Iranian residents tell BBC about US and Israeli bombardment

Summary

Global News Podcast – March 11, 2026

Episode Title: Iranian residents tell BBC about US and Israeli bombardment
Host: Celia Hatton (BBC World Service)
Theme: Firsthand accounts of Iranian civilians under US-Israeli bombardment, military and diplomatic developments, economic impacts, sports and migration, as well as updates from other global hotspots.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the ongoing conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran, focusing particularly on the experience of Iranian civilians living through sustained bombardment. It also examines regional impacts on infrastructure and commerce, notably shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and provides updates on international ramifications, such as the saga of Iran’s women’s football team in Australia. The program concludes with reporting from other world regions, including violence in the West Bank, humanitarian challenges in Gaza, renewed travel connections between China and North Korea, and a segment on the distinction between AI-generated and human-authored books.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life under Bombardment in Iran

Segment: 01:08–06:48

• Interviews with Iranian Residents:

  • Civilians in Tehran recount nights under heavy bombardment, frequent explosions, and an atmosphere of pervasive fear.
  • Communications are severely restricted due to an intense and prolonged internet blackout.

• Diverging Civilian Attitudes:

  • Some Iranians support regime change, viewing foreign intervention as preferable to ongoing repression. One (voiced for safety) said:
    • “Even if it takes a few weeks now, it is still better than spending a lifetime living with this system.” (03:39)
  • Others express weariness and a loss of hope:
    • “I'm feeling terrible. They hit a street near us today. I just want to be able to sleep tonight. Our youth has been wasted.” (04:01)
  • Fear prevails even among those supportive of change.
    • “The sole purpose that we actually started a civil movement for freedom is not to be coerced to do anything.” (04:25)

• Official Crackdown:

  • Iranian authorities are issuing threats via SMS and on the streets, treating potential protesters as “the enemy” and deploying armed forces in residential areas.
  • Residents report feeling like hostages, sleeping under their beds in absence of shelters or warning sirens.

• Casualties:

  • Iranian officials claim over 1,300 civilians have died since bombardment began, a figure disputed by the US and Israel, who both deny deliberately targeting civilians.

2. International Military and Political Developments

Segment: 06:48–10:25

• Iranian Diplomatic Response:

  • UN Ambassador Amir Syed Iravani accuses the US and Israel of deliberately targeting civilian sites and violating international law:
    • “They show no respect for international law and no restraint in committing these crimes.” (06:12)

• Allied Military Claims:

  • Israel boasts of “waves of attacks” on Tehran and Hezbollah targets in Beirut; the US highlights over 5,000 “enemy targets” struck under “Operation Epic Fury.” The aim: destroy Iran’s missile capacity, destabilize militant proxies, and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
  • “America's warriors are winning this important fight at an even faster pace than we anticipated.” – Caroline Levitt, White House Press Secretary (07:19)

• US Military Actions:

  • Destruction of 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz, responding to rumors of Iranian mining activities in a critical oil transport corridor.

• Uncertainty Over War’s End:

  • Despite claims by President Trump that the war might soon end, commentators note ambiguous signals and a reduced likelihood of an American-friendly regime after Mutaba Khomeini replaces his father as Iran’s Supreme Leader.
  • “It’s no clearer. … His administration clearly doesn’t want a prolonged conflict, especially given the rise in petrol prices.” – David Willis, North America Correspondent (09:23)

3. Economic Ramifications: Strait of Hormuz Shipping Impact

Segment: 10:25–14:16

• Maersk CEO Vincent Clerg’s Insights:
  • Describes a cascading crisis for global shipping: initial focus on the safety of staff, then managing stranded cargo (including perishables) due to Strait closure, and finally, reckoning with an “important dislocation in the energy markets.”
  • “As long as there are significant drone capabilities, no assurance of a truce, then it’s very hard for us to put our colleagues and our ship in harm’s way.” (11:18)
  • Expresses skepticism about military escorts as a long-term solution, underlying the need to restore peaceful navigation through diplomatic means.

4. Iranian Women’s Footballers Seek Asylum

Segment: 14:16–19:11

• Defiance and Fallout:

  • Iranian women’s team refused to sing the national anthem at the Asian Cup in Australia, were labeled traitors by their government, and some chose not to return for fear of reprisal.
  • Australian authorities emphasized giving these women real, informed choice and dignity in the asylum process.

• Firsthand Challenges:

  • Migration experts describe the women’s fear and unfamiliarity with supportive police:
    • “They didn’t understand this concept of police and government being on your side. … There was a real distrust of authorities, and they were really scared.” (15:48)
  • Humanitarian visas issued; pathways to permanent residency now available for most, but concern lingers for those returning to Iran.
  • “I really fear and feel deeply sad for these women. It must be enormously difficult to make that call about what you do.” (18:03)

5. Rapid Updates from the Middle East and East Asia

Segment: 21:45–28:33

a. West Bank & Gaza

• Settler attacks against Palestinians intensifying, with at least six fatalities since the war’s outbreak.
• Israeli security forces criticized for limited intervention; restrictions on Palestinian police.
• “The people who have been killed in the last week, they're all farmers, villagers. … They’ve just been attacked in their own homes or fields.” – Issam Ikir Mahoui (22:38)
• Humanitarian situation in Gaza dire, with heavy restrictions on aid entry and operations.

b. China–North Korea Train Service Resumes

• Gradual reopening, with initial focus on business travel only. Chinese tourism is expected to gradually recover, critical for North Korea’s economy, now more dependent on Russia than China for strategic partnerships since the Ukraine war.

6. The Debate over AI-Generated Books

Segment: 28:33–31:03

• Authors Push for ‘Human’ Book Labels:
  • The Society of Authors in Britain launches a “human author” logo in response to the rise of AI-generated works (estimated 10% of Amazon self-published books).
  • Novelist Tracy Chevalier explains:
    • “We feel we need to do something because the AI generated books out there … don’t legally have to be labeled.” (29:05)
    • Uses AI for research but insists on “the value of the human brain in telling stories.”
    • “There’s something about the way we write what we write that I have a hard time believing AI will ever replicate.” (29:49)
    • “You can feel it when you read something that’s really written by a real person as opposed to a machine.” (30:53)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On War Fatigue and Civilian Despair:
  • “Our youth has been wasted.” (04:01, Iranian resident)
• On Loss of Trust and Sense of Coercion:
  • “I do not want to be coerced to leave my city, even whether it be by the state or the foreign power.” (04:25, Iranian resident)
• On International Law:
  • “They are deliberately and discriminately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure across my country.” (06:12, Iranian Ambassador to the UN)
• On Economic Ripples:
  • “…we are seeing important dislocation in the energy markets and we are obviously an energy intensive industry.” (12:13, Vincent Clerg, Maersk CEO)
• On Human Dignity for Iranian Footballers:
  • “The choice and the dignity of that decision is yours.” (15:26, Australian Home Affairs Minister)
• On the Limits of AI in Art:
  • “It’s impossible to put into words what it is to be human, but you can feel it when you read something that’s written by a real person as opposed to a machine.” (30:53, Tracy Chevalier)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:08 – Host introduction; overview of main stories.
• 03:39 – Firsthand account of living through nightly bombardment in Tehran.
• 06:12 – Iranian Ambassador’s statement at UN.
• 07:19 – White House lists objectives and claims military successes.
• 09:23 – Discussion of mixed US messaging and unclear war timeline.
• 11:18 – Maersk CEO explains impact on global shipping.
• 14:16 – Iran’s women’s football team’s asylum dilemma.
• 21:45 – Israeli settler violence in West Bank and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
• 26:26 – China–North Korea rail link resumes.
• 28:33 – Authors respond to proliferation of AI-generated books.

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Additional Notes

• Episode reflects a somber, urgent tone, mirroring the gravity of events in Iran and the broader Middle East.
• Reporting is factual, interspersed with poignant, human-focused testimonies, typical of BBC’s global news style.
• Later segments broaden the lens, emphasizing interconnectedness between conflict, commerce, and culture worldwide.

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For further details or specific segment listening, refer to the provided timestamps.

Transcript

[Narrator/Reporter]

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[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

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[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton and in the early hours of Wednesday, March 11, these are our main stories. People in Iran tell the BBC what it's like to live under bombardment from the United States and Israel. Iran's ambassador to the UN says civilians are being deliberately targeted, an accusation the Americans and the Israelis deny. Our correspondent tells us what the US Says it's accomplished in its strikes on Iran in the last 24 hours. Also in this podcast, we hear from the CEO of one of the world's biggest shipping companies about why he's not sending any of his vessels to through the Strait of Hormuz.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

As long as there are significant drone capabilities, no assurance of a truce, then it's very hard for us to put our colleagues and our ship in harm's way.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Just over 24 hours since the US President said his country's war with Iran was going to end very soon. That war is continuing to have very real and deadly consequences for millions of people across the region, and that includes people inside Iran. The US and Israel are continuing their assaults on targets there. We'll hear more from our correspondent in the US about that in just a moment. But first, communications networks with Iran are still patchy. We're getting more information from people living there. This report is from Patty Maguire.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A family that live close by to me in London is Iranian. I saw the mother the other day and asked how they are and how their relatives are in Iran. You know there's an Internet blackout, she said. So we hear Very little. There was courage in her tone and a hint of fear in her eyes. But the other day, she continued, one relative did manage to get through on a phone for just one minute. He told us quickly that everyone is okay. Everyone is okay. Everyone is okay. Internet monitoring organizations are calling this one of the tightest and most prolonged Internet blackouts on record. But still, some Iranians are finding ways to reach the outside world. Several have managed to get in touch with BBC Pershing. This woman, whose words have been voiced in English to protect her identity, described a recent heavy bombardment in Tehran. She appears to support the goal of regime change that President Trump initially set out as his justification for going to war.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

There was a strange white light in the sky last night. It seemed different from the nights before when they hit. There were some fluctuations. Every few hours there are explosions. But even if it takes a few weeks now, it is still better than spending a lifetime living with this system.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This man, also voiced in English, seemed to have lost faith in any efforts to change the system.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

I'm feeling terrible. They hit a street near us today. I just want to be able to sleep tonight. I've had a horrible day. Our youth has been wasted.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Some of the people who may have supported the anti government protests earlier this year do appear to have serious concerns about the American and Israeli bombing campaign, even if they would like to see regime change. This man is in Tehran.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

I do not really want to leave the city. I love. The sole purpose that we actually started a civil movement for freedom is not to be coerced to do anything. And I do not want to be coerced to leave my city, even whether

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

it be by the state or the foreign power.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Despite the blackout, the official channels do remain open, both with Iranians and the outside world. In the last few hours, the Iranian police chief has warned on state TV that any potential protesters on the streets will be treated as the enemy. All our forces also have their fingers on the trigger, he said. That warning chimes with one British Iranian woman with family in Tehran and Isfahan. She told BBC, your Voice that people are constantly being sent messages on their phones with similar warnings. She said a friend in Tehran told

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

her every night, Revolutionary Guards pass through

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

the streets on trucks with loudspeakers.

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

In the city, armed forces are standing

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

shoulder to shoulder just watching people. We're like hostages here and we can't

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

do anything but wait.

[David Willis (North America Correspondent)]

There are no shelters or sirens in Tehran.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

People are sleeping under their beds all

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

night in case there's a strike nearby.

[Narrator/Reporter]

One thing remains clear as this war approaches the end of its second week. The government's grip has not loosened. Iranian officials say more than 1,300 people have been killed as the bombardments continued. Daily life in Iran is only getting more difficult.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Paddy Maguire. Paddy spoke there of the Iranian government. One of its representatives on the international stage is Amir Syed Iravani, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations. He's accused the US And Israel of deliberately targeting civilians.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

The United States and Israeli regime continue their massive attack against Iran and the Iranian people without pause, day and night. They are deliberately and discriminately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure across my country. They show no respect for international law and no restraint in committing these crimes. Densely populated residential area and critical civilian infrastructure are deliberately targeted. These horrific crimes have resulted in the martyrdom of more than 1,300 civilians.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Both the United States and Israel insist they do not intentionally aim at civilians. Israel has said it's begun what it calls waves of attacks on Tehran and also on Beirut, targeting the Tehran backed group Hezbollah. The US for its part, says it's destroyed 16 Iranian mine laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. Caroline Levitt is the White House Press Secretary. Ten days in this campaign has been a resounding success thus far. And America's warriors are winning this important

[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

fight at an even faster pace than we anticipated. More than 5,000 enemy targets have been struck so far. The stated objectives for Operation Epic Fury remain the same. Destroy the terrorist regime's ballistic missiles, raze

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

their Iranian missile industry to the ground,

[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

ensure their terrorist proxies can no longer

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

destabilize the regional, and ensure that Iran

[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

never obtains a nuclear weapon.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Our North America correspondent, David Willis, told me more about what the US said it had accomplished in the last 24 hours.

[David Willis (North America Correspondent)]

Well, the US Central Command Celia, says that American Navy ships have destroyed 16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz. And it posted video footage of several boats being hit by projectiles and exploding. It seems that this has stemmed from US Media outlets reporting that Iran had either started or was on the verge of mining the Strait of Hormuz, which of course is that key supply route through which about 20% of the world's oil exports pass. That prompted President Trump to warn of, as he put it, unprecedented military consequences if Iran mined the area, although his message also contained the caveat that his administration had no reports of it attempting to do so at that time. And that was taken as an attempt, I think, to both reassure the financial markets, which have shown a lot of concern over the possible impact on the global energy supply of the conflict in Iran, that America will deal with this matter, whilst at the same time not wanting to spook the financial markets into thinking that there might be mines in that area, leading to disruption of key supplies.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

David, the US Secretary of Defense, said earlier that Tuesday's attacks would be the most intense yet. So does that mean the timeline for the end of this war is no clearer?

[David Willis (North America Correspondent)]

It's no clearer. And yesterday we received that mixed messaging, didn't we, from the White House, with President Trump saying that the war could end soon, is pretty well complete, but could go on further, and his administration clearly doesn't want a prolonged conflict, especially given the rise in petrol prices that we're seeing here in the United States already. With the potential, of course, for wider economic fallout. He's looking for an off ramp, it would appear. But the appointment of Mutaba Khomeini, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran's new supreme leader would appear to have closed the option of having an American friendly leader in Iran. And it's thought that as long as Iran continues to attack countries in the region and Israel still wants to strike on Iranian targets, unlikely that the US would easily be able to withdraw from its conflict with Iran.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Our North America correspondent, David Willis. The most immediate economic effect of the war has come from the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that passes next to Iran. As David mentioned, around a fifth of the world's oil normally travels along the straight, as well as many other goods. President Trump has suggested he could deploy US Naval vessels to protect commercial shipping, but that doesn't yet appear to have happened. Adding to the confusion, the US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, posted a note on social media saying an oil tanker had been escorted through. His post was quickly deleted. So how has this war affected companies that rely on the Strait of Hormuz? Our business reporter, Jonathan Josephs, spoke to Vincent Clerg, the CEO of the Danish container shipping company Maersk.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

There's no doubt that the last 10 days have had a profound impact on our business. And I can break it down in three waves. The first one obviously started already on Saturday when we realized that this war had started and it was about securing our colleagues, securing our assets, securing our facilities across the region. The second wave, of course, is with the closing of the Strait of Hormuz was to figure out what is all the cargo in transit, what is going to happen to it. And we do about 40,000 containers in and out of the Gulf every week. So this is going to pile up very fast. And there is very limited areas where you can stage that much cargo. You have a lot of perishable goods, foodstuff that absolutely needs to move or risks getting spoiled. So you go into a lot of the contingency. Then the third wave is the one that we are starting to deal with right now. And is that for the first time in a very long time, at least in living memory, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. And it means that we are seeing important dislocation in the energy markets and we are obviously an energy intensive industry. We need a lot of oil to power our network. Just lay out the dangers for us. If some of your ships did try to navigate these passages, what is it that you are concerned about? With the experience that we have had in the Red Sea with the attack by drones from the Houthis towards international transits there, we have learned an important lesson, which is that you don't need very sophisticated naval capabilities. You need to have sufficient drones that you can try to overwhelm the defence that those ships can have from the escorts that they might have. And so for us, the concern, the main concern is the safety of our crews, is the safety of our assets. And as long as there are significant drone capabilities, no assurance of a truce, then it's very hard for us to put our colleagues and our ship in harm's way and risk having an attack be successful and create damage or loss of life in the process. Another option that's being discussed by President Trump and President Macron is the idea that there could be some kind of Navy escort to get ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Is that something that you would welcome? Do you think it's even a feasible idea? I'm not a military person, so I don't know how feasible it is, but I think this is a possibility. Certainly that would contribute to opening up trade again. We would need, I guess, significant escorts and significant capacity from the Navy in order to guarantee safety through the Strait of Hormuz. I have personally a hard time seeing, though, that this is the permanent solution to the situation, because the traffic is very important, the Strait is very narrow, and it seems like something that can provide temporary relief, maybe a long, temporary relief, but that ultimately we need to get back to something where freedom of navigation and peaceful navigation is restored. And that will depend on some kind of deal between the two sides in that war.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Vincent Clark, speaking to Jonathan Josephs. And now an update on the dramatic events surrounding Iran's women's football team, who were playing a tournament in Australia. We've been hearing more from the Australian authorities about the decisions made by some team members to stay in Australia and to go into exile. All the team's players refused to sing the Iranian national anthem at the start of the tournament, the Asian cup, and for that, they were labeled traitors by Tehran, raising fears they would be punished when they flew back to Iran. Seven team members had decided to stay in Australia, though we learned just before recording this podcast that one of those individuals has now changed her mind and has opted to return to Iran. The rest of the delegation has already left Sydney. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said a majority of them had been given the option to stay. This was his message.

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

What we wanted to make sure of

[David Willis (North America Correspondent)]

was that sometimes, possibly for the first

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

time, these individuals were meeting a government

[David Willis (North America Correspondent)]

that said, the choice is up to you, and here is the opportunity if

[Vincent Clerg (Maersk CEO) / Grainger Advertiser]

you want to take it. But the choice and the dignity of that decision is yours.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Nassim Hadim is from ABC News in Australia, and she's been following how the Iranian diaspora, migration officials and authorities have been trying to ensure the team members were given a real choice on whether to stay or go.

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

I think one of the really powerful things that came out in my conversation with a migration agent who actually what happened was they got them in a secret room. She was able to speak to them in Farsi and basically tell them about the visa process. And one of the very powerful things she said was that these women were even scared about, why are police here? They didn't understand this concept of police and government being on your side. Because, of course, they come from a regime where the police and government arrest people, torture people, execute people. So they. There was. There's a real distrust of authorities, and they were really scared. They didn't know what all this meant. And so. So just someone there being able to explain to them, look, this is the process. They're here to help you. They're not here to attack you.

[Tracy Chevalier (Novelist)]

A lot of.

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

They had a lot of questions like, what does this mean for my family? What does this mean for my belongings? And let's not forget, these girls are young, Celia. They're in their 20s. This is all new to them. So it was really about being able to give them independent advice. And some of them spoke to their families, you know, in making that decision. Once they made that decision, then the Australian authorities got involved, and pretty quickly those humanitarian visas were issued.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

So what's happening now to the women who've left the team and are staying in Australia?

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

The process is basically the humanitarian visas have been issued, a 12 month visa and then that gives them a pathway to permanent residency. And then, I mean, I imagine based on previous kind of applications in this form that they'd be working with them to help them settle now. You know, various things that you need when you're in another country, right? Housing, education, English, you know, all these sorts of things.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

One poignant detail that came out of the minister's interaction with journalists that news conference was the fact that the plane actually waited for some time because there was one person who was really wrestling with the decision as to whether to stay in Australia or whether to go back to Iran. What about the ones who bordered that flight out of Sydney? What, what awaits them when they land in Iran?

[Reporter/Analyst (possibly migration or human rights expert)]

Oh, Celia, I don't know. I. I mean, I suspect, like, it's a really difficult decision, isn't it? Like if you stay, you potentially risk your family being attacked. God knows what they do to these families. We can only go of what the regime itself, the Iranian state TV broadcasters have been saying. So we knew days ago there was an Iranian state TV broadcast where they basically said, called them traitors for not singing the national anthem at the first match and that wartime, these traitors need to be dealt with harshly. We know that this regime has a history, it has form in going after arresting athletes, in harassing their families. Even in the lead up to these athletes coming to Australia, there was stories from Diaspora media, you know, from Iran International and others, talking about how the athletes and their families were even being threatened before they came here. So what happens? I don't know. I only just. I really fear and feel deeply sad for these women. It must be enormously difficult to make that call about what you do.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Nassim Hadim from ABC News Australia. Still to come in this podcast, why some people think it's important to distinguish between novels written by humans and those generated by AI.

[Tracy Chevalier (Novelist)]

There's something about the way we write what we write that I have a hard time believing AI will ever replicate.

[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

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[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

This is the Global News Podcast. So far we've focused this edition on the US Israel war on Iran. But while that war is playing out, violence is intensifying in another part of the region. The number of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West bank is rising. At least six Palestinians have been shot dead by settlers since the wider war began 11 days ago. Israel's military has said there's zero tolerance for civilians who take the law into their own hands, and those responsible for the shootings in the occupied territory will be brought to justice. That said, more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the west bank since the October 7 attacks. Issam Ikir Maoui from BBC Arabic told Janat Jalia more about what was happening in the West Bank.

[Issam Ikir Mahoui (BBC Arabic Correspondent)]

Well, the attacks mainly happen against villages and the perpetrators come from the neighboring settlements. So they attack olive groves, they cut down trees, they cut off water pipes, electricity, attack people in their own homes, set fire to vehicles, set fire to homes, beat up women, children, elderly, anyone they can find. And normally when these attacks happen, the settlers, according to eyewitnesses, the settler will be in large groups, armed, some of them masked, some of them wearing army uniform, which shows that they're reservists in the Israeli army. But at the same time, they live in these settlements and they take part in these attacks. So they take various sort of shapes and forms. The people who have been killed in the last week, they're all farmers, villagers. So none of them is like armed people or anything like that. They've just been attacked in their own homes or fields or that kind of thing.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

So where are the security services in all this, both Palestinian and Israeli?

[Issam Ikir Mahoui (BBC Arabic Correspondent)]

Well, it looks like the Palestinian security services are nowhere to be seen. And the reason for that is because the Israelis put too much restrictions on the movement of the Palestinian police. They're not allowed to operate, they're not allowed to go to some of these areas. At the same time, the Israeli army was supposed to be taking care of the security side, often seen as watching from afar. There have been warnings, as we said, by some of the Israeli officers and officials from the increasing violence by the settlers. However, the settlers feel emboldened by the support they get from people in the Israeli government itself, like Smutrich and Bengvir, who've been encouraging settlers to carry out what they call security duties on behalf of the State of Israel.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

And just tell us what the situation is right now in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are still living in tents. Is aid getting in for them?

[Issam Ikir Mahoui (BBC Arabic Correspondent)]

Well, the Palestinians, the local Palestinians, and the international agencies who have some kind of presence in the Gaza Strip speak of that. Since the beginning of this war, AIDS almost come to a halt while the Israelis insist that aid is still getting in. But it's very difficult to verify anything because at the moment the Gaza Strip is a closed area. No one can get in or out. International journalists, International journalists organizations. Well, I mean, the Israelis have been putting a lot of pressure on aid agencies. I think there were recently about 34 organizations between aid agencies and NGOs and things like that who have been told that they could not operate anymore. So there is a lot of restriction and obstacles before these organizations.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Issam Ikir Mahoui from BBC Arabic and one thing to add. Israeli officials have said that existing supplies inside Gaza are expected to suffice for a while and that some shipments had been halted for security reasons amid the war with Iran. To East Asia. Now, passenger trains between China and North Korea, scheduled to resume on Thursday for the first time since 2020, when they were stopped because of COVID tourism, used to be a big money maker for North Korea, which is largely closed off and diplomatically Isolated. It's been slow to open up again, even after the pandemic ended. So how frequently will the trains run? Here's Mickey Bristow.

[Mickey Bristow (East Asia Correspondent)]

Initially there'll be four trains a week between Beijing, the capital of China, and Pyongyang. There'll also be daily trains between Dandong, that's a city, the Chinese side of the border with North Korea, daily trains between Dandong and Pyongyang. But as you indicated there, the opening up is going to go very, very slowly. So initially only people who have business visas will be allowed to go into North Korea. But presumably that will change in the coming months when they'll, they'll open up to general tourists from China.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

So what can visitors expect to do and see inside North Korea?

[Mickey Bristow (East Asia Correspondent)]

Yeah, it's a good question because North Korea is not just isolated from the rest of the world. When you go inside North Korea, you can't just wander around anywhere. I went 15 years ago and we had to go just to Pyongyang to a certain hotel and certain restaurants, all expensive by the way, because foreign tourism is a big money earner for North Korea. You go around Pyongyang, we had to go with minders or guides, depending on your point of view, and to certain places we went to a mass dance performance, a military parade, a flower show. Interestingly, Chinese people like to go for nostalgic reasons. A friend told me a little while ago, because China used to be light, not closed off, communist, not developed. And so they go to have a look at what their country used to look like some time ago.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Such an interesting point. I mean, China used to be North Korea's most important supporter, but it doesn't need it quite as much now, does it?

[Mickey Bristow (East Asia Correspondent)]

It doesn't. Since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's been isolated itself and it's looked for friends. So it's relied on North Korea to supply it with ammunition, weapons, even soldiers fighting in the war in Ukraine there and in North Korea's got food, money, technical help, that kind of thing. So it doesn't need China quite as much as it used to do. But still China is North Korea's biggest trading partner. That's something that the North Koreans can't ignore. And before the pandemic, Chinese visitors used to be the most numerous there. So presumably they want them to come back, start spending money again.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Mickey Bristow and last, here's a question. How do you know the book you're reading wasn't written by artificial intelligence? AI generated books are flooding the marketplace and now human writers are taking a stand. The Society of Authors in Britain has designed a logo which its members can download and display on the COVID of their works to show they were conceived by mind, not machine. The novelist Tracy Chevalier told Anna Foster why she wants to put that logo on her books.

[Tracy Chevalier (Novelist)]

What we're trying to do is give readers and consumers information so that the human author logo will be placed on books so that readers can make that decision themselves. We're trying to aim for transparency. This is actually an initiative that's more about readers than it is about authors. I mean, we feel we need to do something because the AI generated books out there at the moment, and there's an estimate there's about 10% of self published books on Amazon are AI generated. They don't legally have to be labeled. And since you don't know that, we're trying to flip it and say, well, if they're not going to label it AI generated, then we are going to label ours human authored.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Do you use Tracey AI at all for research? Obviously historical fiction is your thing. There's a lot of research involved in that. Have you tried it to see if it helps, if it speeds anything up?

[Tracy Chevalier (Novelist)]

Yes, I do use it for research and I make no bones about that. I look at it as a research assistant for historical research. If it's a very specific question, I'll ask it something to find it. It'll bring back stuff and I always check the sources because it lists where it got this information from. Because you have to dig down, because sometimes what it gives you is information that has itself been AI generated and isn't necessarily true. So you have to look, you have to keep digging till you find the right source. But what I don't do is use AI to create my plots, to write any of my words. And it's, in a way it's to remind readers of the value of the human brain and telling stories. There's something about the way we write what we write that I have a hard time believing AR will ever replicate.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

It's almost.

[Tracy Chevalier (Novelist)]

It's impossible to put into words what it is to be human, but you can feel it when you read something that's really written by a real person as opposed to a machine.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

Tracy Chevalier talking to Anna Foster. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email [e-mail] you can also find us on X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the Global Story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Derek Clark. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time. Goodbye.

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This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline? For the show from the BBC, this is the Interface, the show that explores

[Narrator/Reporter]

how tech is rewiring your week and your world.

[Grainger Advertiser / Caroline Levitt (White House Press Secretary)]

This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews.

[Celia Hatton (BBC Global News Podcast Host)]

It's about what technology is actually doing

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to your work and your politics, your

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everyday life and all the bizarre ways people are using the Internet.

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Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.