Global News Podcast - Israeli cabinet voting on landmark Gaza deal

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Government ministers in Israel meet to approve President Trump's peace plan. There's an outburst of joy and celebration in Israel and Gaza after the deal was signed. But will it hold? We also look at an attack on a hospital in the besieged city of El-Fasher in Sudan, and hear about the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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Your idea of banking that's personal happens here. RBC, ideas happen here. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernadette Keough, and at 1700 GMT on Thursday the 9th of October, these are our main stories. Israel's cabinet is meeting to approve a Gaza deal, which would see the release of the hostages and the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops. The agreement with Hamas was announced by Donald Trump after intense negotiations in Egypt. We'll hear from inside Gaza, where the developments have been met with joyous scenes. We have witnessed a kind of relative calm since the early morning hours.

Things feel different now. Also in this podcast, in other news, eyewitnesses in the besieged Sudanese city of Elfasha report that a strike on a hospital blamed on the paramilial. military RSF has killed at least 13 people. Israel's cabinet is meeting to ratify the first phase of a landmark agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza. The US-backed deal, signed earlier in Egypt, will see all remaining hostages and 2,000 Palestinian prisoners freed. The BBC has followed the story of Amal al-Badla, a mother in Gaza whose youngest son was born on October the 7th, 2023, when her mass launched its attacks on Israel.

She sent us her reaction from a camp in southern Gaza. I can't believe I'm finally saying this. The war is over. After two years of hunger, destruction and endless loss, I've been dreaming of this moment to tell my boys that, I'm going to save now. I'm happy, but my heart is still broken too because my brother Ahmed isn't here and so many others isn't here with us to celebrate the same fire today.

We survived today, but we won't forget. Our Middle East analyst is Sebastian Usher. He started by telling us the details of the first phase. This is essentially not that different from the ceasefire deal that has been talked about for months up until now. What is different about what's happening in this case is there's a bigger umbrella around it and much greater momentum from President Trump. So what we're going to see is once the Israeli cabinet, which looks like it's a done deal, ratifies the agreement that we believe has been signed by Hamas and by the Israeli team in Shamar Sheikh in Egypt, but that happened a little earlier today. Once the Israeli cabinet ratifies this,

despite the fact that two of the far right ministers in the cabinet have said that they won't sign up to it, it's still likely to go through, then the mechanism, the 72 hours that's part of the 20-point US plan, will come into effect. That's the time frame within which the living Israeli hostages, 20 of them, and the bodies of those who are,

died I've before or in captivity will be returned to Israel and around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are due to be released. Aid in far greater number we've seen for a long time is also due to start going in. All the aid points, all the entrance points into Gaza, all five of them are due to be opened up. So a huge influx of aid will be allowed in which of course is needed desperately there. And President Trump is likely to arrive in Israel, or potentially Egypt, if there's a signing there over the weekend, maybe on Sunday. So everything is due to happen fast now, just as the movement towards this agreement, after all these months of stalemate moments when it looked like something was going to happen, then it didn't, it's also moved very fast in the past

less than two weeks since the 20-point plan was put forward by the Americans and Hamas and Israel signed up at least a part of it. The other element that's due to happen over the next few days is an Israeli pullback from its positions in Gaza. Now that's not a full pull-out by any means. I think it's around 47% of the territory they will be no longer in. That leaves more than a half where Israeli troops will still have control. So, I mean, as we were hearing there from a Palestinian mother, there's been huge relief, huge joy in both Gaza and in Israel amongst the hostage families over this,

and grasping it as being an end to the war, it isn't, as I'm sure many people have heard, an end right now. It is a ceasefire which could hold. I think the chances of it holding more than the two previous ceasefires that were in place are much stronger than before. I think things have changed enough in Israel, in Gaza, the Israeli government, Hamas, the leadership in the US, the way that Israel's closest Western allies have increasingly shown their displeasure, their anger at the continuation of a war in Gaza. All of these things have really built up to this point.

think it would be difficult for an all-out war to be returned to, but people are still going to have to just cross their fingers and hope that it all works out. Let's hear another voice from inside the Gaza Strip now. Ragad Salam is a 38-year-old journalist in Gaza City and a mother of two children. She's remained there for most of the conflict, moving from place to place to avoid military activity. Because of poor communication links, we weren't able to do a full internet. interview. However, she sent us these voice recordings. She first gave us her reaction to the ceasefire announcement. My reaction is not very different from all Gazans here in the city.

They are very relieved. They are cheerful. They are celebrating. They are distributing some sweets, shooting some fires, celebrating the ceasefire announcement. So we are very relieved because, you know, we have been suffering for the past two years. We have been struggling. We have been moving from one place to the other. We have faced many situations of lack of medicine, lack of food, lack of drinking water. So all of this has vanished, we can say, today. Especially as people will begin returning to their homes

in the northern parts of Gaza Strip. A humanitarian situation here, in fact, it's very devastating, it's very difficult. Access to basic needs like medicine, food and clean water clean water. Our proper housing is extremely limited. Many people rely on humanitarian aid which doesn't reach everyone. Pharmacists are almost empty and hospitals lack for the essential supplies and equipment. Food prices have rocketed and clean drinking water is very rare. Thousands of families are living in temporary shelters and often without electricity or proper

sanitation, people are living on the minimum, but we are trying to survive. Me and myself and my family, we have been moving from one place to the other, as the Israeli bombardment haven't stopped for about two weeks now. So we are trying to keep it to the minimum, as I said. So finally, we are relieved by the announcement of the ceasefire. Ragad went on to say she felt hopeful about the future. And for the first time, ages had a real desire to stay in Gaza. We have witnessed a kind of relative calm since the early morning hours, although the forces haven't yet withdrawn from the areas that they have proceeded to. The situation looks promising so far. I have always been waiting for the border

crossing to open so I could escape with my children from the bombing and the death. I used too long for that moment, but things feel different now. I feel that Gaza deserves must to stay in it, to rebuild it, and to make it even better than before. So I think, yes, I have changed my mind. From Gaza to Israel now, this was the reaction of cafe goers in Jerusalem to news of the ceasefire agreement. I'm happy. I'm very happy. I'm sure all of Israel is very happy today. And let's hope from this day we are going to better days for the next future. I heard last night that Trump basically announced that it looks like a deal of a sign between a Hamas and Israel.

And I couldn't go back to sleep. It was very exciting. Very exciting. To see the families of the hostages celebrating and drinking Lechayim and celebrating in the hostage square the minute this came out, I can't even imagine the way they feel. I know I feel elated. They must just feel the burden of the world off of their shoulders. Gil Dickman is the cousin of Carmel Gat who was taken hostage in the Hamas attacks on October the 7th. She survived 11 months in captivity but was killed. Her body was recovered by Israeli troops last year.

Gil Dickman told us he had been up all night. I'm just coming back from the Hostages Square here in Tel Aviv. We were celebrating. We had hostages who came back from captivity, celebrating their own freedom and the freedom of the hostages. They're friends that are finally coming home. And, you know, you just told the story of my cousin who was murdered in captivity. After she was murdered at the beginning of September, 2024, we promised that we will never let even one more hostage die or be murdered in captivity.

And it looks like we made it. The 20 hostages who are considered to be alive, then are coming back alive in just a middle of a few days. and this is so, it's, I'm so joyful just thinking about this and about the fact that innocent people on the other side of the border will have to suffer more because of the horrible decisions of leaders on both sides of the border. It's such a good news. It's new air coming into our lungs and it's, it's breathing breaths of hope.

And Israelis on our side wanted to, you know, to try and, as much damage as possible on the other side and Palestinians wanted to do damage on our side. But now when the war is finally over, we can start rebuilding the, maybe the world is peace. It's going to take time, I'm sure, because many people still believe in revenge, but I think most of us don't. I don't believe in revenge, even though my cousin Kamel was murdered. Her mother, Kinellet, was murdered on October 7th. Both of them will no longer come back to us and we will miss them for us. forever. But revenge is not the answer. The answer is more life, is more peace between the two

peoples. This is the only way to live together in this magnificent piece of land in the Middle East. Let's hope this is a beginning of a new morning today. And what about President Trump? He's often hinted that he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize. If the deal holds, how much of a diplomatic victory will it be for him personally? Nomia Iqbal is our North America correspondent. Donald Trump, We know as long wanted some sort of deal. It appeared to be elusive at one point. There was always other issues. But I think that it's fair to say that Donald Trump is on the brink of achieving something remarkable here.

That is, if indeed all the conditions are met for this first phase where all the hostages are released, Israel pulls back its troops, the killing of Palestinian stops. This is all done on a permanent basis. And if that happens, I think it all. be a stunning victory for him. We know that Donald Trump stiles himself as a dealmaker, a peacemaker. That would all be true if the deal does come to fruition. The thing I really want to point out is that I've been covering this conflict under the Biden administration and under the Trump administration. And there's no doubt the similarity between the two men is that they are staunchly pro-Israel. U.S. presidents often are. And there were attempts by the Biden

administration to try and put an end to the war. But what we have seen in Donald Trump is this real use of his personality where he's put pressure on pretty much everybody here. I mean, just last week, Benjamin Netanyahu is at the White House. And he made him apologize to the leaders of Qatar for that Israeli strike on Qatar. They said that they were targeting Hamas back in September. Reportedly, Mr. Trump has also accused Mr. Netanyahu of being too negative and not taking the deal. And I think with all those power moves, as well as getting Qatar involved and Turkey involved has allowed Donald Trump to get to this point. Nomia Iqbal.

More reaction on the Gaza Agreement to end the war. It's unequivocally welcome, and we should be really clear about that. And I think everybody has spoken out, including the people of Gaza. We're leaving events in the Middle East for reference. few moments now to take a look at some other stories. The Sudanese city of El Fasher in North Darfur has been under siege for around 18 months. An estimated 260,000 civilians remain trapped inside and tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting. El Fasher is the last major foothold in Darfur for Sudan's army, which has been battling the paramilitary rapid support

force since April 2023. In the latest attack, At least 13 people were killed in an artillery attack reportedly carried out by the RSF. The shelling hit the main hospital in the city. Our global affairs reporter Richard Kagoi joined us from Nairobi. This attack was quite devastating. In fact, the Sudanese doctor's network says that it is really made a bad situation worse because the hospital has been operating literally on just about like 10% in terms of capacity because they're unable to access supplies and even get more medical teams to come and, you know, support them.

Now, this hospital has just been used specifically to cater for women and for maternity services and even for children as well. So the fact that medical staff there, they're really quite exhausted. And so really this is quite a huge set by humanitarian efforts within Elfasha. Now, Richard, the UN has described Elfashire as an episode. center of suffering. Indeed, because you have, as you mentioned, about a quarter of a million people who are trapped inside Elfasha. So they're unable actually to get outside because, according to research by Yale, the RSF has built an earth bomb around the city's stealth stretching for kilometers. So aid can get into Elfasha and people can get out of Elfasha. In fact,

those who do attempt to do that are either detained, are conscripted fully into the battle fronts and it's subjected to sexual violence. So it's quite a very desperate situation because this was the hub of humanitarian efforts and the RSF have built this blockade for the last nearly 18 months and it's been difficult to really access and to reach the most vulnerable population. So a very desperate situation there. Now just briefly, if you can please, could you give us a quick background to the conflict? This started off in April 2023. This was a struggle between the leaders of the two forces, the rapid support forces and the Sudanese army. And both because they were embroiled in a power struggle, they fell out. And since then,

they have been battling, you know, across the country. The country is almost fragmented into two with the army controlling nearly half of the country towards the east and to the north. And that the RSF are controlling most of the western and the southern beats of the country. Richard Kedgoy. This year's Nobel Prize for Literatured, has been awarded. The winner who will receive $1.2 million was announced by the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Matt's Marm. The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 is awarded to the Hungarian author, Laszlo Krasnajaj, for his compelling and visionary over that in the midst of apocalyptic terror reaffirms

the power of art. George Sertes is a Hungarian-born British poet and translation. He knows Laszlo Kroshena Hawkeye and has translated three of his novels into English. He's been speaking to James Menendez about whether he knew he was a serious contender to win the award. People in Hungary have talked about the possibility that he might be because his international reputation has grown so much. But to actually do it, I mean, it's just superb. Yep, delighted. Do you think he'll be pleased? Of course.

who would not be. He's a little bit retiring, but I'm sure this will delight him. Tell us a bit about his work. I mean, from what I've been reading, it sounds all rather forbidding, is it? It looks forbidding, but it isn't once you're in it. I suppose the most notable thing about them is that they use very few sentences. So the sentences are very, very long. and there are no paragraphs. So when you look at the page, it looks like a lava flow of black type. That sounds very forbidding to me.

It does, but it's funny, and it's apocalyptic, and it's kind of hypnotic. His first book, his first great success, which I translated, was made into a seven-and-quarter-hour film in black and white. Right, gosh. which I've seen twice.

And how was it? It's spellbinding. I mean, granted, it helps if you're the sort of person who can sit down to a long film where things happen very slowly. But the slowness is a part of it. It's a part of the experience. It's like I think people talk about slow radio.

But I think once people are in it, once they get beyond the first page, they do hold the attention remarkably well. And it's the one that you're talking about, is that, and forgive me if I'm pronouncing this wrong, is that satan tango or Satan tango? Well, it's Satan tango in English. Yeah, it's the same word on Hungarian, but pronounced differently. Yeah. And was it difficult to translate?

Oh, yes. It was exhausting. could do about an hour at a time, then I'd retire with a headache. Right. But was it because of the sort of density of the text or just trying to, I mean, as always with translations, trying to convey some of the style in a completely different language? Well, the style kind of declares itself because of those very long sentences. I mean, there are authors who used long sentences in the past, but not like this.

I mean, these are absolute monsters, really. But they're human. They're not difficult to read in a sense of language. They're not difficult to tell from the point of view of storytelling. The storytelling is clear. The dialogue is clear. So it's not the density of prose. It is simply the way of delivering that prose to your eyes.

Back now to our main story, the dramatic developments towards peace in Gaza. The United Nations Emergency Aid Chief Tom Fletcher says there are 170,000 tonnes of food, medicine, shelter and other supplies that are ready to be delivered and has called for immediate access. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees says it has food for the whole of Gaza for three months. But with the so little security in Gaza, how do you get it to the people who need? need it. Martin Griffiths has over 50 years of experience in aid and conflict mediation. He was the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2021 to 2024. It's unequivocally welcome, and we should be really clear about that. And I think everybody

has spoken out, including the people of Gaza, it's most welcome. The exchange of prisoners as well as hostages is long overdue. It's a humane, a human thing. So it's great. But it's the beginning. And one of the elements of this, what we're hoping for in the next few days, is that the crossings will open and that aid will go in. It's an immense challenge, isn't it? Because although there's the aid there, there is little security in Gaza. Little security. And I agree with you completely. Little security. But also a history of impediments. So, you know, roads are blocked. Permission is withdraw. during convoys by the Israeli Defence Forces. Roads are chosen but are unsafe. And then there's,

of course, the Gaza humanitarian foundation factor. But the fact, as Tom Fletcher said, and you quoted him at the top here, that there's 170,000 tons of aid is a phenomenal amount. So it's supposed to flood the strip. I think there's going to be a very tortuous negotiation to make that happen. Because what you think, there will be a dragging of feet, are you suggesting? I think there's going to be a dragging of feet. There's going to be a continuing emphasis on the primary role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Although the 20-point plan does provide for full involvement of United Nations and other agencies, I think there's going to be a question of where the IDF withdraw and whether the ceasefire is held enough to make sure this happens safely.

and I think it's going to be a question of safety of delivery. It's also essential to have visas for a lot of aid staff, which have been withdrawn or they have to re-register, all these aspects of the recent blockade. You need people to deliver aid as well as aid itself. I think it's going to be a very tough negotiation, but it's great that we're going to have it. Sarah Montague, speaking to Martin Griffiths.

We're ending this podcast with our... Chief International correspondent, Lees Doucette. She gave us her assessment of what's been agreed. It has all come together much more quickly than anyone dared to hope. But we have seen time and again down through the decades how the last details, the last difficult political compromises, can sometimes take much more time than expected. But then yet there it was, just after midnight, the news came through

that a deal had been done. This is a moment, most of all, of unbridled joy for the Palestinians in Gaza who took to the streets of Gaza in the dead of night, also here in Tel Aviv, Israelis who took to Hostages Square, which has been their gathering point for many months, dancing in the square,

such a human moment. But this is just a start. It is not the end. It is a ceasefire, as significant as that is. and it is not a peace deal. But the most important thing is that it starts. Well, we saw President Trump with Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last week. How much pressure do you think he put the Israeli Prime Minister under?

Huge. There are those who have worked in the State Department for a very long time, who have worked with both Republican and Democratic administrations, presidents, and say they have never seen a U.S. president using the pressure that they can wield personally, politically, on their most important strategic ally, Israel. There was the moment, and I think the turning point, was Prime Minister Netanyahu's error in President Trump's eyes in going too far in trying to assassinate Hamas leaders in the Gulf state of Qatar, in this capital city of an ally that President Trump values highly.

the Qataris were furious. President Trump was furious. That led to a face-to-face meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly where President Trump met with Arab and Islamic leaders. They too pressed home the message. It is time to end the war. Military options have been exhausted. Now is the time to move towards a resolution of this conflict. what was really important. And I heard it from some of the families of the hostages this week in Tel Aviv in Hostages Square. They had been trying so hard to get President Trump's attention. This is sadly a comment on the world in which we live now. Getting President Trump's ear is what matters. And finally, they did get his attention so much so that he started posting photographs of Hostages Square brimming with people and anger and grief and agony. on him for his help, and at last he did help, leaning in a way he had never done before on Prime Minister Netanyahu. It's stunning to remember that just weeks ago, there was,

the military operation was unleashed in Gaza City that even Steve Whitkoff, President Trump's envoy, was saying, well, the military operation could go to the end of the year, maybe into 2006, Israelis and Palestinians were looking at months more of war. And then suddenly, it's all wrapped up within days. Now, of course, it's not just President Trump. The Qataris, the Turks and the Egyptians have been involved in getting the two sides to this point. What role have they played? The deal wouldn't have happened without their role as well. They are the ones who talk directly to Hamas. They have leverage over Hamas, Hamas, which it has to be underlined, has been significantly weakened by the two years of devastating war.

They are no longer a significant fighting force we have seen. They still have the ability to fire an occasional rocket into Israel, to carry out attacks on Israeli forces. They still have a political presence, but they are not the Hamas that carried out the October 7th attacks. And pressure was put on them to persuade them that the hostages were no longer leveraged, that in the sense of being kept,

the best leverage with the hostages was to move now. Now is the moment to use a terrible expression to cash in, to try to use this to get a better deal because holding on to the hostages was just prolonging the war. And that was a huge shift of perspective for Hamas. Again, we have to underline that there are so many issues that still haven't been resolved.

Will Hamas give up its guns? What will be its role? in the future Gaza. Where will Israel's military presence be at the end when the deal moves into its second phase? And there are, the word I got from a mediator who's been involved in the Charmel Sheik talks is that there's still going to be a troublehead. And the big question, of course, will be will President Trump continue to focus on this deal in the way he has, or will he be sidelined by other issues on his agenda in the United States or indeed on other front lines in the world. Lees Doucette. And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the

Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Russell Newlove, and the producer was Ed Horton. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernadetchio. Until next time, goodbye.