Global News Podcast - Humanitarian aid trickles into Gaza

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Palestinians rushed to collect aid from lorries and airdrops after Israel pauses fighting in some areas. Also: EU and the US agree a trade deal, and Tom Lehrer, master of the subversive ditty, dies.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. deal ratings and price history. So you know a great deal when you see one. That's cargurus.ca. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Monday 28 July, these are our main stories. Food and aid supplies have been trickling into Gaza after Israel announced a pause in fighting to allow aid to be distributed more easily. The US and European Union have agreed a trade deal imposing a 15% tariff on imports from the bloc. Also in this podcast Greece appeals to the EU for more help as firefighters struggle to contain five major wildfires. In sport, England have retained the Women's European Championship title after a nail-biting

penalty victory over Spain. And we hear about the home country of the winner of cycling's Tour de France. Not so many years ago, Slovenians were not that known in cycling. What we're seeing for the last couple of years, I think it's pretty much unimaginable. We start in Gaza, where desperately needed humanitarian aid has been trickling into the territory by road and in air drops, after Israel made it easier to distribute supplies including pausing fighting in some areas. There have been chaotic scenes. Medical officials in central Gaza say at least 17 Palestinians awaiting one

convoy were killed and 50 others were injured. 25 tons of supplies have been dropped by planes from Jordan and the UAE. The former Jordanian Foreign Minister Jabhat al-Anani defended the use of air drops that have been criticised by some aid agencies as being inefficient and dangerous. Either we drop them by air or we send less food. People who are there, they need that minute by minute. It could make a difference to many people's lives. So anyway, we are going to utilize every possible way that is available to us, whether by air or by land or by sea or whatever means that will make sure that such food reaches

its destination. In Gaza itself, the reaction has been mixed. These people spoke to journalists from BBC Arabic. I believe this so-called truce is merely an attempt to polish the image of the Israeli occupation in the eyes of the world. After committing grave crimes against our people, especially at the very aid distribution centers it established, the occupation is now seeking to regain international sympathy under the guise of humanitarian concern. Of course, the humanitarian truce periods announced are far from sufficient. We're speaking about a people who have endured immense suffering and starvation. But I hope this announcement

marks a positive turning point, allowing aid to flow continuously through international organisations and to be distributed fairly and equally to all those in need. Oxfam has now called for all crossings to be open to allow full access to the territory for humanitarian aid. Israel does not allow international media access to Gaza, so our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bacchega has been following aid distribution from Jerusalem. Palestinians cheer as plane drops aid packages from the air over Gaza City. 25 tons of supplies

dropped by planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. A desperate measure to alleviate a growing hunger crisis, but not enough to solve it. Ten people were injured by falling boxes, according to local health officials. In Beit Lahir, to the north, bags of flour were quickly snatched up from aid lorries by residents. Wearing torn sandals and looking weak and tired, Fariz Hassuna, a father of six, carried the heavy bag on his shoulders, proudly. When he returned to the family's tent,

he threw it on the dusty ground and gave it a kiss. If you let us out... We'll maybe go out to try to get aid is the food shortage, he says. Hunger is killing us. My children have lost a lot of weight. This was the first day of the new measures announced by Israel to ease the worsening situation in Gaza. It said military activity would stop for 10 hours every day in three

areas and that safe corridors would be created for convoys to deliver food and medicine. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no more excuses for the UN. This marks a significant shift in Israel's position amid growing international outrage. The UN aid agencies and even some of Israel's allies blamed its restrictions on the entry and distribution of aid for the crisis. Some Palestinians are expressing hope, but they also fear that this will not bring an end to their suffering. Hugo Bachega, a former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert has given a cautious welcome to

the new humanitarian provisions by the Israeli government. After serving a jail sentence on corruption charges, he has been one of the most vocal opponents of the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Olmert spoke to the BBC's James Kumarasami. Certainly too late. I mean, it should have been done long ago. There was no reason to get into this humanitarian crisis in Chateau, such a way that first caused the suffering of so many people, which is the most important thing. And also, I think, dramatically affected the image of the state of Israel. So I'm happy that it appears that the government is prepared to make some accommodations and

some adjustments in order to facilitate the provision of humanitarian needs. And I hope it will be effective. Let's wait and see. Do you think it will be lasting? Nothing is lasting with this government. I don't know. I wish I could tell you, but I am not certain that I can. What do you think it is then that has made them do this? Is it the wealth of pressure, a rhetorical pressure coming from allied governments, from aid agencies? Is it the images that have come out of these children looking all skin and bones? What is it? I think all these things together, the international reaction, the comments made by world leaders, relief organizations across the world, the international media, this was devastating.

But also equally, I think the voice of protest coming from within Israel, which is not insignificant. I know that obviously you always are ready for your good professional judgment to bring the reactions of some of these idiots which are now members of the cabinet, Ben Viers and Smotovich and the other thugs which are part of the cabinet, and you don't always report about the widespread protests going on across Israel from north to south of people that say enough is enough. What about the hostages? What about the peace process?

I mean, it seems to have run into the ground. Certainly, the Americans are saying, you know, Hamas has walked away from the latest deal. Look, let's not exaggerate. This is just a ceasefire process, an attempt to ceasefire. Now, in a way, it's a very simple thing. If you look at it from the point of view of Israel, the only possible deal is the one in which all the hostages are released and Israel has a free option to continue the fighting. Of course, if Hamas doesn't agree to it, then they should be blamed for not wanting an agreement. This is from the point of view of Israel.

If you look at it from the point of view of the Hamas, the Hamas says they want the end of the war. They are ready to release all the hostages for the end of the war. If Israel is not prepared to end of the war, then from their point of view Israel is guilty for not having an agreement. The only way to do it is unfortunately for us, but inevitable is to end the war as so many of the Israelis think we should do. But if Israel doesn't accept this fundamental condition of the Hamas, then there will not be an agreement. Can I just return to the humanitarian situation? You are one of the few senior Israeli officials, former officials, who have spoken openly about what is happening as war crimes.

You stand by that? When I see the pictures of babies starving to death, when I see the thousands of people fighting violently to reach out for the piece of bread or rice or soup that they distribute, and nothing is done effectively to change it, I have no other impression. Is what is happening now though going to change that? Confidence I'm not.

Hopeful I am. I hope that maybe, perhaps not because of their own lack of sensitivities and inability to empathize with the suffering, but because of the international pressure, the government seems to expand its logistical operation. I think it is essential that it will stay. I'm not certain. Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister of Israel. Negotiations between Donald Trump and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have led to a trade deal. There will be a blanket US tariff of 15% on all EU goods and Ms von

der Leyen said the deal would bring stability. The agreement was hammered out in Scotland where Mr Trump is visiting his golf courses as I heard from our business correspondent Mark Ashton. Today was the kind of final putt really. This has been a sort of long game of golf. Officials going on for months and months behind the scenes, working on the details. The rhetoric was ramped up, both sides staying firm, insisting they would get the best deal possible. Today though, the two main players came together and hammered out the final stages. I think in truth really both sides got a bit of what they wanted

and gave away perhaps a little bit more than they would have liked. On the US side, 15% tariffs on all EU goods being imported to the US, plus billions of dollars of investment and energy purchases flowing into US coffers. Let's be clear, that's nothing like the 30% tariffs which were due to kick in on Friday and nowhere near 50%, which was being mooted by the President earlier in the year. But for the EU, dropping tariffs entirely on goods coming into the US. Good news though for them in terms of trade. The euro, I think we're expecting to kind of bounce on all of this. And for car manufacturers as well, importing to the US, a huge market, they will face 15% tariffs, the same as everyone else and I

think again lower than everyone feared. So wins on both sides really. So what everyone listening to this will want to know, what does it mean for consumers? Let's be clear, this is one of the world's largest trading partnerships and they're the largest trader and investors with each other as well. The total trading goods between the EU and the US last year was $975 billion. Together, they accounted for a third of global trade in goods and services. So I think this has been a really unsettling period. We've seen on the stock market's ups and downs as well, as we've heard all that rhetoric, threats of trades and counter tariffs as well. Last year, for example, the US imported $606 billion worth of goods from the EU, but exported $370 billion.

And that's really where Donald Trump saw the issue as. Like with a lot of other nations and blocks he felt there was a unacceptable if you like trade imbalance where he wanted to rebalance that and I think whatever he said about his methods he's certainly done that. In terms of how this will be perceived there's been ups and downs on global markets around the world. Lots of people talk about this taco trade Trump always chickens out you could say he has done in terms of it would have There's been ups and downs on global markets around the world. Lots of people talk about this taco trade. Trump always chickens out.

You could say he has done in terms of it would have been 50% tariffs, but there's no doubt the US is in a better position now. So the market's open now. We're expecting a, I would say a positive reaction to this really, a certainty, which is what markets like. Given the high stakes involved, it could have been much better, could have indeed be much worse for both sides. So Mark, interesting, isn't it, the way this deal was hammered out in Scotland

arguably you know absolutely neutral and neutral country and yet also in a place belonging to Mr. Trump his own golf club. Absolutely yeah look I think you talk about these trade deals they take a long time like a round of golf really 18 holes it could be a test of all sorts of negotiating skills. I think yes, certainly there was an element of the fact Donald Trump was over here, close to the EU. He made that sort of concession really coming over but it really needed Ursula von der Leyen to come to the table to get on the green if he liked to make that final closing of the deal. Mark Ashton. Aid agencies in Sudan say there is a humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the city of

El Facha in north Darfur where a growing number of people are dying from hunger and malnutrition. The city has come under siege by the paramilitary rapid support forces since the start of Sudan's civil war. This warning comes as the RSF announced their own government to rival the one they've been fighting for more than two years. Haloud Hera is a Sudanese analyst and founder of the think tank Confluence Advisory. This is the first time in Sudan's history of many wars and many much political turmoil that we've seen a parallel government be set up in this way with this much, you know, sort of money behind it and this much territorial control of the main group that that sort of supports it or sponsors it. And with this RSF government, we know that while significant, it won't actually be very meaningful to the people who

live in RSF territory. The RSF doesn't have a governance plan. They have only really communicated reasons for forming this government that are around them gaining more power, more control. So for example, they want to use this government as a platform to get access to better and more sophisticated, I suppose, weaponry. They want to use it to control and manipulate aid even more

in a part of the country that is already suffering from famine and cholera and they also want it as a means of entering mediation platforms as a government not as a militia. So is it about hoping that as a result of this RSF's backers in other countries will take them more seriously? Yes, I mean much of this is about the RSF positioning themselves for greater international legitimacy. They are already sort of recognized as a key security broker in the region by countries that surround particularly the Darfur region of Sudan. So Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic, a lot of the countries around that area already recognize them to

some degree as the power on the ground. What they want is a lot more legitimacy on the international stage further afield. For example, within the US mediation that's been set up, within a UN mediation platform that's also in the works. But despite what its proponents say, which is that this is a government of peace and unity, that doesn't seem to be where we're heading. In fact, this is a sort of formalization of the de facto split that's already happened in Sudan. So there's a lot of sort of reading between the lines that we have to do here. And what about the humanitarian situation, because reports of awful levels of starvation in al-Fasher, which of course is under siege by the RSF? Right now al-Fashir is a locus of a very desperate humanitarian situation because so many of the internally displaced people or IDP camps

that have held victims of the Da'af war, just like 20 years ago for decades now, they have seen famine, they have seen cholera, they have seen acute desperation and of course have been subject to consistent shelling by the RSF as they plan to take Al Fashir. We know that the RSF have blocked the World Food Programme and UNICEF trucks from going in to Al Fashir city and the surrounding IDP camps and this has meant that young, very young children have faced even greater starvation as a result and so this is really sort of a manifold, multifaceted humanitarian disaster. Sudanese analyst Holoud Heir speaking to the BBC's James Kumarasami. Still to come.

When they see us coming, the birdies all try and hide. But they still go for peanuts when coated with a cyanide. American musical satirist Tom Lehrer has died at the age of 97. England have beaten Spain in a dramatic penalty shootout to retain their title as the European champions of women's football. The team known as the Lionesses have made history as the first English team to win a major tournament on foreign soil. This is the moment fans in London saw Chloe Kelly scoring the decisive penalty kick. Our reporter Emily Brown was watching the match in the fan zone at London's Wembley

Stadium. England were 1-0 down in the first half and then they brought it back, they equalised in the second half and it went to penalties again and England were able to turn it around and secure and retain their title as European champions And everyone here at Wembley and Fox Park and this band zone, all the England fans have been so excited. Dancing, singing, I mean the noise has just been off the scale.

And there are so many excited fans. I'm pleased to say I've managed to grab a few of them. Guys, how are you feeling? Amazing! Come on! Yes! Come on! I! Come on! I saw you, you were moved to tears when Chloe Kelly scored. You were crying. What was going

through your mind? You know, women's football means a lot to me. I've been through a lot through women's football and she's my inspiration. Seeing her score, wow. It hit home. It hit home. Oh no, she's crying. Take your time. Take your time. That's how much it means to no, it's just so hard. Take your time, take your time. That's how much it means to her. It's an emotional moment.

So much to me, seeing them women win, not once but twice. Only women can do that. So what was in England player Chloe Kelly's mind when she took to the pitch? I just came onto the pitch and wanted to make something happen and then, of course, taking the penalty and actually missed three penalties in training yesterday. But yeah I think it's the belief in

this squad, a whole 23 players and the people that you don't see behind the scenes, the staff members to get us through this tournament. Yeah I'm really proud to be English right now and I'm proud to be part of an amazing group of girls. Chloe Kelly speaking at the press conference after winning the Euros final against Spain. The cyclist Tadej Pagaca has sealed his fourth overall victory in the Tour de France. The 26-year-old Slovenian rider is not just the world's greatest male road cyclist, he's also one of the most dominant athletes in any sport. And as our Balkans correspondent Guy Delaunay reports, that's an extremely big deal in Pogacar's native country, Slovenia.

Today Pogacar is now at the point where he gets an ovation just for stepping off the team bus. That was before the start of the Tour de France three weeks ago when the defending champion was modest about his status as pre-race favourite. Going here to the Tour is one of the favourites. It's an honour. I hope I can live up to the expectation. He's done that and more. So just how good is Tadej Pogacar? Ask the man who he's now challenging as the greatest of all time. The rider I see myself in most is Pogacar. male road cyclist, but it is an ideal venue for meeting the bike mayor of Ljubljana, Matej

Propotnik. Not so many years ago, Slovenians were not that known in cycling. What we're seeing for the last couple of years, I think it's pretty much unimaginable. Cycling is one of Slovenia's great pleasures. It's only a 20-minute ride from Ljubljana's ridiculously pretty historical centre to the bottom of the nearest mountain. That means Tadej Pogacar's success is very much on brand. Cycling is one of the main tourism products in Slovenia and in the recent years it's the most popular product that we have. Masha Puklawec-Polutnik is the Slovenian Tourist Board's global communications manager.

This is a way of living in Slovenia, like connected to sports and the nature and the athletes are our heroes. And that was Guy Delany reporting from Slovenia. Wildfires on the Italian island of Sardinia have forced dozens of holidaymakers to flee a beach by boat after flames block their escape. Meanwhile, in Greece, firefighters have appealed to the European Union for more help as they struggle to contain five major wildfires across the country. High winds and extreme temperatures across the eastern Mediterranean are hampering efforts with temperatures reaching up to 44 degrees Celsius, and some countries are issuing travel warnings to tourists. Stephanie Prentiss has this report.

Helicopters are dropping water on the remaining patches of burning ground in Drosopagie, north of Athens, with firefighters in the main village dousing the smouldering remains of family homes. The active front here has been contained but not before flames spread across the valley. It started from Drosoupeiou, inside a valley there. Petros Aramapoulos stayed at his home nearby, urging firefighters to save it. Very quickly, because of the wind, it climbed up the hill, joined with another fire front that was up there, and this came towards Krioneri. The wind is terrible.

The speed. Houses burned. They're burning here, burning over there. We're all on alert now. He's one of many people in Greece who joined in to help overstretch firefighting resources, battling to save their homes with buckets of water and hoping for the weather to change. We hope the wind dies down. People's properties have been burned, efforts of a lifetime.

We are battling. What can we do? On Evia, an island nearby, some residents evacuated overnight Saturday and returned to find their home burned to ashes. Swathes of forest were completely destroyed. And this man said when gale force winds suddenly changed direction, his slaughterhouse business and thousands of animals were burned in a flash. It didn't leave anything.

It burned down our slaughterhouse completely. It must have been worth a million euros. It won't be rebuilt. And I don't think any compensation will be given. The Turkish government says 130 aircraft have been deployed and international teams are boosting containment efforts. But a respite from a week-long heat wave can't come soon enough. Greece is known to be a wildfire hotspot by scientists, but it's one of the most rapidly

warming regions globally and blazes have become more intense in recent years, with many seeing it as a bellwether for climate change. Stephanie Prentice. Next week the UK Supreme Court will decide the fate of a Russian super yacht that's been docked in London for more than three years. It's one of more than a dozen luxury vessels that were seized in different parts of the world after Russia invaded Ukraine. The idea was to put pressure on President Putin and his allies. But some of the boats have created serious legal and financial problems for the governments holding them. BBC Russians Alexei Kamakov has been on board the superyacht FI to find out more.

It's about 60 metres long and it weighs almost 500 tons. You would normally expect to see a vessel like that in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean. So why has it been stuck in London for three years? That's a large gas fire pit. On board the superyacht, Captain Guy Booth gives us a tour of its luxurious features. This is the owner's apartment, the sitting area there, and a private forward terrace.

The 38 million pound Russian vessel was detained at Canary Wharf in London in March 2022, just after the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Captain Booth, who is employed by Fee's owner, says Canary Wharf doesn't have the facilities to look after an advanced superyacht like FI for a long period. Worst case scenario would be an electrical fire on board. The fire would very quickly run away with itself. Then the boat would sink. The Department of Transport says it can't currently comment on the claims made by Captain

Booth due to the ongoing legal proceedings. Those legal proceedings are taking place at the UK Supreme Court. The legal team of FI's owner, Sergey Naumenko, argue that the superior detention breaches his property rights. He has never been financially sanctioned and is therefore paying for the upkeep of the vessel. To apply pressure to the Russian elite, to encourage them to withdraw. But government lawyers say holding fee puts pressure on wealthy Russians and through them on President Vladimir Putin. Fee is one of the many Russian super yards being held across Europe and the US. But how effective has the

policy of detaining them been? It was very visible. It was something that could be put on the front page of the news. This is Ian Keating, director of the Center for Financial Crime at the Royal United Services Institute. It was a strong symbol of purpose. It didn't achieve very much from a war perspective and it has saddled governments with problems that they didn't anticipate. This is the sound of officers from Italy's financial police storming across a gangplank to seize a $600 million super yacht in the port of Trieste. It's one of more than a dozen vessels around the world detained following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Unlike with fee in the

UK, many other owners are financially sanctioned, and the cost of holding superyachts can be huge. This has meant Italian authorities have had to pay for the upkeep costs of sailing Yacht A, which is reported have been more than 23 million pounds over the past three years. Industry experts warn that anyone purchasing a detained superyacht risks not having their ownership recognized by unfriendly countries. When they are sold, if they're sold, will be sold at a significant discount. He's leading superyacht lawyer Benjamin Mulby of Keystone Law. It is conceivable that a yacht that has been sold could turn up in one of these jurisdictions

and the port authorities simply turn around to the owner and say, you're not the owner. Back in London, Captain Booth says Fee's owner is willing to take their legal battle as far as possible. If it is a negative ruling, we will pursue our option of going to the European Court of Human Rights. The future fee may be decided by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, but the fate of many other Russian super-yorks, and who will end up paying for them, looks unlikely to be settled any time soon. The BBC's Alexei Kalmykov.

Now if you were asked to picture one of the most dangerous musicians of the 1950s and 1960s, you probably wouldn't conjure up the horn-rimmed spectacles and neatly combed hair of Tom Lehrer, who's died at the age of 97. But there was a time when his satirical songs were considered to be a genuine threat to American values. Our arts correspondent David Silito looks back at the life and career of a man who influenced generations of comedians with his jaunty melodies and his pitch black sense of humour. I got it from Agnes, she got it from Jim, we all agree it must be...

I got it from Agnes, possibly the best song ever written about STDs. I got it from Marie, and everybody knows that Marie got it from me. Tom Lehrer was a Harvard mathematician with a sideline in comic songs with a bit of an edge. I still appreciate you, let's find love while we may. Because I know I'll hate you when you are old and grey. Chiri tunes about death, drug-smoking scouts and poisoning pigeons in the park. When they see us coming, the birdies all try and hide. But they still go for peanuts when coated with a cyanide.

Of his first twelve songs in 1953, the BBC banned ten of them. Blacken my eye, set fire to my tie As we dance to the masochism tango Of course it never seemed to bother Mr Lehrer much. He'd gone to Harvard when he was just fifteen. Music was just a hobby. I put this record out just as a souvenir, not intending to sell it outside of Harvard, but people began circulating it to remote corners of the world like London.

If you visit American City, you will find it very pretty. Just two things of which you must beware. Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air. Collusion, collusion. And by 1965 he had pretty much given up on writing satirical songs. Age in California, he said, had robbed him of his gift and he returned to maths. But over the years records continued to sell. New generations discovered his dark wit. And if you will be my friend, then I might. Mind you, I said might.

It was, he said, a word of mouth thing. Give it to you. More herpes than Ebola. What an end line. That was David Silito reporting on Tom Lehrer, who's died at the age of 97. And that's it 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 of 97. This edition was mixed by Joe McCartney and produced by Marian Straughan and Peter Goffin.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.