Global News Podcast - Israel launches waves of strikes on Gaza

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Israel resumes war in Gaza after ceasefire talks fail. Hamas says more than 400 people died in Israeli strikes. Also: Hard-hit Italian town marks five years since Covid, and how astronauts adjust to life back on Earth.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritzen and at 14 hours GMT on Tuesday the 18th of March these are our main stories. More than 400 people are dead according to Palestinian officials as Israeli warplanes bring an explosive end to the Gaza ceasefire. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are holding a much-anticipated phone call about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. Also in this podcast, two American astronauts stranded in space for nine months are on their way back to Earth, and... Being with the musicians, not knowing how it's going to be

night after night, the challenge. I love it. Herbie Hancock takes one of the biggest prizes in global music. The Israeli military says it's continuing to strike targets belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad across the Gaza Strip. The statement from the security agency and the Israel Defence Force said that in the past hours they had hit what were described as terrorist cells, weapons stockpiles and additional military infrastructure. The airstrikes across Gaza have killed more than 400

people according to the Hamas run Health Ministry. It said many of those who died were children. More than 600 people are reported to have health ministry. It said many of those who died were children. More than 600 people are reported to have been injured. It's the largest wave of airstrikes since the start of the ceasefire, which began on 19 January. Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Oran Marmestein blamed Hamas, accusing it of repeatedly refusing to extend the ceasefire and release the hostages. From this point forward, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military intensity. I want to talk about the suffering of the Israeli hostages. 529 days, Israeli hostages are being chained, starved, abused and held in Hamas tunnels.

Fifty-nine hostages are still being held. The Red Crescent says hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of casualties, and Rosalia Bolan from the Children's Charity UNICEF, who's in Almawasi in southern Gaza says people are turning to her for help and advice. What do you think we should do and we're here in Almawasi do you think we should go back to our homes? Lots of our neighbors have and but we haven't because it seems so fragile it seems so precarious we are not ready to move to package up whatever belongings we have left go back

to what remains of our house and then being forced to flee again. And this is going to be the reality for many families here in Gaza who have gone back to their homes in the north because evacuation orders were just issued a couple of hours ago for parts of northern Gaza. So families will again be faced with that choice of renewed displacement or possible death. Hamas has responded furiously, accusing Israel of treachery for overturning the ceasefire agreement. It also says Israel is exposing the remaining Israeli hostages to what it called an unknown

fate. So why has Israel launched this new wave of strikes now? I asked our Middle East regional editor Mike Thompson Ostensibly because Hamas it says has refused to extend the the seats fight in mid-april, which is what? Israel wanted and that's part of an American proposal which also involved releasing five living hostages But of course the message saying look we want to go straight to phase two. That had already been agreed. But there are other reasons too. If Prime Minister Netanyahu was to agree to a permanent ceasefire, which would be all part of a phase two discussion,

he risked then getting members, far-right members of his cabinet leaving, resignations from them which could unseat his government. He's also facing corruption charges himself. These would then come more to a head. Members of his top aides are also facing different allegations in terms of supposed suspect connections, ties with Qatar, and there would also be a reckoning at the end of the war for his role in how October the 7th 2023 came about, which so far he's not admitted any responsibility for. So from what you're saying, has this actually strengthened Mr Netanyahu's hand? Well, yes, in many ways it has. And of course, at the moment, he has the very firm backing of President Trump, which he didn't have in the same way from President Biden. So he, you know, as I said before, you know, this all does suit his current situation And when you look in fact that the situation now facing her mass now if they were to agree to release All all the hostages which the Americans have said they should be doing was it President Trump has said they should be doing

and and that would then put them in a position where Israel would come at them anyway because Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that eliminating Hamas is one of the major war goals as well as getting hostages back. So what hope now for NEC's fire? It seems over, isn't it? Well, it looks that way because I can't see for the reason I just gave Hamas agreeing to the sort of terms that are being proposed. So I'm afraid for the moment it looks like things could be going from bad to even worse for the population of Gaza. Mike Thompson. A highly anticipated phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on finding a way

to end the war in Ukraine is due to take place over the next couple of hours. The US President is pressuring his Russian counterpart to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire. Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that both leaders would build on earlier discussions. The US envoy Steve Whitcoff was in Moscow and there were negotiations in Istanbul and before that there was the first telephone conversation between the two presidents. Therefore there are certain understandings but there's also a large number of questions both with the further normalisation of our bilateral relations and with the Ukrainian settlement.

All this will have to be discussed by the two presidents. Mr Trump has said he will discuss dividing up assets such as Ukrainian land and power plants but most observers agree that the Russians will only accept keeping the areas that they've conquered and occupied. Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford is following developments. I asked her whether this was really a negotiation or was Vladimir Putin still firmly in control? I think so far until this point he has been in control. I do think it's quite

clear that from a Russian perspective, they've seen Donald Trump and his administration give way to some of their key demands, you know, even ahead of any discussions about a ceasefire. So I think there is a degree to which Russia feels like it's pulling the strings and it can somewhat control this process. But I do think there are some limitations to that because, of course, Donald Trump came into office promising, essentially, that he was going to resolve this crisis. He has since had to admit that it's become much more complicated than he had anticipated, and it is taking time, but I'm not sure how much time and how much freedom he is going to be willing to give Russia. I suspect at some point Russia is going to have to give something back,

but for the moment, at least, it does seem that Russia is kind of the one calling the shots, and it is sounding pretty bullish, certainly in all the comments that we've heard so far from Russian officials. It does seem that they believe that their agenda is you know what's setting the tone for all of the discussions so far. So yeah I think at the moment it's going into these talks with maximalist demands still on the table. Sarah ahead of the call Kirill Dmitriev, who's been named by Mr Putin as his special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation, has been speaking. What's he had to say? He has and I think you know his role in this entire process including

in those talks in Jeddah, the first conversations between Russian and American officials, you know his role is quite interesting because he's very close to Vladimir Putin, but he's also very much focused on money, on investment, on the economy. And the very fact that he has been talking about the prospect of working with the United States, even talking about the potential for Russia and Elon Musk to cooperate and to collaborate and fly to Mars together. He's talking about big business deals. He's talking about the potential to entice American firms

to Russia, to look for rare earths in Russia, not just in Ukraine or instead of Ukraine. So I think this shows that Russia is very much, I think, focused on the idea of normalizing relations with the US, getting rid of those sanctions which have been so detrimental to the economy, returning to business as usual and very much business as usual at the heart of all of this. And obviously, you know, that's the goal, whether that's actually reasonable or a possible prospect is another big question. And it's certainly

sticking Ukraine's throat to see Russia kind of parading itself as a possible investor for America at a time when of course Russian missiles are still raining down on Ukraine. Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford. After an unplanned extended stay on the International Space Station, two American astronauts are finally making their way back to Earth. Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams successfully undocked from the ISS at the start of a 17-hour journey home. Their mission was supposed to last eight days but technical issues prevented their return.

This report from our science editor Rebecca Morell. After more than nine months in space, a fond farewell as Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams' mission finally comes to a close. Inside their SpaceX capsule, final preparations are underway for Butch and Sonny and two other crewmates who are sharing the ride home. Freedom SpaceX on the big loop, undock sequence commanded. To crew nine, safe journey home. It's been the honour of a lifetime to cross your path up here on space station and we'll miss you but have a safe journey home. It's been the honour of a lifetime to cross your path up here on Space Station and we'll miss you but have a great journey home." Butch and Sonny's mission began last June.

Three, two, one, ignition and liftoff of Starliner. The spacecraft they were travelling on, made by Boeing, suffered technical problems and it was deemed too risky to bring them back to Earth. It meant their eight-day mission was dramatically extended. The NASA pair have made the most of their stay, carrying out an array of experiments and going on a spacewalk, with Sunny breaking the record for the most hours spent outside of the space station. And there was even a chance to celebrate Christmas that they'd planned to have at home.

So from all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas! All of that's now behind them. They will feel, first of all, fantastic to be back on Earth. So the fresh air is the first thing that gets you really. But then of course, their bodies will have suffered in space. So particularly bone loss, muscle loss as well.

Their hormones balance will be all changed, microbiome will be changed. So all of that will have to get back to normal. Freedom, SpaceX on the big loop, depart burn zero nominal. With a blast of the engines, the astronauts are on their way, hoping for a smooth ride and a gentle splashdown off the coast of Florida. Rebecca Morell reporting. So if all goes well, after 286 days, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams will splash down on Tuesday night. But how long will it take them to adjust to life back on Earth?

The BBC heard from Colonel Katie Coleman in Massachusetts. She is a veteran astronaut of two space shuttle missions and has logged more than 500 hours in space. She told us what changes Sunny and Butch might experience once back home. Even once you've been gone for a few, I would say, for three weeks or so, you're going to definitely have some, you know have some changes to your body in terms of maybe some bone and muscle loss. But what we've learned up on the space station is, unfortunately, that exercise is here to stay and that we've learned that by exercising up there a lot, we actually maintain our bone mass.

And when we get home, it's kind of strange where we're in, I was in the best shape of my whole entire life. And so when you get home, you're very strong, but your head is kind of not connected to the whole rest of your body. Because up there we fly from place to place. And it's really delightful. It's like being in Peter Pan, in the land of Peter Pan, where the touch of a finger can send you 50 feet or until you run into something. It just takes no force at all to move. In fact, I can take, I have kind of long hair, I can take a single hair from my head, stretch it between two hands and push off the edge of say a table. And if I push

gently, I will push myself across the whole entire space station. When I flew with the Russians, and so I came down on the Soyuz and then we fly halfway across the world to get home in a regular airplane. And I'll say that I couldn't walk a straight line at first and people are always on either side of you making sure you don't fall down. And so the first time we get off the plane to refuel, I'm still kind of like walking kind of like back and forth, weaving. And then the second time it's less. And then by the time we stopped in Maine on the way back to Houston and had pizza while they were refueling, I could definitely walk on

my own. No one was afraid I was going to fall down. Colonel Katie Coleman. Still to come in this podcast. The first reaction was fear. But after the fear, I experienced the humanity. You know, just a few words, very simple words, or just a hand on my shoulder. Five years on from Covid, we hear from people in the Italian city of Bergamo. In Peru, the government has declared a 30-day state of emergency after a wave of violence

in the capital Lima and neighbouring town of Calau. It means that free movement has been suspended and allows the police to search people's homes without a warrant. More troops will also be deployed to combat crime. President Dina Boloate is reportedly considering introducing the death penalty. To these damned murderers, I say that I am seriously thinking about the death penalty because no hitman, no extortionist will be able to stain with blood families who love their children. So what kind of crime are we talking about? Chris Burrow spoke to our America's editor, Leonardo Rocha. In Peru and Lima, mainly the metropolitan area, it's a big city,

millions of people there, what you have is mainly extortion. People saying that transport companies are forced to pay extortion money or protection money. Businesses have to pay basically to avoid violence. There's lots of kidnappings for ransom. There've been brutal killings of young people, girls that are killed if their families don't pay. So there's a bit of lawlessness on that side. If you go to Lima, you normally don't feel the violence

like other cities in Latin America, like Rio, San Paulo, Caracas. But that's a problem that everyone talks about. And also criminal gangs to train the Araguades gang from Venezuela. They control some areas of Peru in terms of mining. And there's a lot of blame, of course. It's not all done by foreigners. And you had this incident with this very popular singer, Paul Flores. He was killed. And what he was saying before the killing was,

the government should do something about extortion against the music business. You went to play a gig somewhere, they demand that you pay money to local gangs. Is there much faith in the government, in their ability to be able to bring this under control because we were hearing there's you know considerations of the death penalty being introduced. Is there trust in the

government? I don't think so. I mean Gina Boloati, she basically inherited power when her predecessor was impeached for trying a coup, for corruption, there was all sorts of scandals. Peru is very unstable, and she is not hugely popular. What I think the government was forced to do here was to act, because there'd been warnings and people criticized the government for not doing enough. Apparently the poorest are the ones suffering. They are also forced to pay extortion. The richest are not, they don't suffer in the same extent. I mean it's a measure to put troupists out and to show

people that the security will be enforced but I don't know how effective that will be. Leonardo Rocha. In March 2020, images of army trucks trundling through the streets of Bergamo in northern Italy gripped the attention of a world just beginning to grasp the reality of the global pandemic. They were there to move bodies because the local crematorium simply couldn't cope with the scale of the disaster. That month there were almost six times as many deaths in Bergamo as the year before. By some estimates as many people died there during the first wave of Covid as in whole countries like Canada or the Netherlands. Five years on Mark Duff has returned to the city to

gauge what sense, if any, the people of Bergamo have managed to make of the tragedy that ravaged their community. Sunday Mass at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in the heart of the old walled city of Bergamo. Outside the narrow cobbled streets of Città Alta are packed with daytrippers, but inside the old rituals still reassure the faithful. The Bergamo is a very Catholic place. Most of them, they still are very Catholic deep inside. The Sicilian filmmaker Stefano Savona spent months chronicling how people here responded to the pandemic for his award-winning documentary, The Walls of Bergamo.

They don't use religion as a way to make sense of everything. They just understand that it's something that can help, but still they have the same problem everybody else has in dealing with the unexpected and with this sorrow that was like overwhelming there. In March 2020 the health system here was on its knees. You can hear it in the voice of the emergency responder. There aren't any ambulances, the hospitals don't have any oxygen, we have nothing and the days to come are going to be even worse. Five years on people are understandably still struggling to make sense of what happened. Giovanni Cerasoli experienced Covid at first hand, first as a doctor and then seriously ill as a patient. But through the suffering he caught glimpses of a better way of being.

The first reaction was fear, but after the fear I experienced the humanity. You know just a few words, very simple words or just a hand on my shoulder. What do we have to hold is this sense of humanity and also to don't be afraid of having with us this thoughts of fragility, this thoughts of death because this help us to live our life better every single day. The summer after the first devastating wave of Covid passed, they put up a memorial to the victims in Bergamo's main cemetery. 82-year-old Giovanni Mariani-Saredo took me to see it. It looks like an open book and there's a poem engraved on it.

You feel emotional? Emotional, yes. Because I had some friends that were carried on the trucks because there were too many deceased. At ten o'clock every evening, as the waiters wipe down the tables at the Café del Tasso in Piazza Vecchia, the bell tower across the square rings out 100 times, as it has done since 1656. It's a reminder of the days when the bells would summon people back to the safety of the city.

Covid, of course, respected no curfew and paid no heed to the city's stone walls. Tonight, the big bell sounds like it's tolling for the dead of Bergamo, for Giovanni Mariani's dead friends, and the thousands of others whose loved ones here struggle still to comprehend what happened five years ago today. Mark Duff. The last surviving British pilot from the Battle of Britain has died at the age of 105. John Paddy Hemingway took part in the nearly four-month campaign in 1940 to defend his country against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's Air Force, the Luftwaffe. David Lewis looks back at his life.

High up in the heavens, those knights of the air fought and died. Epic combat, often beyond the range of our vision. Spitfires and hurricanes challenging each other in deadly combat with the enemy host. And then there were none. The passing of Group Captain John Hemingway marks the end of an era. And his wartime exploits were extraordinary. Originally from Dublin, he joined the Royal Air Force before World War II. At 21, he was drafted in as a fighter pilot in the Battle

of Britain. Across the summer of 1940, British Empire and Allied Airmen defended the skies of South East England against a rampant German Air Force. Hitler was looking to invade, but needed to knock out the RAF first. He couldn't. Those who fought in the battle came to be known as the few, after a speech by the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Hemingway was shot down four times. He was forced to bail out of his single seat fighter twice, once dropping into the North Sea. Another time he was forced to abandon his aircraft, little more than 180 metres above ground. He broke his hand on the tail section, then his parachute failed to open.

Fortunately, tree branches broke his fall. Decorations followed. In 1941 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a military medal for courage and valour. On route to accepting the gong from the King, he had a lucky escape. His aircraft crashed on takeoff. The current Prince of Wales has paid tribute to his passing. We owe so much to Paddy and his generation for our freedoms today, Prince William said. Their bravery and sacrifice will always be remembered. Speaking to the BBC in 2023, the centenarian was humble about his role in the country's most important battle. We were just fighting a war which we were trained to fight, he insisted.

I'm not a great man, I'm just a lucky man. Four years earlier, the old soldier was in the news when the wreckage of his Hurricane aircraft was recovered in English marshland. The plane's control column and gun button were frozen in time. It was still set to fire. David Lewis. The rock band Queen, the jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan have been announced as this year's recipients of the Polar Music Prize, the closest thing music has to a Nobel Prize. Created by ABBA's manager Stig Andersson, the award was first given

to Paul McCartney in 1992. This report from Colin Patterson. 50 years after the released Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen are to receive the Polar Music Prize, the band chosen for being synonymous with the very fabric of pop culture. And in the year he turns 85, the pianist Herbie Hancock will be honoured for pushing boundaries in jazz, funk, soul and R&B. He told me why he still loves to tour. Being with the musicians, not knowing how it's going to be night after night, the challenge. I love it. The ceremony takes place in Sweden at the end of May.

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 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 Rebecca Miller and the producers were Carla Conti and Stephanie Tillotson. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.