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Global News Podcast
Israeli officials deny that famine is taking hold in Gaza
00:27:19
Reports of recent deaths by malnutrition
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Valerie Sanderson
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. People choose Morton Buildings to build a variety of buildings for their property any time of year because they know Morton Buildings are built stronger, last longer and look better. If you need a garage, a stall barn or a storage building for an rv, boat or other vehicles, a shop for your farm hobbies or car restoration projects or anything in between, Morton can create a building for you that's attractive, easy to maintain and dependable enough to stand the test of time. Just visit MortonBuildings.com today to find out more. They use quality materials and expert craftsmen with an industry leading warranty to ensure your structure is enjoyed by generations to come. Morton buildings is 100% employee owned with thousands of satisfied customers. That means they're the industry leader you can trust. To get started on your next building project. Visit mortonbuildings.com don't delay. Construction schedules are filling up fast, so now's the time to start planning your building project with Morton. That's MortonBuildings.com Sonesta Travel Pass is the most rewarding way to travel. Sign up@sonesta.com for instant savings, bonus points and perks like early check in and late checkout, room upgrades and free stays. Choose from 1100 hotels across 13 brands and unlock their best rates when you book with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sonesta.com that's sinesta.com terms and conditions apply. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Wednesday, 23rd July, these are our main stories. It's Israeli officials have denied that famine is taking hold in Gaza, but have admitted there's been a drop in food aid reaching Palestinians. The head of the United nations has urged countries and major tech firms to speed up the switch to renewable energy. In football, the defending European women's champions, England, have beaten Italy to reach the final. Also in this podcast, when we first started playing Black Sabbath, people would scream, run out. Chicks would run out. You know, people would get scared. The British heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne has died weeks after reuniting with his Black Sabbath bandmates for a farewell concert. As we record this podcast, Israel has acknowledged there's been a significant drop in the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza, but insists the military has not identified famine in the territory. Israel blames UN agencies for not collecting truckloads of food waiting at entrances to the Gaza Strip. The UN has repeatedly accused the Israelis of refusing to give it Authorization to distribute the aid. Israeli officials insisted an assertion by the Hamas run Health Ministry that more than 30 people had died of malnutrition in the past three days was propaganda. Ghada Al Kurd is a local journalist in Gaza City. She described the food situation where she is. People here, they are really starving and dying and there is nothing to be eaten Here in Gaza today I eat like a small piece of bread. Maybe I lost more than 10kg for now. I can see my bones, I can see my chest bones, my shoulder, my backbone also. I wasn't like this before, especially in the last two weeks. In the last three weeks I feel this. The thing that keep me surviving is the water, which is polluted also. Meanwhile, the Israeli army is continuing its ground operation targeting the city of Deirballa, where the main hub for humanitarian efforts is based. The World Health Organization says several of its facilities have been hit and its main warehouse is now not functional. The Israeli government doesn't allow international journalists into Gaza, so the BBC works with trusted freelancers who live there. A correspondent in Jerusalem, Emenada, compiled this report. In Gaza, the grip of hunger is growing rapidly and the signs of starvation are becoming clearer. With hospitals overwhelmed and medical supplies running out, these families have been able to secure desperately needed treatment for their children who are in the direst of states. At the Patient's Friend Benevolent hospital is Noora. She lives in a tent with her son and daughter Aisha, 20 months old. She has been motionless for four days. She stopped moving and talking. She went down from 10 kg to 8. She lost 2 kilos in just four days. She doesn't want to wake up or play and I have no food for her. She asks for food but I cannot find any. Noura's partner was killed in the war. Now she says she has no source of income. Hunger here is a very difficult thing. You wait all day long in the hope you get something small to eat, but you get nothing. You drink a glass of water with salt in it in order to get through the day. But doctors here say they're just treating the symptoms of a wider hunger crisis where even breastfeeding mothers are among those suffering. But now if there is no feeding for the mother, from where the milk will come to the mother, no milk so long, no feeding, meaning the baby, even below six months they will completely suffer. Number of the death will be increased. What is the benefit of the medicine if the food is not available? The new Israel backed food distribution system has been described by one UN official as a death trap. And Israel imposes sharp restrictions on products entering Gaza. Israel, which controls Gaza's crossings, has insisted that it acts in accordance with international law and that there are no restrictions on the entry of aid. But now the World Food Program says one in three people here are not eating for days. At this market in Gaza City today, the stalls are sparse and the traders struggle to find products for even themselves. We don't see flour, food supplies or even vegetables. And if we do see any of these things, the prices are crazy. They are extremely expensive. I'm just like anybody else. I can't live under these circumstances. Each day the markets become even barer and the malnutrition clinics more full. The specter of man made starvation in Gaza is becoming more real. Emil Nada in Jerusalem. Now for a closer look at what's been happening in Gaza since Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel on 7 October in 2023. With his analysis of whether war crimes are being committed in the territory, here's our international editor, Jeremy Boone. Hamas committed a series of war crimes in the attacks it launched on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians. Hamas took 251 hostages, of which perhaps 20 still held inside Gaza are believed to be alive. There is clear evidence that Israel since then has committed a series of war crimes. Israel's list includes the deliberate starvation of Gaza's civilians, the failure to protect them during military operations in which Israeli forces killed tens of thousands of innocents, and the wanton destruction of entire towns in a manner that is not proportionate to the military risk Israel faces. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister are the subject of arrest warrants for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court. They insist on their innocence. Israel has also condemned a legal process at the International Court of Justice, alleging that it is committing genocide side against Palestinians. Israel denies the accusations and claims they are anti Semitic. Blood libels. The Israelis are running out of friends. The UK and other Western governments this week condemned the actions of Israel as well as Hamas, saying the suffering of civilians in Gaza had reached new depths. Jeremy Bowen Next to Syria and as we record this podcast, the ceasefire in the province of Sueda appears to be holding for now. But last week more than 1200 people were killed in sectarian clashes between Bedouin tribes and the Druze community. Witnesses say government forces were also involved. Ahmed Lease correspondent John Donison has now reached Sweda and sent us this report which listeners may find distressing. Driving past burnt out shops and businesses, we headed straight for the main hospital. The first thing that hit me was the smell here outside the hospital. You've got decomposing bodies lined up in the car park. The stench is absolutely horrendous. Everyone here, the doctors, the nurses, they say it was the Syrian government forces who did it. Outside the hospital I met Osama Malak, an English teacher. They are criminals, they are monsters. We want to punish them severely. Kness Abu Motab said it was the Druze who had been deliberately targeted. What is the crime for being minority in a democratic country? Before we left the hospital we came across a Little Druze girl, 8 year old Hala Al Khattib. Hala's face was bloodied and bandaged. She appeared to have lost an eye. She told me gunman had come to her house and shot her as she hid in a wardrobe. Hala doesn't know it yet, but both her parents are dead. John Donison in Syria the United States has announced that it's pulling out of UNESCO, the United nations culture and education agency. The U.S. state Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce explained the decision at a news conference. Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States. UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outside focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America first foreign policy. She also accused the organization of being biased against Israel. In a statement, the head of UNESCO, Audrey Azulli, said the US Withdrawal was regrettable but expected. The US Decision will take effect at the end of next year. As Tom Bateman reports, UNESCO was founded in 1945 to boost educational, scientific and cultural understanding between nations. It is designated and helped protect World Heritage sites, including the pyramids of Egypt and the Grand Canyon in the United States, and also supports culture and education in conflict, as well as girls education. The Trump administration says UNESCO supports woke divisive cultural and social causes, criticizing it for supporting sustainable development goals and accusing it of anti Israel rhetoric after it admitted Palestine as member state. Tom Bateman it's not often the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres strikes an optimistic note on the subject of climate change. But there was definitely an upbeat tone when he announced that the world is on the cusp of a shift to renewable energy, with the era of fossil fuels coming to an end. He called on governments to prepare sweeping new plans ahead of the COP30 climate summit in November. In an address at the United nations, the Secretary General called on big technology companies to commit to sourcing 100% of their electricity Demands from clean energy. The future is being built in the cloud. It must be powered by the sun, the wind, and the promise of a better world. The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It's a fact. No government, no industry, no special interest can stop it. Our climate reporter, Mark Poynting, told us more about what Mr. Guterres had said. We've heard Gutierrez talking about the opportunities of clean energy, fossil fuels running out of road, and clean energy really being the future. So we've seen record investment in clean energy around the world, about $2 trillion last year, and clearly that's a big driver of why we're seeing huge increases in things like solar and wind. What Guterres also says, though, is that the costs are falling for clean energy, partly thanks to this investment, and so it's becoming the most economically sensible option in many cases. He also draws the comparison to really high levels of subsidies for fossil fuels that he says have created an uneven playing field. But now we're beginning to see huge investment in clean energy. But there are problems in financing, aren't there? I mean, for example, Africa, home to 60% of the world's best solar resources. It's getting very little investment, clean energy investment, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. He draws that comparison to the huge amounts of solar resources, as you say, that Africa has, of course, a really, really sunny continent, but he says Africa is getting just 2% of global clean energy investment. So that's a huge divide. And he says that that really needs to turn around and see much more investment into places like Africa and other developing countries in order to fund renewables in those places, which can produce electricity really, really cheaply when they're in place, but do have these higher upfront costs. So he says that this is really key if we're to see a rollout of clean energy all around the world and not just in richer countries, which is, of course, important if we're going to fight climate change effectively. And he also said, didn't he, that the greatest threat to energy security is fossil fuels? He really kind of draws attention to not just the. What he sees as the opportunities of renewables, but also the dangers of fossil fuels. So he draws attention to the spikes in energy prices that I'm sure many people will remember over 2022 and 2023, during the Russia Ukraine war, when the price of oil and gas went up really quite significantly, and people felt that in their energy bills and in their pockets. So he says that renewables should allow a future where prices are much more stable rather than relying on foreign imports of oil and gas. Mark Pointing Ozzy Osbourne, the frontman of the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, has died at the age of 76. In a statement, his family said he'd passed away surrounded by love. His death comes just weeks after he reunited with his bandmates, performing a farewell concert in his home city of Birmingham in central England. There, Ozzy Osbourne took to the stage on a throne to perform five songs in Black sa Back to the Beginning Farewell Gig Daniel Mann looks back at the life of the heavy rock star, whose hits included Paranoid and Iron Man. Black Sabbath's menacing frontman called himself the Prince of Darkness. And as Ozzy Osbourne told the BBC in 2007, he knew how to terrify an audience. When we first started playing Black Savage, people would scream, run out. Chicks would run out. You know, people would get scared and we'd go, we'd go, oh, how scary. Music's working, isn't it? A notorious hellraiser on stage he played the demon Osborne bit into the head of a bat, thinking it was made of rubber. His wife and manager Sharon Osborne, earned him a fortune, but drink and drugs took such a toll on him in the 80s that at one stage he tried to strangle her. Still, she decided to save their marriage and they became television stars with their family reality show the Osbournes. Yet Ozzy Osbourne remained the godfather of metal and one of rock music's greatest show. Daniel Mann on the life of Ozzy Osbourne, the front man of the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, who's died at the age of 76. Still to come, it's the Late show with Stephen Colbert. The War of Words after one of America's most prominent late night talk shows is canceled, it's finally happened. Your kid could be part of the first generation to never suffer the rough touch of toilet paper on their tender tush. All thanks to new flushable Little Dude Wipes available in bubble bum scent or fragrance free because we know little butts can make a big mess. But with Little Dude Wipes you can keep your kids keister clean without the burn and debris toilet paper can leave behind on their behinds. Experience the confident clean of Little Dude Wipes available exclusively at Walmart nationwide. People choose Morton Buildings to build a variety of buildings for their property any time of year because they know Morton buildings are built stronger, last longer and look better. If you need a garage, a stall barn or a storage building for an RV boat or other vehicles, a shop for your farm hobbies or car restoration projects or anything in between. Morton can create a building for you that's attractive, easy to maintain and dependable enough to stand the test of time. Just visit MortonBuildings.com today to find out more. They use quality materials and expert craftsmen with an industry leading warranty to ensure your structure is enjoyed by generations to come. Morton buildings is 100% employee owned with thousands of satisfied customers. That means they're the industry leader you can trust. To get started on your next building project, visit MortonBuildings.com don't delay. Construction schedules are filling up fast, so now's the time to start planning your building project with Morton. That's MortonBuildings.com from coast to coast. Unlock adventure at Red Lion Hotels by Sonesta where restful sleep, friendly service and local knowledge await. Whether for business or pleasure, spend less and make more of every trip. When you sign up with Sinesta Travel Pass, you'll get their best rates instantly. Go to sinesta.com to book your stay and unlock their best rates with Sinesta Travel Pass Here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sinesta.com terms and conditions apply. Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skincare brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford. It's her secret to absolutely gorgeous skin. Meaningful Beauty makes powerful and effective skincare simple and it's loved by millions of women. It's formulated for all ages and all skin tones and types and it's designed to work as a complete skin care system leaving your skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished. I recommend starting with Cindy's full regimen which contains all five of her best selling products including the amazing Youth Activating Melon Serum. This next generation serum has the power of melon leaf stem cell technology. Its melon leaf stem cells encapsulated for freshness and released onto the skin skin to support a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. With thousands of glowing five star reviews, why not give it a try? Subscribe today and you can get the Amazing Meaningful Beauty system for just $49.95. That includes our introductory five piece system, free gifts, free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. All that available@meaningful beauty.com the US Department of Justice is seeking to interview the former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an accomplice of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell is serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking minors on behalf of Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019. The move comes as the US President Donald Trump faces calls for more disclosure in the Epstein case. Our correspondent Ned Etofique gave us this update. The administration has sought to really contain some of the outrage coming from its own base, own Republican lawmakers, over its announcement that it wouldn't be releasing any additional files from the Epstein probe. Remember, Donald Trump and many in his orbit had promised that more information would be coming. And so what we've seen is the administration kind of making these overtures to its base, first saying that it would ask a judge to release the grand jury transcripts from the Epstein and Maxwell cases. That's under review, although if you speak to federal prosecutors, they say that's really limited in scope and won't reveal much. And then we saw this announcement. Although Donald Trump says he wasn't aware of it, his former personal attorney, who is now the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, has said as part of Donald Trump's directive to kind of release and find any credible information, that he's reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys and wants to speak to her to see if she has any information, anyone who was involved in any criminality with Epstein. And he said that they won't shy away from uncomfortable truths or the responsibility to pursue justice. The problem with that is, of course, Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted as a kind of key associate of Epstein's, knows much, but she hasn't revealed anything in the last few years. And so, again, the administration risks once again angering the base if they don't deliver with anything. And what is President Trump saying about it? Well, look, President Trump has said essentially that this is all an old, recycled hoax, that he didn't have a close association with Epstein, that he kicked him out of his club, that he was never that close with him to begin with. And he is essentially turning this on Democrats, suggesting that this is another witch hunt against him. He did that again today from the Oval Office when he was asked about the Ghislaine Maxwell meetings with the Department of Justice that are supposed to happen in the next few days. And he again said, you know, the press should be looking instead at efforts by the Obama administration to spin election fraud stories. So trying to kind of give red meat to his base in a way. But what we've seen is that the base, while they've very much been behind him in past claims of witch hunts and stood by defending him here, very clearly, the base wants these documents released. They want Donald Trump to fulfill that promise. And they are clearly saying that if he has nothing to hide, he should do it Ned At OurFik in New York, one of America's most prominent late night talk shows is coming to an end, and its host, Stephen Colbert, isn't going quietly. The announcement from CBS has sparked debate about money, politics and the future of satire on US Television. Carla Conti has been following the war of words. It's the Late show with Stephen Colbert. Stephen Colbert is not known for pulling his punches, especially when it comes to criticizing President Donald Trump. But now the American late night talk show host says the gloves are off. Why? Because the US Network CBS announced its canceling the Late show, which Colbert has fronted since 2015. On Friday, Donald Trump posted, I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. How dare you. How, how, how dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? The decision to axe the show came just days after Colbert criticized the CBS parent company Paramount for agreeing to a $16 million legal settlement with Mr. Trump. And Colbert hit back. In typical fashion on air, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's big fat bribe. Paramount says the move was strictly financial. Sources close to the network say the Late show lost up to $50 million last year despite topping the US late night ratings. But many viewers and fellow comedians are suspicious of the timing was killing a show that, you know, rankled a fragile and vengeful president so insecure? That's Jon Stewart, Colbert's friend and former colleague and one of the several late night hosts who appeared in a show solidarity at Monday's recording of the latest episode in New York City. Among them were Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver, as well as actors and musicians including Lin Manuel Miranda and Weird Al Yankovic. CBS has said Colbert will remain on air until May of next year. But once he goes, the Late show franchise will end entirely. It marks the end of an era for a genre that has defined American culture and comedy for generations. From Johnny Carson to David Letterman, Stewart to Colbert, late night talk shows have long been a platform for political commentary, satire and national mood. But with viewership shrinking and streaming platforms reshaping habits, the format is under growing pressure. Come must go. Outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, home to the show for decades, protesters gathered, accusing the network of caving to political pressure. Inside, Colbert delivered a parting message, promising 10 more months of unfiltered commentary over the weekend. It sunk in that they're killing off our show. But they made one mistake. They left me alive. That Report by Carla Conti the estate of Mike lynch, the late tech tycoon whose yacht sank last year, is facing a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following a court case in London. Mr. Lynch drowned in the accident along with his teenage daughter and five other people. He'd set sail to celebrate being acquitted in a fraud case involving Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or hpe. But the company continued to pursue a civil action, arguing that Mr. Lynch had misrepresented his business with when he sold it. A British judge has now agreed, meaning the lynch estate could face bankruptcy. Here's our technology editor, Zoe Kleinman. Rarely does a news story about the sale of a tech company turn into such a long and tragic tale. Fourteen years ago, the US firm HPE acquired Autonomy, a tech firm based in Cambridge. It paid $11 billion, only to write off most of its value a year later. Since then, HPE has doggedly pursued the company's management, accusing them of fraud regarding how much Autonomy was worth. They denied the charges and blamed Bayer's remorse. Autonomy's chief financial officer went to prison. Its founder, Dr. Mike lynch, was kept under house arrest in California last summer. He was cleared of fraud and promptly set off for his luxury yacht, the Bayesian, to celebrate. But a few days later, he, his daughter and five others drowned when the yacht sank. While HPE was seeking billions of pounds rather than hundreds of millions, the sum it has been awarded is still believed to be more than Mike Lynch's estate is worth. His wife, who is independently wealthy, may choose to appeal, meaning there could be another turn to this story. Zoe Kleinman in football, England have won the first semi final of the Women's Euro 2025 tournament, beating Italy 2 1. The Italians led for much of the game in the Swiss city of Geneva before England equalized during injury time. They went on to score the winning goal deep into extra time, England are attempting to defend their European title. As Vicky Sparks reports, the roller coaster ride at Euro 25 continues for the Lionesses thanks to two last gasp goals as Michelle Agyemang and Chloe Kelly saved England once again, England were on the brink of exiting, trailing to Barbara Bonincea's super first half finished and a disciplined, daring and defiant performance from the dark horses of the tournament, Italy. But with seconds to play, Ajimang blasted England level. And then with penalties looming, England were given a penalty of their own. Emma Severini penalised for holding Beth Mead in the area. They're now only a game away from defending that European crown. On Wednesday, the world champion Spain will face Germany in the other semi final. The final will take place on Sunday. An immersive show celebrating the life of Elvis has just opened in London, but it's been described by fans as one of the most misleading they have ever seen. Elvis Evolution was announced in January last year with promises that it would include a life size digital Elvis performing iconic moments in musical history on a UK stage for the first time. But the BBC's Yasmin Rufo, who's been checking out the show for herself, says many visitors have come away disappointed. Fans paid up to 300 pounds to attend the show, but many have told us they left upset and feeling misled because the promised hologram of the King of Rock and Roll never featured. Instead, the experience takes you on a journey through Elvis's youth. And after an interval in a Hawaii themed bar, people find themselves watching clips of the singer's 1968 comeback special concert. It was just horrendous, really, and certainly not what we thought we were going to get and bought tickets for. We felt let down, disappointed, and dreams have been shattered. We were promised so much, it's just absolutely shocking. The show's organizers say they decided to avoid mimicking Elvis's performances as they were just too iconic, and instead used AI to improve archive footage alongside a live band. My name is Sam Bell. I grew up with Elvis. Hang on, uh, sir. But he isn't just a kid now. He is Elvis Presley. Members of the cast have also raised concerns about their safety because some audience members have become verbally abusive during the show. Critics are divided. The review website Time out calls it enjoyable if you accept it for what it is. Yet for fans who have paid hundreds of pounds, the gap between what was promised and reality seems too big to ignore. Yasmin Ruffo. 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 globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on XBCWorldService. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Liam McSheffrey and Guy Pitt. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time. Bye bye. The laws were changing in our country. Women could no longer be discriminated against. It was the dawn of a new era of space flight. NASA started accepting applications from women to be astronauts. That door that had been barred shut for all these years before now actually was open to you. 13 minutes presents the space Shuttle. The inside story of the space shuttle program told by the men and women who made it happen. That was pretty monumental as far as the public was concerned. The first woman astronaut from the United States. You believe in yourself and you think you can do it. Listen now search for 13 minutes presents the Space Shuttle. Wherever you get your BBC podcasts and lift off. 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