Global News Podcast - UN says no aid yet distributed in Gaza as international pressure on Israel mounts

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

The United Nations says no aid has yet been distributed in Gaza despite aid lorries starting to cross the border after an 11-week blockade. Also: Sesame Street heads to Netflix after Trump cut PBS funding.

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Search for amazing sports stories wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 21st of May, these are our main stories. The United Nations says Gazans are yet to receive any humanitarian aid, despite Israel allowing about 100 more trucks to enter the territory. President Trump has announced plans for a missile defence system

that he says will protect the whole of the United States. Two aides of Mexico City's mayor have been shot dead as they drove to work in the morning rush hour. Also in this podcast... Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street. The children's TV classic Sesame Street moves to Netflix. Is international goodwill running out for Israel because of the conduct of its war on Hamas in Gaza?

Many of its own allies, who've backed Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas following the October 7th attack now say they are horrified by its latest military escalation in Gaza. We'll have more on that shortly. But first, Israel says it allowed about 100 aid trucks to enter Gaza on Tuesday. But as we record this podcast, the United Nations has said that no aid has yet been distributed. The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, described the situation in Gaza as chilling. Let me describe what is on those trucks. This is baby food, baby nutrition. There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. This is not food that Hamas are going to steal.

We run all sorts of risks trying to get that baby food through to those mothers who cannot feed their children right now because they're malnourished. Our Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson sent us this report. In the rubble of a Gaza City school, children are digging for packets of food half buried in the thick grey dust. A displaced shelter bombed overnight. What they're learning in these ruined classrooms is more than some world leaders can take. Among more than 70 people reported killed overnight, the two sons of Osama Abu Moussabe, the other half of his family missing.

My children are gone, he cries, 13 and nine years old. I can't find their mother or their sister. Aid has begun trickling into Gaza after an 11-week Israeli blockade. This is Heba, a seven-month-old baby who weighs the same as a newborn. The Auda Malnutrition Unit in central Gaza says patients have doubled during the blockade and they have two weeks of life-saving drugs left. Ali Jabr is the Auda project director. We have a problem now with the accessibility as well. So a lot of cases who are suffering

from the malnutrition cannot come, cannot move, cannot go to the hospitals, no cars, no fuel. Israel is staring down the judgement of its allies, but its allies are feeling the judgement of children with empty bowls, accusing the world of empty words. Lucy Williamson. The UK, Canada and France have all threatened to take concrete action against Israel if it doesn't stop its renewed offensive. The UK's Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the level of suffering being inflicted on Gazans is simply intolerable.

Despite our efforts this Israeli government's egregious actions and rhetoric have continued. They are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world. As the Prime Minister and fellow leaders said yesterday, we cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration. It is incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship.

So are we at a turning point? Our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams has this assessment. I think that the combination of the warnings from the Israeli government, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of a massive new military operation that would consume large parts of the Gaza Strip and drive civilians once again into tiny little corners. That plus the warnings that we've been hearing in the last few days about the very real possibility that large numbers of Gazans are going to be plunged into starvation. That combination has persuaded a number of countries to speak more forcefully than they have in the past. That's why we saw the statement

from Britain, France, and Canada. Another statement by 27 foreign ministers, including Britain, condemning Israel's alternative aid provision scheme, which the Israelis have been touting for the past few weeks, and now these moves by the British government, suspending talks on trade and calling the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office for an explanation. These feel different. They're accompanied by more sanctions on Jewish settlers. So I think we are reaching a point at which there is a real fear of what might be looming and a concerted effort by some of Israel's closest allies

to try and stop it. But what does this all mean really if the US sticks by Israel whatever? Well ultimately it means that things won't change quickly on the ground. I think everyone knows that there's really only one person who can decisively demand that Israel not do something. And that person, of course, is Donald Trump. And apart from a brief remark at the end of his Middle East tour last week in which he said that he was concerned by the fact that Palestinians were facing starvation. He has not yet said anything to indicate that he does not want Israel to go ahead with its new military assault on Gaza. So people will be watching that.

The other countries involved will perhaps be thinking, well, look, if we are increasingly vocal, this might persuade the United States to follow suit. But you know, the sheer unpredictability of Donald Trump means that that's never really going to be a very clear prospect. And so I think for their own individual moral and political reasons, the countries apart from the United States are all beginning to take action in concert, feeling that frankly they have no choice. Paul Adams. In response to the growing diplomatic pushback, an Israeli government spokesman said that external pressure would not divert Israel from, in his words, defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction. Within Israel too there is increasingly concerned debate. The chair of the opposition left of centre Democrats party, Yer Golan,

said in an interview that Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state among the nations like the South Africa of old, if it doesn't return to behaving like a sane country. He is a former senior major general in the Israeli defence forces and his view has been condemned by Israeli government ministers. But what about supporters of Israel's military and political strategy? Evan David spoke to Fleur Hassan Nahum, a special envoy for Israel's foreign ministry and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem. Well, first of all, I want to address what you talked about Yair Golan.

Yair Golan is not sent to left. Yair Golan is a leader of an extreme left party. Everybody's condemned, including other opposition members from the actual left, including the president of Israel, who comes from the Labor Party. So he is a fringe character. And just like we don't really, we're not represented by fringe on the right, we're not represented by fringe on the left. We're a country of democracy and freedom of speech, so we always have people saying different things, but he does not represent anybody's position in Israel right now. So I just

want to say that off the bat. I do understand why the foreign ministry has said what they've said, because it seems as if there's double standards going on. Britain sells arms, in fact, 17 billion pounds of arms to countries that are considered human rights abusers like Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, like Turkey, like Thailand. In fact, these are reports that have come out from your own local organizations against arms trade. I just don't want to get into what aboutery. I don't want to get into whataboutery. I don't get into whataboutery. It just seems double standards. There's one thing which is whataboutery and one thing is double standards. So if you're doing business with a country like Qatar which sponsors terrorism of the Muslim Brotherhood, then why are you so offended when we say it seems

there's some double standards and obsession with Israel? Well, but your friends, your allies, countries that have traditionally been reasonably supportive of Israel are entitled to say, are they not? They're perceiving a brutality from a blockade and bomb strategy on Gaza that is neither working for you and is too cruel to the people in Gaza. That's a perfectly legitimate criticism for other countries to make of you. It doesn't matter whether they're selling arms to Saudi Arabia. That's a perfectly reasonable thing for them to say, isn't it? You've got to address that

accusation. Well, it would be a little more legitimate if they first and foremost condemned Hamas for using their own babies as human shields. They condemn Hamas every time they open their mouths. They condemn Hamas. No, they don't. They would be a little more legitimate if they spoke about the fact that the human aid, the aid organizations are in cahoots with Hamas and that are helping Hamas, many of them,

UNRWA employs many Hamas members helping them steal aid. I think there's disagreement on the facts. There's evidence. The would not be allowed. I think there's disagreement on the facts. Well, there's evidence. There's evidence. The extent of the facts. There's evidence. Well, there's about 100 UNRWA employees

that are members of Hamas. It's been proven. And thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of employees. And there's been protests. And there's been protests in Gaza. And we've reported on those protests. And they've been mentioned. By Gazans saying they're stealing our aid.

So when we had the ceasefire a few months back, there was so much aid going in that everybody assumed there'd be enough aid until July. But Hamas creates this artificial lack of aid so that they can pay their terrorists. So let me share with you Israel's dilemma. Our dilemma is this. When we let floods of aids going in, Hamas uses that aid to sell it to their own people at a premium and fund their terrorists. They pay their terrorists, they pay their soldiers. So what is Israel supposed to do? Fleur Hassan Nahum, a special envoy for Israel's foreign ministry.

President Trump has announced plans to build a state-of-the-art missile defense system that will shield the entire United States. At a White House news conference, Mr Trump said the Golden Dome program would be able to intercept every kind of missile. This design for the Golden Dome will integrate with our existing defense capabilities and should be fully operational before the end of my term. So we'll have it done in about three years. Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles, even

if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space. A North America correspondent, Peter Bose, has more details. President Trump says the futuristic missile defence system will be developed by America's Space Force and will cost $175 billion. It will consist, he said, of next-generation technologies, including space-based sensors and interceptors, to defend the country against aerial attacks from the other side of the world or launch from space. He added that Canada had asked to be part of the project which is inspired by Israel's

Iron Dome, a system that's been used to intercept rockets and missiles since 2011. Peter Bows, two aides of Mexico City's mayor Clara Bregada have been killed while driving to work. Ms Bregada said a thorough investigation is already underway. She said there'd be no impunity. Our America's regional editor Leonardo Rocha reports. Security camera footage shows a gunman approaching the front of the car and firing at least 12 shots through the windscreen and the driver's window.

A witness said the man escaped on a motorbike, which was found abandoned three blocks away. President Claudia Sheinbaum, herself a former Mexico City mayor, said the two officials, Jimena Guzman and Jose Muñoz, had worked for the government for many years and she knew them personally. A similar incident happened five years ago when the Mexico City security chief survived a gang attack attributed to a drug cartel. Leonardo Rocha. For many aspiring musicians, the offer of a visit to a prestigious college,

such as the Royal Academy of Music here in the UK, would be the result of years of lessons and practice. But for 11-year-old Harvey Goodbody, from Norfolk in eastern England, it took just five months. He taught himself to play the piano and he did it by watching YouTube videos. Claire Burden reports. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, the third movement, played not by a professional but by Harvey Goodbody. He's taught himself to

play by watching YouTube videos, his love of classical music coming out of the blue according to his family. Harvey's mother Jen posted videos online of his performances. They've been viewed thousands of times and grabbed the attention of the Royal Academy of Music. It's invited Harvey to London for an induction day to explore where his musical talents might lead. I usually practice two to three hours a day. I wanted to learn because I just found it therapeutic and it was really satisfying to play music like this.

Ahead of his visit to the Royal Academy, Harvey has just had his first ever music lesson. His teacher said he was something special, praising his dexterity and focus. She said it was very unusual for a child to use the internet as a way to improve their playing. She said sadly lots of pupils will find hours for social media but not for practice. That report by Claire Wharton on the talented 11-year-old Harvey Goodbody. Still to come, the Spanish government cracks down on Airbnb properties as protests continue about the cost of housing So what about those who rent out rooms? We are only allowed to rent it out in my area for 10 days now that since August last year We're not allowed to rent it out more. So if someone wants a two-week holiday, we we can't let them have a two-week holiday

What links the Soviet Union, basketball, and the iconic American rock band, the Grateful Dead? You gotta be kidding. Find out in Bill Walton's The Grateful Team, the new series of amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service. It's a story where sport, rock music, and dramatic world events collide. The Lithuanian team, they were the underdogs, and we love underdogs. Now we got a show.

Search for amazing sports stories wherever you get your BBC podcasts. The European Union is planning to introduce a flat fee of 2 euros or a little more than 2 US dollars on billions of small, customs-free parcels sent directly to people's homes from China. It includes orders from online retail giants Xin and Temu. Clisia Sala has this report. Almost 5 billion small parcels were sent to the EU last year, most of them from China. None of them had to pay customs duties. This might change soon. EU officials claim many

of these items are unsafe or fake and don't compete fairly with local products. They say the sheer volume of these parcels has created a huge workload for border control staff. The revenue from the new two-euro levy would help tackle the issue. Clésia Sala France has begun a hunt for the tiny mobile telephones being used by prison convicts. French prosecutors launched Operation Prison Break, conducting searches in about 500 cells across detention centres on Tuesday.

The miniature devices are allegedly used to commit crimes from inside jail. The French supplier of the devices has been stopped from trading. According to Le Monde newspaper, the devices are nicknamed suppositories by some inmates due to their ease of concealment. Mark Lowen spoke to the BBC's Pierre-Antoine Deney. Early in the morning 500 sales, 60 detention centres were raided by all of the Paris Prosecutors Office in the search for these very, very tiny cell phones, no bigger than a cigarette lighter. You can actually go online and see the comparison side by side and it's actually quite impressive, entirely plastic and they have this reputation mark for being

virtually Invisible to metal detectors and this is the key here because as you go to let's say speak to an inmate inside a prison You will go through these mental detectors like at the airport But these cell phones will go would not be detected by the metal detectors and then once you're in that face to face discussion you can sleep it somewhere, under a napkin, under these things and that allows these different inmates to have a hold of these cell phones or sometimes it's being shipped by a drone or by different ways. They've been very creative about this over the last few years and it's yet another big operation to try and combat this rising problem.

And is this thought to be linked to the or one of the reasons why the there was a convicted drug trafficker who escaped a year ago, a chap called nicknamed The Fly. Yes, The Fly. Thought to maybe have used these phones? Yes, absolutely. So both stories are linked here. Almost a year to the day when in a very almost Hollywood style operation this man managed to escape a prison in the south of France which resulted in two prison officers being killed.

It was the first time since 1992 that a French police officer was killed as part of a prison break. time since 1992 that a French police officer was killed as part of a prison break led to a huge manhunt and nine months later he was found only this February in Romania as part of a wider operation and it was widely understood that he managed to use these cell phones as part of his breakout and as part of his ways to basically be in touch with the outside world and what we touched on, the issue of narco trafficking and the drug traffic happening in France and across Europe, these phones are known to be used to manage to have these connections

with the outside world. Pierre-Antoine Denis. Spain has launched a crackdown on Airbnb properties. It's ordering the online letting platform to remove more than 65,000 holiday rental listings in the country for breaching regulations. The clampdown comes amid a growing crisis in Spain over the lack of housing with escalating protests against rising rents and house prices. Many in the country blame the growth of short-term rentals like Airbnb for

exacerbating the problem, especially in popular tourist areas like Barcelona and Madrid. So watch the effect on those who've been renting out rooms for years. Marion has an Airbnb property in Spain. At the beginning it was very easy. The place where I own my flat is on the east coast, it's in Valencia City by the beach, and it was an area no locals wanted to live there. So it was very easy to get a license. My flat's on the third floor.

Got a license. Nobody bothered to look at it. I rented it out. No problem. Then probably about three, four years ago, they began to get very strict. They would only in my area give you a license if you were on the ground floor or you have a private entrance way like in a house. We are only allowed to rent it out in my area for 10 days now, that's since August last

year. We're not allowed to rent it out more. So if someone wants a two-week holiday, we can't let them have a two-week holiday. It can only be 10 days if they do it with a tourist license. This year, they made us all go onto a website to register with the Ministry of Interior, an anti-terrorism sort of law. So every single person who comes to say, I've got to give all the details to the Minister of Interior, including their payment methods. So including like visa details or bank details. They've done things like the banned locks, so little keys that people use to get to get into the houses. They

have to have a reception, a meet-a-greeter. This year as well they've got a new ruling coming in July. We have to be on a renter's register otherwise we can't advertise an Airbnb at all. And what's the effect of all this? Are many people selling up? I don't know if they're selling up. What happened when the 10-day rule came in last August? Everybody suddenly thought, oh, we'll start renting to digital nomads and we'll rent for a month, two months, three months. But because they've introduced the new renters register, then that's causing difficulties for them. And because people have to have huge deposits to be able to rent more than 10 days. But I do know people who have lost their licenses, their Airbnb licenses, because it was very

easy and quite lax 10 years ago, they didn't bother. And I remember many people said to me, oh, don't bother getting a license. So it's a waste of time. So some people never did and obviously now they are being chucked off the register and they won't be able to rent out their flats anymore. I spoke to our Spain correspondent Guy Hedgeco who's in Madrid and asked him why is the crackdown happening? Is it about not enough housing?

That is a huge concern. There is a feeling that rents have increased enormously in Spain. For example, the average rent has increased, but it's doubled more or less, over the last decade in Spain. And in many cases, many cities in particular and city centres, the increase has been much sharper than that. And a lot of people feel that these short-term tourist rentals are not solely responsible for this, but they are in great part responsible because certainly in city centers where you see a particularly bad housing problem, they are pushing prices up and those prices are ensuring that local people are not able to live in those city centres and they're taking accommodation away from local people. So there's a feeling that this is very much contributing to the housing crisis across Spain. And so I think that there is a growing feeling against these, among many people, that tourism and tourism apartments need to be reined in more in order to try and control the housing problem.

And yet tourism is essential to Spain's economy, isn't it? Yes, I mean, it absolutely is. It makes up around 13% of GDP and more and more tourists are coming. Last year we had 94 million foreign visitors. That makes Spain the second biggest destination or foreign tourist destination in the world after France, and it's catching up pretty soon. And there's a feeling that tourism is so important for the Spanish economy, it's difficult to get the balance right, because the moment that politicians are seen to be perhaps deterring tourists or giving the message that they shouldn't come here so much, they get a lot of criticism

from the tourism sector and from other politicians who say we need these tourists, the Spanish economy depends very heavily on tourism, we shouldn't be killing this golden goose that we have. Guy Hedgeco and finally to the world of television. In recent times we've heard about plenty of big names of the small screen being scooped up as part of the so-called content wars between the world's big streaming platforms. But are there any bigger than Big Bird? Along with Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch and the rest of the residents of the children's US TV hit Sesame Street, they're all packing up and heading to Netflix.

The future of Sesame Street's long-term home on America's PBS network was put in doubt after President Trump's administration chose to pool funding for the free-to-air channel. Anna Murray takes up the story. It's the stuff of TV legend. Sesame Street dates back to the late 1960s when its co-founders Lloyd Morissette and Joan Gans Cooney went to top US University Harvard with what was then a novel way of teaching American children, using techniques originally pioneered in advertising to help educate. A team led by developmental psychologists worked with the Muppets creator Jim Henson, introducing the world to characters like Cookie Monster. Count von Count. Num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num num to broaden the mind. No topic was taboo, no issue ignored. Race, homelessness, autism, AIDS. It's given us some great celebrity cameos as well over the years

from Johnny Cash and Stevie Wonder to Ed Sheeran and James Blunt. Oh and some great songs. crazy but you got cookie so share it maybe take one just a minute you see we'll tell you how we became Bert and Ernie Ernie! But I need to know the truth Oh triangle where are you? And now season 56 of Sesame Street will be on our screens later this year, a date to be confirmed along with 90 hours of previous episodes as well. So what can we expect more than half a century on? Well we're promised more exploration of the Sesame Street neighborhood

and a look inside the famous two-story house at 123 Sesame Street. We're also told we can expect fan favorites like Elmo's World and Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck. Despite concerns about its future, it seems like for now we can still get to Sesame Street. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? How to get to Sesame Street How to get to Sesame Street How to get to Sesame Street That report by Anna Murray on Sesame Street And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Just use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Sid Dundon, the producers were Liam McShepard and Peter Goffin and the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. until next time, bye-bye. Walton's The Grateful Team, the new series of amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service. It's a story where sport, rock music and dramatic world events collide. The Lithuanian team, they were the underdogs and we love underdogs. Now we got a show.

Search for amazing sports stories wherever you get your BBC podcasts.