Global News Podcast - Israel attacks Gaza in ground offensive

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Israeli troops move up to the Netzarim Corridor which divides the north and south of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas fires rockets into Israel. And EU leaders discuss how to beef up European defence in the face of Russian threats.

You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Thursday, the 20th of March. The Israeli military tells Palestinians not to use the main road linking north and south Gaza, while Hamas fires rockets into Israel. EU leaders meet to discuss how to beef up European defense in the face of Russian threats. And a unique medical trial is being carried out in Bangladesh to identify victims of methanol poisoning.

Also in the podcast, the French survival manual for armed conflict and natural disaster and... There'll never be anyone like Eddie Jordan. Eddie was a huge influence on me and many, many people in motorsport and around the world. There will never be anyone like him. Tributes are paid to motor racing boss Eddie Jordan, who's died at the age of 76. Israel is once again tightening its grip on Gaza, deploying troops in an area known as the Netzerim Corridor, a buffer between north and south. The Israeli

army has warned people to avoid the main road through the middle of the Palestinian territory. Hamas says the ground operation is a new and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and it's launched rockets at Israel. Hundreds of people have been killed since Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza on Monday night. Saqib Rokhadeer is a doctor at NASA Hospital in Hanyounis. The emergency area was just chaos. So once we were there, there were bodies and patients alive and dead. Just on the back of donkey carts pulling up to the hospital and in amidst this a few healthcare workers. There were a couple of nurses who were just calm, resilient, worked hard, even through the most atrocious times.

Just before we came into the studio, I got an update on events in Gaza from our Middle East correspondent, Emi Enadah. Yesterday, we saw the first resumption of Israel's ground operation since the ceasefire came into effect at the beginning of January. The ground forces had mostly pulled back from Gaza but had remained on a kind of buffer zone around the perimeter and then this key corridor that the Israeli army had cut through Gaza during the war called the Net Stream corridor as you mentioned they've begun to return to certain locations along this corridor. It cuts the

north and the south of Gaza in two. And today we've had more information from the Israeli military that they are expanding other ground operations in the north of Gaza in an area called Beit Lahya, which in that northern part of Gaza has been one of the sites, one of the areas that has witnessed some of the most fierce fighting and the local residents really have suffered the most throughout the year. We've also seen Hamas responding today, firing rockets into Tel Aviv, towards Tel Aviv, as you mentioned. Yeah, I mean, tell us more about that rocket attack, the first time I imagine since the ceasefire was agreed? That's correct. On Tuesday when Israel began its aerial bombardment again in the Gaza Strip, shattering the ceasefire, we saw two days really of Hamas saying,

no, we intend to return to the negotiations, calling on mediators to intervene. We were waiting to see if that might change. And indeed today it looks like it has and Hamas have returned to open fighting for the first time since the ceasefire came into effect in January claiming these three rockets. None of them have claimed any injuries when they entered Israel today, one of them intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, two falling into sort of open land in Israel, But Hamas has said that they have launched these three rockets in retaliation for what they called Israel's massacres in the past few days. And the latest figures we're getting from the local health

officials in Gaza is that since the fighting resumed at the beginning of Tuesday morning, over 590 Palestinians in Gaza have been counted dead, of which 200 are children. And is there any hope of getting the ceasefire back on track? I understand some key members of the Israeli cabinet aren't keen on it. Indeed, when the ceasefire came into effect in the middle of January, there were a number of politicians, indeed part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, they withdrew their support from the coalition. One minister, Itamar Ben-Ghavir, who was the Minister of National Security,

stepped down and resigned, and his party withdrew from supporting Prime Minister Netanyahu's party. They wanted to continue fighting the war. Since the war has resumed and Israel has decided to resume hostilities, They have rejoined the government, providing a political boon for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has other domestic issues at play as well. He's trying to pass a budget. He's fighting a number of domestic political issues and indeed some legal issues. But it does seem like those politicians who have returned to the government are indeed seeing that Israel now intends to pursue the military strategy that they've been calling for throughout. Amir Nader in Jerusalem. Following his phone call with President Trump yesterday, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr

Zelensky said a lasting peace can be achieved this year. But so far, Vladimir Putin hasn't even agreed a temporary ceasefire and the Americans appear reluctant to put pressure on him. Vladimir Putin hasn't even agreed a temporary ceasefire and the Americans appear reluctant to put pressure on him. The shift in US foreign policy under Donald Trump has led to soul searching in Europe. And today EU nations are discussing how to provide extra support for Ukraine and to beef up their own security. On his way into the meeting in Brussels, the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausada, said

Russia posed a real threat. Like 87 years ago, before the Second World War, we are standing in front of strategic choice to let the aggressor escalate the violence and fear or to stop it, to paralyse its ability to intimidate us and to build a credible wall of defence separating Europe and the Russian Federation. Our Europe regional editor Danny Eberhard in Brussels told me more about the talks. Europe's own defence is one of the main things as well as bolstering support for Ukraine. There is also efforts to try to bolster Europe's defence. There was a white paper presented by the European foreign policy chief yesterday. It takes on basically the idea that Europe must spend massively on borrowing money heavily to invest in defence.

This would help, for example, on issues like joint procurement of military weapons. They've identified a number of priorities, things like air defences, missiles, anti-drone technology, these sort of things, and it will also help to improve joint purchases of weapons for efficiency. So a number of different things that they'll be looking at. The sense that we got from Gitanus Nausseida that Europe really is facing a very different era now now and that urgency is very much first and foremost in their minds. Yeah, I mean would they even be discussing this stuff if it wasn't for President Trump's new approach? Good question. It has been on the issue. What Donald Trump's second presidency has given everything is a very new and urgent focus. So Europe is feeling the chill winds of a Washington that

is pulling back some of its European commitments. There are questions as to the reliability of the US as an ally. So what leaders are talking about is Europe needs to look after its own defence in a very, very short frame. Some people are saying three to five years, other people flag up 2030. In the interim period, Europe still depends very much on the security umbrella that's provided by the US, so it has to tread a very sensitive diplomatic line. That's why you won't hear outright condemnation of Donald Trump's approach on the peace process. You'll hear European leaders welcome that while expressing their own fears and stressing that this is

not just about Ukraine's own security but Europe's security as well. Yeah, briefly, how united are they? On the issue of defence there's a broad consensus that Europe needs to change and change fast but there is a big division on the provision of military aid to Ukraine. The main dissenter there is Hungary, It has never provided military aid for Ukraine and it stays away from declarations. It pulls out of them so the declaration gets signed by 26 EU nations on these sort of things rather than 27. Danny Aberhard in Brussels. The former motor racing boss Eddie Jordan has died in South Africa at the age of 76. The

flamboyant Irish businessman was also a successful television pundit. Retired Formula One star Damon Hill says he was a huge influence. He was gregarious as you know. He was irreverent. He was crazy. I lived in Ireland when I raced with Eddie and I was privileged to have won a Grand Prix with Eddie. And he influenced everyone. There isn't a single person in that era and since really has not been affected positively in some way by Eddie. He gave a huge amount to charity, he never stopped, he never wasted a single second of his life and he energised everyone he was near. Damon Hill, the BBC's former Formula One correspondent Jonathan Ledgeard,

told me why Eddie Jordan was so special. He was a one-off, he was a unique character as Damon Hill was saying there. People say that some characters in life you meet their glasses half full, Eddie's was always overflowing. He brought such a unique charisma, a unique personality, humanity, resilience but also he knew how to do a deal from selling cars in Dublin. And here was a man who started as a banker, then wanted to go racing, selling cars and so on. He went from being a wannabe Formula One star in a Silverstone lockup garage to winning the Belgian Grand Prix at the iconic Spa Circuit with Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion,

leading home Ralph Schumacher, his Jordan teammate and an extraordinary 1-2. He always believed the impossible was possible and usually he did that. Tell us more about his team and how he challenged the more established teams. He took on the big guys. He beat Ferrari, he beat MacLean, he beat Williams, he took all comers and actually, were it not for their star driver in 1999, Heinz-Harald Frensen pressing the wrong buttons which killed his engine, he could well have gone on to have the world champion driver in that year and that would have taken his team, which

was a very small beer team from Formula 3 coming up to the junior Formula, getting into Formula 1, designing what was in his first season in 1991, regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever. If he'd won the world championship with Heinz-Harald Frensen in 1991, regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever. If he'd won the world championship with Heinz-Harald Frensen in 1999, that could have taken him to another level. As it was, Frensen pressed the wrong buttons, they didn't finish just two points behind the other two,

Haken and Eddie Irvine, former Eddie Jordan driver, by the way, in that championship, and Jordan sort of tailed off. But he just brought this zing to everything he did. I remember going to various sponsorship dinners and in Monaco Yacht Club and believe you me there aren't many more swish venues than that and he absolutely launched into the sponsorship executives who were sponsoring his team. Only Eddie Jordan could get away with some of the expletives he came out with and still

get their money. And what was he like behind the scenes because you were the F1 correspondent when he was at his peak? Well, I'll tell you a personal story. My last race for Five Live was in 2004. We flew home on a private jet with one of his former designers to Oxford and my taxi was late. And now many people would have said, right Jonathan, you just sit here, I'm going to

do stuff. He stayed with me and talked for two hours about life, about Formula One, about family, about everything. And he was the most human of Formula One team owners in an environment rightly known as the Piranha Club, a one-off, a unique character. Jonathan Ledgeard on Eddie Jordan, who has died at the age of 76. Canada has condemned the execution of four Canadians in China amid continuing diplomatic tensions. The Chinese embassy in Canada defended the executions, telling CBC News that

whoever violates the law of China must be held accountable. More details from Stephanie Prentice. The identities of the Canadians haven't been released and the reasons behind the killings haven't been confirmed. But officials in Canada say the executions went ahead despite their pleas for leniency. Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie told reporters in Ottawa that alongside former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she tried for months to make a deal with Chinese authorities. Now she's turning her focus to other Canadians in detention and facing the same fate. We will continue to engage with China as we will continue to not only strongly condemn

but also ask for leniency for other Canadians that are facing similar situations. China has released a statement claiming the executions were due to drug charges. It's believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, traditionally through gunshots or lethal injection. The relationship between China and Canada has been tense in recent years. They're currently locked in a retaliatory battle on tariffs. And relations have been icy since Canada arrested a prominent Huawei executive in 2018 at Vancouver airport on a US warrant. Beijing then detained two Canadians on espionage charges

and moved many countries at the time called hostage politics. They've been trading barbs ever since and it had been hoped the recent Canadian leadership changes would be an opportunity to reset relations. Stephanie Prentice. London's black cab drivers are well known for their detailed grasp of the roads in the British capital. In fact, studies have shown their brains actually changed due to the amount of information they're storing. But it takes years to memorise all the routes needed to pass the infamous test known as the knowledge. Here's one driver called Billy.

Listen, if you're thinking about doing the knowledge, you have got to eat, sleep. Honestly, being people out there who have lost their marriages and everything, fight through doing the knowledge. I know people that have done that. Well there are now calls to make the knowledge easier, as a think tank warns that black cabs could vanish from the capital streets within two decades in part because of the severe demands on the drivers. Hugo Spears is a professor of cognitive science at University College London. For me, as a scientist, I'd like to see it continuing to be rigorous because we're benefiting

from their brains quite literally. So making it a lot easier from a scientific perspective would be a shame. On the other hand, I'm really keen to support the profession. They're absolutely amazing what the London licensed taxi drivers can do. And I think they're up there with the greatest sort of things in London. They're a real cultural phenomenon. I would not want to see that profession pass away. About 20 years ago, a key study discovered that there's a particular part of the brain that seems to get larger in London taxi drivers. There's a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which stores your life's memories and allows you to help you navigate. The London taxi

driver is unique in having to remember that vast amount of information and it seems to change part of their brain in a way that no other professions do that have been studied. There was some nice work done at the end of last year published showing that two professions particularly are having low incidence of deaths from Alzheimer's where taxi drivers and ambulance drivers and considering this is sort of people dying later in life, it's probably people who spent years not using GPS to navigate, a bit like our London taxi drivers. There's a big drive for brain health now across nations and keeping your brain active and exactly what London taxi drivers do, having gained the knowledge, is a great

example of that. Professor Hugo Spears. Still to come on the Global News podcast. There was a bit of a battle of the deep. We had two contenders for this title this year, the Orange Ruffe and the Blobfish. The ugly creature that's won Fish of the Year. Returning to the conflict in Ukraine now, and the Ukrainians may have signed up to the

American plan for a ceasefire, but Russia has not. So what levers might the US be able to pull? Some in the Republican party have called for new or tougher sanctions, an idea floated by President Trump himself. Jamie Kumarasami spoke to Maria Shagina at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, asking first what type of sanctions has America already imposed on Russia? The US sanctions is part of the broader transatlantic coalition and we have unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world with more than 17,000 measures being put in place

and we can roughly break them down in three categories, which is energy sanctions, trade-related sanctions, including financial sanctions, but also on dual-use goods. The Trump administration has been critical of the Biden administration saying it only put, well, I think it said three out of 10 it gave it for the level of sanctions that it originally imposed on Russia. I mean, what's your assessment? Trump has some sort of truth there. And I think he's correct on two things that despite the title that Russia is the most sanctioned country in the world, it doesn't mean it belongs to the category of heavily sanctions jurisdictions such as Iran, Syria, North Korea. In terms of quality of sanctions, there is still a lot of room to ramp up sanctions.

And when Trump was announcing policy towards Russia, he talked about ending the war and using sanctions to bring Russia to the negotiating table. So what might that mean then in practice, do you think? Well, I think there is a big unpredictability whether Trump is seriously thinking about easing sanctions as a lever on Russia. His messaging has been very contradictory. On the very same day he said that he's strongly considering imposing sanctions on Russia, on the energy sector in particular, but also he has instructed the US Treasury to come up with

a plan about easing sanctions. And a lot of that will depend on how the peace talks will proceed. So are there particular sanctions that Donald Trump could impose that might make a difference? So in theory, he can do a couple of things. First of all, enforcement. Sanctions haven't been enforced as watertight as it could have been. And that concerns not just the US, but also other jurisdictions like the EU and UK. Second, financial sanctions, imposing any secondary sanctions on financial institutions,

in particular based in China and India, because at this moment Russia doesn't feel the need to come to the negotiating table because it can create parallel supply chains. And finally, there is also pressure on the oil sector that has been lacking. And what of easing sanctions? As you say, Donald Trump has spoken about both toughening them up and easing them. Are there ways that could prove effective to get Vladimir Putin to come to the table by easing certain sanctions? I don't think so, simply because, as I said, Russia doesn't feel the pressure right now

to come to negotiating table because sanctions haven't been as effective, the enforcement hasn't been as watertight. So by sending a signal that there will be no pressure, Russia is actually interested in maximising its goals. Maria Shagina, Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A unique medical trial has been carried out in Bangladesh to try to identify patients suffering from methanol poisoning even before symptoms begin. A unique medical trial has been carried out in Bangladesh to try to identify patients suffering from methanol poisoning even before symptoms begin. Experts believe only a tiny fraction of victims of this potentially fatal poisoning are diagnosed and treated in time. But it's

hoped this new initiative could change that and save tens of thousands of lives. This report from our health correspondent Matthew Hill. This report from our health correspondent Matthew Hill. November 2024 and the piece of this waterfront paradise in Van Vieng in Laos was shattered after a methanol poisoning outbreak. Free shots of supposedly alcoholic drinks containing this toxic substance at a hostel in the town claimed the lives of Simone White from the UK and Australians Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones along with three others. International headlines brought this hidden issue of methanol poisoning to worldwide attention.

But for Rashahi Medical College in the far west of Bangladesh, treating victims is commonplace. The hospital struggles to cope with demand at the best of times, so it was no surprise when eight people were poisoned by methanol in this district, claiming four lives. In Muslim countries like Bangladesh, where alcohol is illegal, bootleggers can easily and cheaply get hold of methanol, and there's a huge social stigma associated with methanol which is why this victim doesn't want to be identified. Sadly his best friends didn't survive. My friends are the only earning member of their families so their family is also feeling very devastated and I'm the strongest one but I'm crying sometimes when I'm holding myself but their family feels very devastated.

And believe it or not treating patients with alcohol is the first form of defence by buying doctors extra time as it prevents patients from metabolising methanol into their system. The problem is hospitals in Bangladesh are not able to store alcohol or ethanol, as it's known medically, so doctors have to waste valuable time trying to find it in places like local hotels. It's something Dr. Mohamed Rabid Amin, a distinguished professor of medicine who's now working in the Bangladeshi government's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says he's seen first-hand. Unfortunately, they came up, say say around two hours or three hours later from that hotel with the ethanol. If she was having serious trouble we cannot give any

antidote and the patient dies. It normally takes up to 24 hours for symptoms of methanol poisoning to appear. They include stomach pain, vomiting and frequent breathing known as hyperventilation. Finally patients are blinded and brain damaged. We will not have to treat our patient with Femepisole if the test is negative. But Norwegian expert Professor Knut Erik Hovda has developed a finger prick blood test that detects poisoning even before symptoms appear. He's now training up medics throughout Bangladesh and India as part of a clinical trial for the test, as well as a drug that can be used as a much better alternative treatment to

ethanol. Over the past 25 years there have been over a thousand documented methanol outbreaks across the world, some claiming dozens or even hundreds of lives, but outbreaks are seldom reported in many countries. So the need for better diagnosis and treatment couldn't be greater. Matthew Hill reporting and there's more on this in the documentary What's Your Poison? The Methanol Crisis wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Do you know what to do in a national emergency? What would you pack if you had time? Well the French government is distributing a survival manual to every household to help prepare for war and disaster. Last year Nordic nations including Finland and Sweden issued millions of updated guides with advice on how to cope with increasing security threats in Europe. So why is France doing this? Isabella Jules spoke to Bernadette Kehoe. So this survival manual that's been put together by the French government is aimed at encouraging citizens to develop their resilience in the face of different crises that could arise in the future. The Prime Minister's office said

that it was particularly focused on natural disasters, technological and cyber incidents, the risk of another Covid-19 style pandemic and security incidents like terrorist attacks and armed conflict. Now this last point is particularly important. Earlier this month the French president Emmanuel Macron announced a major overhaul of France's security forces. All of this of course in the context of the rising threat of Russia with the war in Ukraine and the United States under President Donald Trump suggesting that it would disengage from Europe and NATO. The 20-page booklets being looked at by the French Prime Minister Francois Bérou at the moment and once approved by him it should be sent

out to all French households before the summer. Well tell us about the survival manual, what's in it? So the booklets will build on an already existing French government website that was launched a couple of years ago with advice on how to prepare for emergencies. And the book's got three different sections. The first with advice on how to protect yourself and those around you. Then a section on what to do if a threat is imminent. Here there'll be a list of emergency phone numbers, radio channels and a reminder of how to seal your home in the event of a nuclear threat.

There's also a section on how to get involved in actively defending your community through signing up as an army reserve for example or a volunteer firefighter. And there'll also be a guide on how to put together an emergency survival kit with a list of suggested items which should help in the first 72 hours of an emergency. Well go on, tell us about the items. So the booklet suggests that everyone has several bottles of water, several tins of non-perishable food, a first aid kit and medicines, batteries and a radio and a torch of course in the case of power outages. All things you might bring on a camping trip but there are also some more unusual suggestions.

A copy of your house and car keys, a spare pair of glasses and copies of your important documents because who wants to be searching for those down the back of the sofa if an evacuation order comes in and my personal favourite suggestion is to bring games, for example a pack of cards to occupy your time, which might not go down quite as well with Gen Z when the internet connection inevitably drops off. Isabella Jewel. Finally, don't judge a blob by its cover. Once named the world's ugliest animal thanks to its unique appearance, the blobfish is now being celebrated for its differences and has just

taken the title of Fish of the Year. Found mainly off the coast of Australia and Tasmania, the creature is known for its misshapen, jelly-like silhouette. Marine conservationist Lorna Dugan explained how the blobfish beat off the competition. Its ascent to the surface has been dizzying, not only from the dark depths to be crowned fish of the year 2025. There was a bit of a battle of the deep. We had two deep sea contenders for this title this year, the orange ruffy and the blobfish. They've gotten a pretty bad rap because down in the deep dark ocean where they're perfectly adapted to, they actually look like a normal sort of fish. But once you start to bring them to the surface, that increase in pressure and being trawled up in a big net, their skin sloughs off and their tissue is very jelly-like

and they pretty much disintegrate, unfortunately, once they get to the surface and they look very sad indeed. When we're teaching in schools about marine conservation, the blobfish is one of our examples of a deep sea, perfectly adapted specimen. But yeah, the only time that we ever interact with them is when they've been pulled from the depths up to the surface very, very quickly. So they are definitely worse for wear once they hit the surface. Lorna Dugan.

And that's all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfan and produced by Vanessa Heaney. Our editors, Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.