Global News Podcast - Hamas says it will postpone Israeli hostage release

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Hamas says it is postponing the next scheduled hostage release, blaming Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal. Also: the trial of Salman Rushdie’s attacker starts.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Katya Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big news story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world. From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart, from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernadette Keough and in the early hours of Tuesday 11th February these are our main stories. Hamas is delaying the release of hostages blaming Israeli violations. Israel responds by putting its military on high alert.

There have been protests in Jerusalem after two Palestinian booksellers were arrested. The Trump administration begins deporting migrants back to Venezuela. Also in this podcast... I actually thought he'd punched me very hard. I didn't realise there was a knife in his hand. The trial has opened of a man charged with trying to murder the author Salman Rushdie? And how a monkey brought Sri Lanka's energy grid to a standstill? Since a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect just over three weeks ago, a fragile peace has seen 21 hostages held in Gaza being released in exchange for more than 500 Palestinian

prisoners, much to the delight of their families and supporters. It also saw tens of thousands of Palestinians returning to their homes, many of which have been destroyed following the Israeli bombardment. But now Hamas has said it's postponing the next scheduled handover of hostages due for this Saturday because it says Israel has failed to keep to its side of the ceasefire agreement. But they did add that the door remained open to this weekend's hostage prisoner exchange. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Wera Davis, told me more about the reasons for Hamas's decision.

It sort of came out the blue this because thus far the ceasefire has been working pretty well. As he was saying, 21 hostages released in exchange for about 500 Palestinian prisoners, much more aid getting into Gaza, the reopening of the border between Egypt and Gaza. But there are tensions. We're near the end of the first phase of the ceasefire now, and it's a fragile ceasefire because there are pressures on both sides and Hamas has now said it will not as things stand proceed with the release of three or four hostages as was expected at the weekend. Now they're blaming Israel as saying Israel isn't keeping to its side of the bargain vis-a-vis the aid getting into Gaza and also it's accused Israel of firing against individuals and targets in Gaza during the ceasefire. There have been breaches

of ceasefire but it has generally held. Now Israel is angry by this decision from Hamas. It said Hamas is clearly back down from what it was meant to do under the deal and the Israeli military, the IDF, is now on standby and ready for what may come which of course may be a resumption of the war if the ceasefire does collapse. Well how much of a risk is that, Warrer, that that could happen? It is possible. It's only Monday night here in the Middle East. The handover isn't due to happen till Saturday, so they've got four or five days to work on this, which I think is crucial. And there are international mediators who will push both sides to

try and resume the ceasefire but there are also elements on the Israeli side particularly far-right elements within the government who take this as a sign that the war has to restart. They've been pushing at Mr. Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli Prime Minister for some time to stop anyway after the first phase of the ceasefire and to resume the war because their argument is that Hamas is not yet militarily defeated and they want the war to resume. So this gives more momentum to that kind of view if you like. So it is a very very dangerous moment. Why Hamas have done this is

difficult to say. Perhaps it's their way of getting back at Donald Trump, you know, for his pretty outrageous comments they would say over Gaza and how Mr. Trump sees Gaza developing in future and maybe this is Hamas's response to that. you know for his pretty outrageous comments they would say over Gaza and how Mr Trump sees Gaza developing in future and maybe this is Hamas's response to that. Well Israel's Prime Minister is still under a lot of pressure from the families of hostages to get them home under a ceasefire deal. What's been their reaction? That's a very important point you know given that the state of the last three hostages looking very emaciated shadows of their former selves the theory is that the longer the hostages are kept, the worse condition they're going

to be. And the families say the best way to get the remaining hostages out, there were meant to be about 30 live hostages still in Gaza, is for the ceasefire to continue. And they've accused the Israeli government, in particular the Prime Minister, of dragging his heels on this, of not wanting a continuation of the ceasefire. And there's a protest in Tel Aviv tonight at the so-called Hostages Square, and some very angry voices in fact, criticising not just Hamas, but actually blaming this scenario on the Israeli Prime Minister, because he doesn't really want the ceasefire to continue

in their view. Warrer-Davies There have been protests outside a court in Jerusalem in support of two Palestinian booksellers who have been accused of stalking texts that incite terrorism. Authors, journalists, international diplomats and local MPs have demanded that Mahmoud and Ahmed Muna be immediately released amid growing fears that this could be part of a campaign of harassment of Palestinian intellectuals.

Mahmoud and Ahmed owned the educational bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem, which is frequented by Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners alike. Police requested that the booksellers be held in custody for eight days. The court granted an extension of just one day. Speaking to reporters outside court, Nasser Odeh, a lawyer representing the booksellers, accused Israeli authorities of suppressing Palestinian free speech. During the trial session we explained that this move is very dangerous and an illegal precedent,

and comes within a new policy pursued by the Israeli police in Jerusalem to combat Palestinian freedom of expression and thought, and to prevent learning and education. Ayad Mouna is the brother of one of the bookshop owners who was taken into custody. Any book that says Palestine for the Israelis, they will consider it this incitement just because the book called Palestine. We have a cooking book called Palestine. They will consider this an incitement because they don't like the word Palestine. They think Palestine doesn't exist. So for them, any book that have Palestine is incitement. That's why the guys who were here yesterday, they

took more than 100 books. At the end, they returned the books and they kept only eight books. We had other problems with the, you know, we bring books from Europe, usually from England and from the USA. And they come with invoices through the Israeli borders, from the airport or from the seaport. And every time they check all the books. And sometimes, you know, they find a book they don't like, so they confiscated it, then they returned it, because, you know, it's printed in the UK or in the USA. So we have this kind of problem, but not like yesterday. Things are getting worse. We have more rights in the government. We have more rights between the people. This government is convincing their people that they cannot live with the Palestinians.

They don't recognise there is another people living in this country. We will stay open whatever it takes. Ayad Munna, Israel's police, ministry of justice and the criminal division of the district attorney office said they were unavailable to be interviewed. The police sent us a statement. As part of the investigation, it says, detectives encountered numerous books suspected of containing insightful material. The Israel police will continue its efforts to thwart incitement and support for terrorism. Two planes are heading to Venezuela, carrying migrants deported by the Trump administration. These are the first Venezuelan nationals repatriated since Mr Trump'sorted by the Trump administration. These are the first

Venezuelan nationals repatriated since Mr Trump's return to the White House. The flights are part of a wider programme to repatriate some of those who fled the country over the past decade. Our America's regional editor, Leonardo Rocha, tells us more. According to a report from Venezuela, some of them are members of a criminal gang, the most powerful criminal gang in Venezuela, Tren de Aragua, which was mentioned by President Trump. But others are just migrants who entered the country illegally or working there without the proper documentation.

So they were being deported anyway. I mean, it's part of the Trump administration mass migration program. They've been arresting people, thousands of people even a day, and deporting them. And the interesting situation is because over the past decade or so, you have almost 8 million Venezuelans left the country. Most of them went to neighboring countries, to Colombia, but many ended up in the United States. But because Venezuela and the US, they don't have diplomatic relations. Venezuela refused so far to accept the repatriation flights.

So these Venezuelan migrants will be probably be sent to a third country. It could be Mexico or sent to a third country, it could be Mexico or Salvador, a different country and now to the surprise of many people they are going back to Venezuela. As you say, no diplomatic relations between the two countries, so how did the deal come about? Well, to the surprise of most people, the Trump administration sent an envoy to Venezuela on the 31st of January, and he reached a deal with the Maduro government. The Venezuelan government accepted to take back deported migrants. And in exchange, Venezuela released six American citizens who had been held

in prisons there. The USA, they were innocent and were being held in prisons in Venezuela. And that's apparently the deal, but there must be more and it's unclear what's behind the deal. So two planes carrying a significant number of migrants, what's going to happen to the people when they get back to Venezuela? Well that's interesting, I mean those who are members of the Tren de Aragua, of this gang, they will be arrested. The concern of many people in Venezuela is that people left the country, some because they were escaping poverty, but others for political reasons.

And there are fears that the Venezuelan government, they will have a list of people they want back. So if there are people who are wanted for any political dissent or being linked to the opposition in the past, they might be arrested as political prisoners in Venezuela. So that's very worrying. Others who are economic migrants who have nothing, they'll just be released and go back to normal. Leonardo Rocha. In August of 2022, a man launched a frenzied attack against the British-American author Salman Rushdie ahead of a book event at an education institute in New York State. The suspect is said to have plunged a knife into Mr Rushdie repeatedly, leaving him blind in one eye and nearly killing him. Speaking to the BBC last year, Mr Rushdie described his experience of the attack.

I actually thought he'd punched me very hard. I didn't realise there was a knife in his hand. And then I saw the blood and I realised there was a weapon. And then he just started, I think he was just slashing wildly at everything. So there was a very big slash here across my neck. Today, 27-year-old Hadi Mata, who's accused of carrying out the attack, has gone on trial in upstate New York, completed not guilty.

Salman Rushdie previously spent several years in hiding after the publishing of the satanic verses, a fictional story inspired by the life of the prophet Muhammad, which led to inspired by the life of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to threats against his life. Our BBC North America correspondent, Neda Taufik, has been following the case. Today jurors heard opening statements from both the prosecution and the defence and they heard just how this attack unfolded in a matter of seconds, just as the moderator was two sentences into his

opening. And prosecutors said that Hadi Matar lurched over stairs and rapidly accelerated to the stage and then he very deliberately plunged a knife into Sir Salman Rushdie over and over and over again. They said injuring him in the head, in the thigh, in the neck, on his body, stabbing him nearly 15 times. And as you mentioned there, leaving him blind in his right eye and nearly killing him. Jurors heard about just the sheer amount of blood that was on the stage.

And prosecutors said they would hear from witnesses who were there. There were 2,000 people in the amphitheater there to hear the talk. Prosecutors said they would also see videos. And then the defense spoke. And their strategy seemed to really just try to sow doubt in the prosecutor's case. They asked jurors to keep an open mind and to remember that it was the burden of the prosecution to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. And then the court did hear from two witnesses. The second witness was actually one of the

gentlemen who rushed to the stage and tackled the attacker and he directly identified Hadi Matar as being responsible in court. What do we know about the accused? Well, Hadi Matar is a 26-year-old from New Jersey. He is both an American and Lebanese dual citizenship holder. We know that he got a ticket to go to the event in August of 2022 and that he actually kind of slept on the grounds and then went inside. Now, an exact motive hasn't yet been provided, but in a separate indictment, federal investigators

accused Hadi Mattar of carrying this out for Hezbollah, of seeing Salman Rushdie as someone who was a disingenuous, who had been saying things that he didn't like in his books. Neda Taufik. Only a handful of countries have hit a UN deadline to submit plans on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to help keep global temperature rises below a key threshold. That's despite warnings that the world is fast running out of time to keep such rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. Danny Aberhard has more details.

In order to limit dangerous global warming the UN's Paris Climate Accord relies on nations drawing up and then acting on plans to cut emissions. Only a tiny fraction of countries are hitting key deadlines. Scientists warn too that even some of their plans aren't compatible with keeping temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. That's seen as critical to help limit ever more extreme impacts on humans and the natural world. it ever more extreme impacts on humans and the natural world. Scientists calculate it as an average over a 20-year period, but 2024 was the first single year when temperatures exceeded that figure. Two new scientific studies have warned how close we might be to breaching that limit even when projected over the longer scale

without urgent, drastic emissions cuts. Dani Abahard reporting. Still to come in the Global News podcast, Bernice Elweger on returning for another Bridget Jones film. It's 25 years on, everything's changed. Society's changed, women's expectations for themselves and from other people have changed and you now I think our values have shifted just a little bit. Hello, I'm Katya Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big news story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world.

From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart. From the movements of money and markets to the human stories that touch our lives, we bring you in-depth insights from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. In Romania, President Claus Iohannis has resigned three months before a delayed election to choose his successor. He's been under growing pressure from opposition parties in parliament and on the streets and made this announcement earlier today. In order to spare Romania and the Romanian citizens from this crisis, from this useless

and negative development, I resign from the office of President of Romania. I will leave office the day after tomorrow, February 12. God of Romania. I will leave office the day after tomorrow, February 12th. God bless Romania. Our Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe told me more about Romania's political crisis. Klaus Johannes, who's been in power for two terms, ten years in power, he was supposed to step down in December when his mandate ran out, but because of that political turmoil, especially the annulment, the very controversial cancellation of the presidential elections to choose a successor for him, that was at the beginning of December, he said he'd stay on

until the rescheduled elections in May. But he has seen since then a wave of anger, especially on the nationalist wing of Hungarian politics, protests on the street against him calling for him to resign. And I think what's really pushed him to resign now, just still three months before the May elections, is he felt he wasn't receiving the support he wanted from the centre of Romanian politics, from the coalition government, so in a way he's jumped before he could be pushed. Now just remind us of the background of why that election was annulled. Basically, Calin Gheorghescu, an almost unknown radical, some people call him a nationalist, some call him a pro-Russian candidate, but he was certainly didn't have the backing of any particular parties.

He came from nowhere, came first in the first round of the presidential election on the 24th of November and looked set most likely to win the second round of that election, the runoff on the 6th of December. Then the president, President Yohannis, and the Constitutional Court, the Central Electoral Committee, came up with documents suggesting that Mr. Gheorghescu's astonishing sudden rise to success in that first round came off the back of a wave of support from TikTok users. And there were suspicions also, never fully comprehensively proven,

but certainly loudly made by the secret services that he was a pro-Russian candidate and that he'd been financed or supported in some way by Russia. And just next steps politically? Next steps politically, the interim president will be Ilya Bolozjan. He's the president of the Senate, the leader of the National Liberal Party, one of the coalition parties in government.

Mr. Yohannis, in his very bitter outgoing speech, said that his resignation wouldn't solve the political crisis, it would actually make it worse, but we'll, I think, have to see what actually happens. Nick Thorpe. Children are among the biggest casualties of war. There are, of course, the deaths and the injuries, but there's also the education that they're denied. In Sudan, for instance, nine out of ten schools have been forced to shut down because of the conflict. This week, the BBC World Service has launched an Arabic edition of the award-winning education

programme DARS, meaning lesson, to try to give children in these war zones a chance still to learn. Hanan Razek reports. Men, women and children walk through the dusty apocalyptic streets of Gaza, their backs heavy with belongings. After nearly 18 months of Israel's military campaign in Gaza following Hamas' October 7 attacks, 90 percent of this trip's 2 million residents were internally displaced. But now these Gazans return to what's left of their homes. Ten-year-old Tarek plays with his friends

nearby the rubble of what's left of his old school. This is my school, now in ruins, with only the walls left standing. When I saw my school in ruins, a deep sadness overwhelmed me. Even if schools don't reopen, we will keep learning in our houses. I study at home, making sure not to waste a moment. So when I return to school, I will be in a good position. These children are just some of the almost 650,000 in Gaza who no longer have access to formal education. Salima Weiss is a UNICEF spokesperson.

Thousands of children losing their lives, losing a limb, all that is affecting their ability to go to school. The security is not there, but moreover, the wars itself, the conflicts itself, is really compromising the infrastructure. So we're talking about schools that have been damaged. Other than that, it's the teachers and the resources. It is a time of unprecedented conflict in the Arab world. According to UNICEF, at least 30 million students are deprived of education in the Middle East and North Africa. More than half of them are in Sudan alone. It's been almost two years since the conflict started in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary rapid support forces.

Millions still live in refugee camps. The only education here is through local initiatives. 14-year-old Safa is helping her younger friends in the camp practice reading Arabic. She misses her school, but she hasn't given up her dream of becoming a surgeon. Bodies were scattered everywhere which deeply moved me and made me want to be a reason for saving lives instead of them being lost. That's when I decided to become a heart surgeon, I'm still holding on to hope. 16.5 million Sudanese students are now out of school. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Sudanese Education Minister Ahmed Khalifa said that no state was spared of the damage.

Sudan has approximately 15,000 public schools. Between 60 percent and 70 percent of these schools have been completely damaged. Now, the BBC World Service is launching an educational program for our Arabic-speaking student audience. The weekly show will share lessons in English, Math, Science as well as Mental Health. Dars meaning listen will help keep children deprived of school connected to learning and to their dreams. Hanna Razek reporting.

Scheduled power cuts are continuing for millions of people in Sri Lanka after the country's electricity grid went dark on Sunday. The government says a primate monkeying around in a power station is to blame. The incident has caused some Sri Lankans to go ape on social media, questioning the reliability of the island nation's power grid. Our South Asia correspondent, Yogita Lamaie, has the details. The outage began at around 11 yesterday morning and lasted for nearly six hours. There was widespread disruption with medical facilities and water purification plants prioritised while electricity was being restored. The blackout caused a coal-fired power station to grind to a halt and the knock-on effects are still being felt,

with some scheduled power cuts of an hour and a half taking place across the country. firepower station to grind to a halt and the knock-on effects are still being felt, with some scheduled power cuts of an hour and a half taking place across the country. The official explanation as to what happened came from the Energy Minister, Kumarajay Kodi. He told reporters that a monkey had come into contact with the grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system. There aren't many details about what the rogue monkey did to bring the country to a halt or what became of it. But people have been quick to poke fun.

One monkey equals total chaos, time to rethink our infrastructure, wrote one person on social media. While the editor of a local paper noted that only in Sri Lanka can a group of monkeys fighting inside a power station cause an island-wide power outage. Yogi Talimai. It's almost a quarter of a century since the first Bridget Jones film in which the American actor Renee Zellweger was cast as that most British of icons. She was

Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of the 30-something Singleton, who counted her calories, had a disastrous love life and wore big pants on the wrong occasions. Now Bridget's back in her fourth film, Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy, in which she's a widow with two children following the death of her husband Mark Darcy. And she's just starting to date again, having a fling with someone more than 20 years her junior. Our entertainment correspondent Colin Patterson has been speaking about all this to the actress. Bridget Jones, it's time to live.

How much of a joy to get the British accent out there again. It was so much fun. I mean, come to London and I start trying to speak like her. It's abysmal for a while. Abysmal? It's true. So you're wandering around your house trying to be Bridget? Like a jerk, yeah.

Almost 25 years since the first film. Who's changed more, you or Bridget? Oh, I think we're kind of running the same race, you know, minus a couple of specifics. I think that's what's so cool about revisiting this character is sort of meeting up with her in different stages of her life and there's not a lot that she's experienced that I'm not familiar with at this stage in my life. Can you survive? I think so. It's not enough to survive, you've got to live. Was that the Del I Long? It's Harry Styles, I think.

I'm just looking for truth in it, and there's a lot of comedy in the challenges that she faces and in her quest for perfection and not quite measuring up. But what she's going through is the more substantive stuff of life you know. Do you miss Dada sometimes? I miss him all of the times.

What did she, Bridget Jones, teach you about grief from playing the role? There was a lot of consideration regarding what's keeping her in that sort of state of paralysis, what might be at the root of that, like letting go, meaning that you might question how much you love the person and you feel guilty for laughing again, things like that. But in terms of learning about grief, life taught me that. It's inevitable, right, for everyone, especially at this stage in life. How does Brigid fit into 2025? How has she had to adjust?

I mean, well, it's 25 years on. Everything's changed. Society's changed. Women's expectations for themselves and from other people have changed. And, you know, I think our values have shifted just a little bit, but still scrutinizes herself in a way that we all understand. Renée Zellweger talking to Colin Patterson. And that's all from us for now but there'll 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.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and the producer was Isabella Duell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernice Echeo. Until next time, goodbye. the world. From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart. From the movements of money and markets to the human stories that touch our lives, we bring you in-depth insights from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.