droughts and severe storms in this country. natural disasters trigger more money and more resources in terms of the emergency response. Now, the South Australian state government believes that the federal government has a huge role to play. We did hear from the federal environment minister, a man called Murray Watt. He says that this is a serious environmental event, and he believes that the money that the federal government is putting forward will go to some way to address what is an emerging emergency off the coast of South Australia.

And has the role of climate change been recognised by the authorities? Well experts believe that there are a couple of plausible and potential causes. A marine heatwave that began in that part of Australia in September of 2024 is widely considered to be one of the triggers of this algor bloom, along with flooding in the Murray River, which has washed nutrients into the sea. Now a marine heatwave and flooding both linked to climate change. So that is what the authorities are really pointing the finger at in this particular incident.

Danielle Pletka Phil Mercer, as we record this podcast, Sri Lanka's police chief is set to be sacked after an impeachment committee in a landmark decision found him guilty of misconduct and gross abuse of power. In an unprecedented vote, MPs are expected to remove him from office for leading what's been called a criminal network. Electra Naismith reports. The inquiry's verdict looks set to formally end a career dogged by disputing controversy. Deshubandhu Tenakorn was only made permanent as Sri Lanka's top cop in February last year. Just five months later he was suspended as the Supreme Court heard petitions over the

legality of his appointment. He had been strongly supported for the post by the then public security minister, fully endorsed by Sri Lanka's former president, Ranul Wickramasinghe. That despite the fact that he'd already been found guilty of torture, the Supreme Court ruling that he'd violated the rights of a suspect in his custody. The impeachment committee has found him guilty of running a criminal enterprise under the guise of law enforcement. He's also accused of authorizing an ill-fated drug raid that led to a gun battle between rifle police units and the death of an officer. His removal now looks a formality by a parliament where a new government has a majority. It

leaves Sri Lanka's police on the verge of seismic change with Deshubandhu Tenakurna senior deputy facing disciplinary hearings over his role in failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. Electorate Naismith. Donald Trump's August the 1st deadline for his long threatened tariffs is fast approaching but so far only a handful of nations have struck deals with the Trump administration. It's now hinting it might take a more flexible approach to what it's previously called a hard deadline. The latest deal is reported to be with Indonesia, with President Trump announcing

it's agreed to a 19% tariff. Our Asia business correspondent, Suranjana Tewari, has been speaking to the minister leading Indonesia's negotiations. He was very scant on details and said the deal actually hasn't been signed yet and he's not clear when it will. It was a one-to-one agreement between President Trump and President Prabowo of Indonesia and Prabowo has said earlier that the deal was reached with extraordinary struggle. So what did Indonesia take to the negotiating table? Indonesia of course has resources like nickel, palm oil and it sounds like there might be some sort of copper investment on the US side.

Now there have been criticisms that these deals are being rushed through because of the tariff deadline and safety and environmental and industrial protections are not being met. The minister said that's not the case but still Indonesian businesses and exporters will still have to face a 19% tariff. He told me whether businesses will be able to manage that. For this phase, I think we agreed on the 19% tariff. So if you compare with current tariff that is implemented in the market, which is 10%, so you just add additional 9 percent. I think our competitiveness in comparison with others, of course, this is another theory of relativism. So our tariff is relatively

lower than any other countries within the region. So there you have it. Indonesia's Chief Economy Minister will have to see if that deal is indeed signed before the August 1st deadline. Surinjana Tiwari, the world's largest lithium reserves, the key ingredient in electric car batteries are to be found in South America. And Chile is ramping up production, negotiating major mining contracts it says are necessary to tackle the global problem of climate change. But mining lithium uses a significant amount of water and can have serious consequences

for the local environment. New technology is being developed to make such mining more environmentally friendly. But it's proving divisive, as our South America correspondent, Ione Wells, reports from Chile's Atacama Desert. Walking through Chile's Atacama Desert. Walking through Chile's Atacama Desert feels a bit like walking on a moon. Miles and miles of flat white land, big crags of crunchy white salt underfoot

and surrounded by big red mountains. This is home to the world's biggest reserves of lithium, the key ingredient for batteries and things like electric cars. A lot of it is still untapped though but the government wants to change that. It says this is crucial for the global fight against climate change but local indigenous communities are not so sure. Mining companies mostly extract lithium by pumping brine from underneath Chile's salt flats

to evaporation pools on the surface, extracting vast amounts of water in this already drought-prone region. At the industrial plant of SQM, Chile's biggest lithium company, they're piloting new technology they say could save water, like extracting lithium directly from brine or capturing the evaporated water and re-injecting it to the ground. Valentin Barrera is from SQM's sustainability department. Here we have a technology that allows us to recover water, actually one million cubic meters a year. So this is a kind of pilot, but in a larger scale. And we are gonna just put the same technology

into our processes in Salar da Cama. Currently we have 120 liters per second, and we are going to reduce to close to zero. Sergio Corbilhos is the president of the Painaine indigenous community. He recognizes why lithium is needed for the green revolution, but is worried about the impact on his community here. There is, of course, the issue of climate change,

that it doesn't rain anymore, but the main impact here has been caused by mining. They use millions and millions of cubic meters of brine. We understand that the world needs to transform conventional energy into renewable energy and for that lithium is very important, but we also don't want to be the bargaining chip for that development." The Chilean government says production is being increased in dialogue with indigenous communities and incorporating new technologies to minimise the social and environmental impact.

It says it will bring economic opportunities and that 30% of the salt flats and lagoons will be protected. Fabiola is a biologist from the indigenous community here. She doesn't think it's fair that these lithium companies are using millions of litres of water in the name of tackling climate change to the detriment of the ecosystems here. Lithium mining has changed the lagoons here. Now they are smaller. We've seen a decrease in the reproduction of flamingos.

If they re-inject water and return it to the Salar de Atacama, it will not be the same. We don't know if the rock will resist it. Unfortunately, we think the Salar de Atacama will be like an experiment, a laboratory. Companies and the government are obviously keen to sell the benefits of this new technology and hope it could provide some green solutions. But for people like Fabiola, she's unclear why their lives should change in order to help other people keep living their lifestyles. Electrifying is not the solution. We all have to reduce our emissions. In developed countries like the US and Europe, the energy expenditure is much greater than here among us indigenous people. And that report was by Ioni Wells.

Two years after Hollywood writers went on strike demanding better protections from artificial intelligence, the use of the technology in films remains a divisive topic. Tech giants argue it can make productions cheaper and faster than traditional media. But given that AI is prone to muddling facts, can it ever be trusted when it comes to factual documentaries? Two British filmmakers have created a 12-minute film about last month's US attack on Iran's nuclear sites. It was entirely made using artificial intelligence. Anna Foster has been speaking to film critic Leila Latif, but first she heard from the film's co-director Sameh Malal.

So the film follows a woman in Tehran dealing with the anxiety of bombings by feeding cats. So she's kind of a cat lady and she's based on something I read in the news actually, which is where I get a lot of my ideas. And also my co-director's mother happens to be a cat lady. We used a lot of that personal detail and we were creating this kind of very intimate story. And then we're cross cutting that with the pilots who are on route to Iran on the longest bombing mission in history, 46 hours to bomb the nuclear sites. So the goal of this film is to offer up another kind of story about a current news event. It's not as if we just feed a bunch of stuff into AI and just magically comes out. There's a craft to this and you know

I've been directing for 20 plus years. I've made documentaries, I've made many many commercials and we're applying our artistry and we're working with this what I would consider a kind of co-collaborator to tell an impossible story. As simple as that. Leila, I mean, it is something that we're increasingly seeing. I suppose there'll be a school of thought that says, how is that ever different to the sort of the special effects that we use of years ago? What's your take on it? I kind of keep thinking back to Hayao Miyazaki's reaction

to AI. He felt that it was an insult to life itself and that we're losing faith in ourselves as humans to tell stories. And in this world which we currently have of huge amounts of misinformation, I think this is a very dangerous precedent to replicate real events and try and make them as close

to look like you're documenting something when you're not. And you have a huge amount of footage and reporting coming out from the ground, people able to tell their stories and show what is happening around them in a way that they previously weren't able to do. Seen incredible films coming out from Iranian directors like Jaffa Panahi, which is talking about the world around them and the impact that this has happened. Made a great personal cost a lot and with like incredible artistry and I feel that is what we should really be trying to platform at this moment. About this specific event, the bombing that just happened a few weeks ago.

The bombing that happened a few weeks ago, yes. I've seen plenty of footage with plenty of people talking about it. With a beautiful musical score and cinematic shots. I don't think that that is really what is, I mean, what some bells and whistles, now I'm kind of more interested in the truth of human experience. Film critic Leila Latif and filmmaker Samir Malal. 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, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Daniela Varelae Enandes and the producers were Ella Bicknell and Ariane Cochy. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jeanette Jalil. Until next time, goodbye.