Global News Podcast - Israel launches ground and air assault on Gaza's Deir al-Balah

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

Aid agencies say the Israeli military's ground and air assault on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza has intensified. Also, an air force jet crashes into a school in Bangladesh, and a camel learns to walk again with a prosthetic leg.(Photo: Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, 21 July, 2025 Credit: Reuters)

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel and at 13 Hours GMT on Monday the 21st of July, these are our main stories. Israeli forces launch a ground and air assault on a city in central Gaza after a weekend in which more than 100 people seeking aid were reported killed. An Air Force training jet crashes into a school in Bangladesh, killing at least 19 people, most of them children and injuring dozens more. A concert due to be conducted in Italy by a friend of Russia's President Putin has been cancelled after an outcry. Also in this podcast, Kami the camel in Pakistan learns to walk again after being fitted with an artificial leg.

I started weeping when I saw her walking with the prosthetic leg. It was a dream come true. Everyone here is happy now. We start this podcast in Gaza where the situation grows ever more horrific. After a weekend in which more than a hundred Palestinians are reportedly killed while waiting for food, Israeli soldiers are carrying out a ground and air assault in the city of Deir al-Bala in central Gaza. It's packed with thousands of displaced people and has critical infrastructure including a desalination plant. Several casualties have been reported but international journalists are barred from reporting freely from Gaza so we have to rely on figures from the Hamas-run

health ministry. It says that as Gaza faces famine-like conditions, at least 19 Palestinians, some of them children, have died from hunger over the past day. Dr. Salma Tamimi is a British Pakistani surgeon working at NASA Hospital in southern Gaza. Just to warn you, what he says is deeply distressing. The lucky ones get killed immediately. The unlucky one get horrendous injuries and burns, including children, elderly women, babies. Another day, another failure. We tried to salvage a young

man's leg who's got five children. He's always worried about them, how he's going to get food for them. He kept on getting so much infection, so much infections. There was no way that we could get on top of the infection. You know, bringing him back to theatre despite all the pressures on the theatres, we just kept on bringing him back to the theatre every day and he'll end up needing an amputation. I was so ashamed today that he was thanking me and he was saying that he respects me a lot and that I tried to do whatever I could but he was asking whether we can do something similar like that again, can we save his leg, which we can't and I feel so helpless to help

him. I just had a doctor today who was telling me that last night his young son was asking for bread because they hadn't got any bread. And he said that I was just consoling him because I don't know how to give him bread. Now these are professionals, these are people who had had a good life, a good time, and this is what they and their families are facing. The world is okay with not letting any journalists come again. The world is okay with seeing lines and lines and numbers and numbers of babies being killed. It's unimaginable. The horrors that I've seen in the last three weeks, I can't describe it. And I just feel that the world has failed humanity.

Dr. Samad Tamimi. Well, for more on the latest developments in Gaza, I spoke to our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nel, who said Israel was disputing the number of Palestinians killed there while seeking aid. The Israeli military said that its soldiers there fired warning shots because they felt an immediate threat from the large numbers of people. They've questioned the figures that we've had from the Hamas from Health Ministry and Civil Defence and also from doctors. I should say there's really quite grim footage that we have seen where you can actually make our bodies being transported to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. But this was a convoy of 25 lorries

coming in from the UN's World Food Programme. It says as the convoy approached the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire. But this was the latest in a deadly pattern. There were others who were killed, a smaller number, in the south of the Gaza Strip, close to the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites. And now on top of that, we have this Israeli ground and air assault on the city of Deir al-Balach in central Gaza. What more can you tell us about that and what the aim of this operation is? So hundreds of families have been continuing to flee from Deir al-Balach overnight after

leaflets were dropped and the Israeli military put out this evacuation order also on social media. This is an area where you have a lot of displaced people, where you still have some buildings standing, a lot more buildings standing relative to other parts of the Gaza Strip. Many people relocated there because it seemed largely intact. And it wasn't clear immediately if there was going to be an incursion, a military incursion by Israel straight away, or whether this was meant to be a kind of pressure tactic to get more concessions from Hamas in the indirect talks that are going on still for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in

Doha. But now people have started to see the advance of troops with these airstrikes as well. That is making people head down towards the south to Al Mawassi, this extremely crowded zone on the coast, some going to central refugee camp as well. But people are very frightened to even move around. And we've heard from a doctor in Gaza asking how the world can ignore what's going on there. What do Israelis make of all these reports repeatedly, day after day, of people who are simply seeking aid, dying at the hands of Israeli troops?

We have seen some small protests with people showing pictures of children being killed and children dying in the Gaza Strip but this is a tiny minority of people who are taking part in those. In general there is still support. Jolande Nel in Jerusalem. Professor Nick Maynard is another surgeon working in Gaza with a British-based charity and advocacy group, Medical Aid for Palestinians. He was supposed to be leaving on a UN convoy on Tuesday, but that's been cancelled because of the Israeli military evacuation order covering Deir Aballah. We heard from Professor Maynard on the Global News podcast last week when he told the BBC he was also injured. Anna Foster has spoken to him again and began by asking

him if he knows when he will be able to leave. We don't know. I think there's still an outside chance we might get out tomorrow, but at the moment it's been cancelled. The mass evacuation for Daryl Baller is causing a huge amount of anxiety because it's a very, very densely populated area. Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to evacuate and of course there's nowhere for them to go. They're going down towards El Morase which is already completely full up. In terms of the hospital what have you been seeing in the last few days? Who have you been treating? It's very much as I told you

last week Anna, we've had multiple mass casualties. At the moment it's reasonably quiet but yesterday was very busy, multiple mass casualties, a mixture of explosive injuries and multiple gunshot wounds as well. D.H. Professor Nick Maynard. Well, the group for which he works, Medical Aid for Palestinians, has been in touch with the Global News podcast to point out that although advocacy and campaigning are part of its work, it's also a health and humanitarian organization which collaborates with Palestinian communities and trusted local partners to meet a wide range of urgent health and social needs.

Well, since the war in Gaza began, the overwhelming majority of its population has been displaced numerous times. Under those conditions it seems extraordinary that anybody could continue their education, let alone win scholarships to some of the most prestigious universities in the world. A small group of Palestinian students has achieved that goal but as Carla Conte reports it looks unlikely that any of them will be able to take up their places. It's been called one of the most dangerous places on earth. Yet somehow, amid the rubble,

hunger and constant bombardment, dozens of students from Gaza have secured places at some of the most prestigious universities across Europe. Around 80 have been accepted by institutions in the UK alone, including the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with others bound for France, Ireland and Italy. They studied through blackouts, bombings and displacement. One Palestinian sat his university interview with shrapnel still lodged in his leg. Another walked the streets of Rafa for days, trying to find internet strong enough to press submit. Many lost their homes and families. Still, they applied. And they got in. But getting accepted is only half of the battle. With Gaza's borders tightly controlled by

Israel, leaving the territory has become a near impossible task. Standard visa processes require students to submit biometric data, such as fingerprints and photographs, through an approved visa centre. Except for many, those centres are now either unreachable or no longer exist. Several European countries have stepped in to help. Italy launched a national programme called Italian Universities for Palestinian Students, or UPALS, offering nearly 100 scholarships, along with housing, tuition and flexible visa arrangements. Universities there have allowed students to provide biometric data after arrival, while Ireland has scrapped

the requirement altogether. Germany and France have also taken action to get Palestinian students out. But the UK has yet to offer a clear plan. At least 40 of the affected students are headed to British universities, eight of them old prestigious government-funded chieftain scholarships. But there's been no coordinated response from the country's Home Office and Foreign Office, and students' repeated pleas for help have gone unanswered. Carla Conte, as we record this podcast, at least 19 people, most of them children, are

confirmed to have died after a fighter jet crashed into a school compound in Bangladesh. More than 100 others have been injured, some with serious burns, after the pilot of the plane, which was on a training flight, seemingly lost control and crashed into the school in the capital Dhaka. Our reporter there, Sharmine Rauma, gave us this update. Many of these people, they are actually students aged 4 to 18 and it took place when the training a jet crashed inside Milestone College in Uttara area of the capital Dhaka. It has been known that the aircraft took off at 1.06 p.m. and crashed around 1.30 p.m. That what inter-service public relations conformed. Chief advisor, Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has expressed profound shock and sorrow.

And Bangladesh Army and Fire Service has started rescue operation which is going on. The injured and deceased have been taken to different hospitals and clinics in the capital. An emergency hotline has been also launched at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Now the government has declared a one-day state morning day. The morning day will be observed tomorrow. And Sharmin, many of the injured are still in critical condition as all this is going on. There must be questions about why a fighter jet was on a training flight so close to a school.

Yes, that is because the fighter jet, the training area, it is very close to the locality where the schools and other establishments were there. It is now being debated why this fighter jet, which is a training jet, was operating over there. Shamin Rama in Dhaka. A concert that was to involve a Russian conductor, who is a friend of President Putin's, has been cancelled following an outcry. Valery Giergiev had been due to perform at a music festival in Italy. Paul Moss reports. He's a firm ally of Vladimir Putin and Valery Giergiev has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That's made him something of a pariah in the world of classical music. So there was shock and surprise when it was announced he'd be conducting at a music festival held in the Italian town of Caserta later

this month. Italy has been a strong ally of Ukraine and the country's culture minister had condemned the performance along with Russian human rights campaigners. Now it seems the festival has caved into pressure and Mr. Gergiev will not be appearing. Paul Moss. Often when there's a conflict over ownership of a territory, war breaks out. But the people of two Croatian islands have a better idea. Stephanie Prentiss reports. A party atmosphere as hundreds of boats gather in a stretch of sea known as the Split Gates between the islands of Sholta and Brac. But beneath the music, singing and people lounging in inflatable crocodiles lies a fierce

competition. We are going to win and nothing much you can do about that. Every July, people who live on the two islands meet at sea to decide who can claim the small island of Mardua, whose highlights include no inhabitants and an abandoned lighthouse. The plan? Both sides anchor their biggest boat, then line up the others and use a piece of rope that's looped around the island to try and move it further in their direction. It all started with a folk story, which our fellow villagers used to create this unique event, to pull Mrdua in the bay, and then later the people of Šolto joined in.

Seems like a foolproof plan, but there's one tiny problem. We've been pulling Mordua for 16 years and it doesn't actually move either way. With that in mind, organisers hold competitions on one of the larger boats as a backup. This year, the Western island of Sholta triumphed, gaining Murdoch for the next 12 months and the right to host the official after-party over the weekend, which we're told is always well-attended. Stephanie Prentice. Still to come in this podcast, we hear how Western audiences react to female stories from Iran. They are amazed and so excited about this story and ask many questions. You're listening to the Global News Podcast. Let's turn now to Japan where despite suffering

a bruising election defeat, the Prime Minister says he has no plans to quit. At a time of growing anger over soaring prices, including for staples like rice, Shigeru Ishiba's coalition lost its majority in the upper house of parliament, having already lost its majority in Japan's more powerful lower house last year. But Mr. Ishiba says he needs to stay in office to focus on trade negotiations to prevent the painful tariffs that Donald Trump is threatening to inflict. At a news conference, he said Japan needed political stability to deal with its economic problems. the US tariffs and price increases, natural disasters, and we have a very difficult position. I asked our Asia Pacific editor, Miki Bristo, how something as simple as rice could have

led to this big loss for the Prime Minister. Over the last year or so the price has increased immensely, in fact it's doubled, nearly doubled over the past year. So of course when you go to the supermarket you're buying goods and you've seen your price of the thing you're buying every day go up, of course that's going to affect and this comes, you have to remind listeners, on the back of a couple of decades when prices have been pretty stable in Japan. So the idea of inflation at all is quite a novel thing over the last couple of years

in Japan. So of course people don't like it and governments all across the world have been punished for prices which have risen too much. That was one of the contributing factors in the defeat of the Prime Minister or the fact that he's lost his majority in the upper house of parliament. And the lower house of parliament last year. So how can he govern now? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, an unusual situation in Japan because the liberal democratic party, which Mr. Ishiba is the head of, has essentially governed Japan for the last, well, 70 years or so, most of the time since the Second World War.

It's really unusual that they've lost control of both houses of the legislature. And the question you asked there, how can he govern? Yes, he might say he wants to carry on as Prime Minister, but unfortunately that's not in his power. Already opposition parties, which now control both houses, are saying that they might bring forward a confidence vote. So whatever happens, even if he survives that confidence vote, he's going to have to bring in policies that are more popular, that are more in tune with what the opposition wants, so he's not going to be able to govern as he wanted to govern and

as he had been governing before the election. Miki Bristow, let's go to South Africa now, which has been battling power insecurity for well over a decade. For years wealthier South Africans have been going off-grid, kitting out their homes with expensive solar systems and boreholes. Now companies are introducing pay-as-you-go backup power systems, allowing some of those in less well-off areas to finally be able to do the same amidst the country's ongoing supply crisis. Pumza Figlani visited a shopkeeper east of Johannesburg to hear his story. PUMZA FIGLANI, FIGLANI SHOPKEEPER, JANUARY 2016

In South Africa, electricity has become a privilege. For nearly 15 years, people here have lived through load shedding, which is scheduled rolling blackouts designed to protect a fragile and crumbling national grid. Once a short-term solution, it's now a daily reality, stalling economic growth and pushing millions further into hardship. The national power utility, ESCOM, has been brought to its knees by decades of corruption and mismanagement, as well as an aging infrastructure. We're in Krugerstorp, west of Johannesburg.

Power cuts have badly affected small businesses. Many of the shops in this area have shut down, accounted three on the drive into this township. We're here to meet with Julius Guobatzing, who runs a small grocery shop known locally as a spaza shop. There are children playing near his store and a steady stream of people coming and going as we approach. Julius is one of a number of growing South Africans turning to affordable solar energy as the national power utility continues to buckle under pressure. It was affecting us directly to our pocket because you need to make an alternative. We need a lot of electricity. The fridges need to run every day. If you don't have

electricity you can't have electricity, you can't even sell the frozen. South Africa's power crisis grew so severe that in 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed the country's first electricity minister to try and end the blackouts. And while some progress has been made, poor communities still face what ESCOM now calls load reduction. It's essentially the same cuts with a different name. Julius' solar system is from Wittility, a local startup offering pay as you go plans and solar systems built specifically for township businesses and also

accessible to lower income households. Vincent Maposa, a former energy analyst, is one of the founders of this six-year-old business. We had to look at the market across the different segments and start to create products that are fit for purpose and are affordable for that part part of the market. Because part of our mission is to make sure that as many as many homeowners and small businesses have access to power, but not all of them on the affordability scale can afford the same standardized product.

As South Africa's energy crisis drags on, in a country drenched with sunshine, people like Julius, who were left out of the solar boom are finding the more affordable pay as you go has been about taking back control of their daily lives and their future. That report by Pumza Fiklani. Nine in ten girls worldwide have experienced violence, some from a very young age according to a global study by the Aid Group Plan International. It spent the past 18 years following the experiences of a group of girls from birth to adulthood.

The women from Central America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and East and West Africa spoke to the organisation each year to share their thoughts on growing up as a girl. The report's author, Dr Kit Katerson, spoke to Victoria Uankunda about its findings. Victoria Uankunda, Professor, Victoria Katerson, Professor, Victoria Katerson, Professor, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria

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Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria Katerson, Victoria today, we wanted to understand the girls' attitudes about gender-based violence and the impacts that gender norms were having on their lives. We found that 91% of the girls had experienced some form of violence by age 11. So that shows just how widespread and how urgent this issue is to address. But more concerningly, we found that two-thirds of the girls believed that it was their own responsibility to protect themselves from this violence. And

they felt that violence was very much just normal, a part of daily life, and to be expected. And it really has an impact on shrinking girls' lives. So the girls talked to us about how it was forcing them to limit where they go, to dress a certain way, to not socialize with boys. And these beliefs strengthen over time, which makes them harder and harder to debunk. And what's really significant about this is research shows us that when girls hold these beliefs about gender-based violence, it actually places them at more risk of experiencing violence themselves. What drives these violence against girls and women? Gender-based violence very much comes from gender norms, and these are the social expectations that we all learn from caregivers from the world around us. And these really

shape and define the roles for girls and for boys and these beliefs become really deeply internalised. Adolescence is a particular time when these kind of beliefs are enforced on girls and crystallised. So it makes it such an important time to really challenge those beliefs. That was Dr Kit Katerson. Now of all the things you might come away with from a trip to the doctors a ticket to a football match is probably the last thing you would expect but it's something that's being trialled here in the UK to help combat mild depression. We'll talk and tell us more.

For millions of people all around the world it's a Saturday ritual. Meet up with some family or friends, head to your local team and more often than not, if your team is rubbish, watch them lose. Still, however emotionally difficult it can sometimes feel to be a football fan, a British trial is looking at whether the whole experience could help treat some mild forms of depression. The idea is that many sufferers are victims of social isolation and the sense of community that comes with watching football could help ease their symptoms. It's being pioneered by a club who are no strangers to doing things differently in the world of football.

It's not just what this club has achieved though, it's the way that it's achieved it. Forest Green aims to be the greenest, the most environmentally friendly football club in the world. Forest Green Rovers, based in Gloucestershire in England, have previously made headlines for going completely vegan. They're now donating tickets to be given out at nearby health centres. Before this, the doctor turned politician behind the policy has advocated for prescribing things like comedy shows and gardening for similar reasons. He argues that with prescriptions of anti-depressants rising year on year, it's clear some kind of bold new thinking is needed and football tickets might just be it. Will Chalk

A camel that's been fitted with a prosthetic leg in Pakistan has been filmed walking and trying to run, delighting workers at her shelter in Karachi. Vet states it's the first time a large animal in Pakistan has received a false leg. Harry Bly reports. The camel is thought to have had one of its front legs chopped off as a punishment by a landowner after she strayed onto his property in search of food. Named Cammie, the camel was rescued by a local shelter. And now, after months of healing, Cammie the camel has a new leg.

Veterinarians at the shelter had a prosthetic leg sent over from an American company so that she could walk on all fours again. This is Dr. Babar Hussain. He's the shelter's veterinarian and says the major challenge was to help Kami understand how to use her new fourth leg. And already, after training with the prosthetic in short intervals, she's able to get up and slowly walk around. Shima Khan manages the shelter. We attach the prosthetic leg for 35 to 45 minutes. That's the part of her training.

We don't force her. She does whatever she wants to do. I started weeping when I saw her walking with the prosthetic leg. It was a dream come true. Everyone here is happy now. That was Animal Shelter manager Shima Khan ending that report by Harry Bly. Finally, let's hear some powerful themes of freedom, identity and self-expression from Iran. Voices Unveiled is a musical performance which tells the stories of two Iranian women who felt compelled to leave Iran and make dangerous journeys to Europe. It was written by composer

Esam Maturi with the singers Malihay, Moradi and Mina Deriz performing the roles of the two women. Malihay's real journey mirrors that of her character in the show. She trained as a singer in Iran but was unable to perform in public because of the restrictions placed on women. She left Iran in 2022 and now lives in the US as does Ehsan. They are currently on tour performing Voices Unveiled around the world and Ehsan started by telling the BBC's Martin Venard about the stories it tells. We designed two journeys, one from their soul, the other one like very reality. So one of them was

from Huzestan and she had to marry one of the other tribes young guy and she decided to escape got killed. And the other one had the dream of singing because there is a huge censor for female vocalists. That's why she decided to emigrate, but something very dramatic happened to her and she was killed in Bulgaria border. Both are based on true stories. Malihay, do you relate to the role of these women who have had to leave Iran? I made the role of one of them because I couldn't sing in public.

And when I come to the U.S., I can sing in all of the plays. I feel freedom. Tell us about some of the songs. What do they talk about? It's very inspired to their lives. So we have three parts. Part one, which Malia is representing the women who cannot sing. And Mina's part is more from south of Iran, Khuzestan. But on top of that, Mina is singing Arabic and Farsi and Junubi. It's like a folk. And the third part, both of them are killed, but their soul is meeting each other. And then they are starting dreaming about love, peace and freedom.

There's a song called Moons Hiding. What's that about? I think it's about back home, which I really miss. It says, where is the moon? I'm blind. Help me to find my place. The places are homeland. Do you think the music helps people in the West better understand Iran? Yes.

Part of the inspiration is just to show them the culture and art and the tradition back in Iran. That report by Martin Benard. 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 globalpodcasts at bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons. It was produced by Tracy Gordon and Camilla Mills. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jalil. Until next time, goodbye.