Global News Podcast: Hamas releases mother and daughter US hostages held in Gaza

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles, and in

the early hours of Saturday, the 21st of October, these are our main stories. An American mother

and daughter have become the first hostages to be freed by Hamas out of the 200 or so

seized during the Islamist bloody attacks inside Israel. With Israel still pounding Gaza,

the Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli forces have ordered the evacuation of a hospital

said to be sheltering more than 2000 displaced civilians. In other news, a third close associate

of Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to taking part in an attempt to falsify the 2020 election

results. Also in this podcast, it's fashionable to admire the opera house built to epitomize

the old sailing ships. It's an architect's dream and a challenging curves to the straight

glass and steel structures that now make the skyline. The Sydney Opera House, one of the

most famous buildings in the world, celebrates its fifth-death birthday.

The US President Joe Biden says he's overjoyed at the release of two American hostages being

held in Gaza. Mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Ranan have been reunited with

family members and returned to a military base in Israel. They were among the 200 or

so people abducted by Hamas during the raids on southern Israel two weeks ago. Hamas, designated

as a terror organization by many Western governments, including the UK, has said the two hostages

were freed for humanitarian reasons. Here's the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.

There are still 10 additional Americans who remain unaccounted for in this conflict. We

know that some of them are being held hostage by Hamas, along with an estimated 200 other

hostages held in Gaza. They include men, women, young boys, young girls, elderly people from

many nations. Every single one of them should be released.

I spoke to our correspondent Paul Adams, who's in Jerusalem, and asked him how did these

releases come about? The first thing we heard was a post on social

media from Hamas itself. Hamas spokesman saying that the release was coming of two American

women, a mother and daughter, and it said that that was happening for humanitarian reasons.

There was a flurry of excitement and speculation immediately after that, and eventually Israel

confirmed that indeed Judith and Natalie Ranan had been handed over to representatives

of the International Committee of the Red Cross and then delivered to Israel. They were

taken to a military base somewhere in the center of the country, and a photo emerged

a bit later on of the two women walking with Israeli soldiers, looking drawn and exhausted,

but seemingly unharmed. And what's the reaction from Israel being so far?

Well, obviously, this is the first bit of genuinely good news that Israelis have experienced

in the last two unbelievably bleak weeks. So there was a great sense of excitement. Again,

not much in the way of an explanation as to how this came about, but there was a little

bit of insight in the words of Mark Regev, a senior advisor to Israel's Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that this was basically the result of force and diplomacy.

I think Hamas understands it's under amazing pressure, both diplomatic and of course Israeli

military might, and I think that's forcing Hamas to try to do things and including release

hostages. We will keep the pressure up. We think that is the best way to get more people

out. So, Paul, Mr Regev there, suggesting that it was pressure on Hamas that led to

these releases. What impact, if any, might this have on Israel's preparation for a land

invasion of Gaza or allowing aid into Gaza? I think the aid situation is a separate one,

although some people are speculating tonight that maybe the release of hostages could unlock

that aid convoy that's been sitting there on the Egyptian side of the border waiting

to go in and delayed today, but I think clearly the whole hostage situation is a massive

complication in terms of Israel's overall objective, which is to go into Gaza and deal

with Hamas, its political and military structures once and for all. Israel has been under enormous

pressure from its own citizens, many of whom have been pleading on behalf of missing relatives

and, of course, foreign governments, in particular the United States, also wanting to try and

do everything possible to secure the release of hostages before any large-scale military

operation was underway. I get a slight sense tonight from the words of the Foreign Ministry

of Qatar, which has obviously played a key role in this because it has these close links

with Hamas, that they feel that this dialogue that led to the release of the two hostages

today could result in further releases, perhaps in the coming days. And so I think that could push

back the prospect of any wide-ranging, large-scale military incursion a bit further, although I

think it's probably safe to say that Israel will continue to conduct all sorts of operations,

both in terms of air raids and smaller incursions on the ground as they try to prepare the ground

for their ultimate objective of eliminating Hamas altogether.

Paul Adams in Jerusalem there. Well, James Menendez spoke to the rabbi connected to the

family of the released hostages. He asked Rabbi Dov Klein, who is in Evanston outside Chicago,

for his reaction to the releases. I was ecstatic. I mean, I couldn't ask for anything more exciting

and better. I mean, we've known you this for 15 years here in Evanston and her daughter Natalie

and the fact that they were released. We've been praying, we've been doing vigils, and the fact

that they've been released is an unbelievable miracle. So I'm extremely happy. It's extremely

excited and extremely ecstatic. This has been unbelievable, wonderful news. And the same token

though, it's a little bit bittersweet because we know that there are additional 203 other

hostages that Hamas has. And of course, we are going to continue to pray for the release of

every single hostage that they should be able to go back home to their family and friends.

Do you know why Judith and Natalie may have been released as the first hostages to be released?

Until we hear directly from them, I don't know if we will really know. But one of the things I said

two weeks ago to my congregation is we were talking and crying and praying. I said, if anyone's going

to be released first, it's going to be Yehudit because she has so much hope. This is a woman

filled with unbelievable joy. Her eyes light up. She's helpful. But she also has a tremendous

amount of hope. And the Lubbara Tireba said, a person, a track good, a person who thinks

positively, positive things will happen for them. And I have no doubt that Yehudit was being

positive, was being strong, and was doing whatever she needed to do in order to bring about the

release of her and her daughter. Rabbi, the statement from Hamas talked about releasing

them on humanitarian grounds. I mean, obviously, that could mean anything. I mean, I don't want

to pry too much, but had either of them been ill, are they well as far as you know?

Up until this incident, I was personally not aware of any ailment. That doesn't mean something

privately wasn't going on that she didn't disclose to me because Yehudit wasn't a person who would

talk about herself and her needs. She was always worried about other people's needs.

And this must have been hugely shocking when they were taken on the 7th of October

for your congregation, because they were visiting relatives at that kebutz in southern Israel.

Is that right? Yes, they were visiting relatives. We were beyond shocked. We were extremely,

extremely surprised. The reason that we were so surprised was, of all people, you know,

you have so many people in Israel, millions of people, you know, two people who we knew

were taken. So we were extremely shocked. We were extremely surprised. We just been praying for them,

you know, just non-stop. And I'm just so happy that they're the first two

passages to be released. That was the Rabbi Dov Klein. Hamas has said that Qatar helped mediate

the releases of the hostages. Well, Christian Fraser spoke to Marwan Mwasha, a former foreign

minister of Jordan and longtime diplomat, and asked him for his reaction to the releases,

and for more on any so-called back-channel discussions that may have taken place.

That's obviously great news, Christian. You know, targeted civilians should never be

condoned. And I hope that this is part of the process in which there are negotiations. I know

there are negotiations going on as we speak in order to either, you know, deter Israel from going

all the way to Gaza or having it done, you know, in a different way. The bottom line is,

we do need to stop Habasist fire first and engage in a political process later. And if this is

the prelude to that, then that's extremely good news. Why do you think they released these two

hostages? They are American citizens. There are other hostages that we know were badly injured

before they were taken across the border. So why these particular two? Is it a message,

do you think, from Hamas? I truly cannot tell at this stage. I'm not privy to what has been going

on. But the very fact that Hamas did release hostages is a good sign. It means that there are

negotiations going on. And like I said, I hope it's part of a bigger deal than the two hostages,

but obviously it's a good sign. That was Marwan Mwasha, a former foreign minister of Jordan.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli forces have ordered the evacuation of the Al-Quds hospital

in Gaza. The hospital has 400 patients and is also reported to be sheltering more than 2,000

displaced civilians. The Red Crescent said it's calling on the international community to act

urgently to avert another catastrophe. Meanwhile, Hamas health officials say continuing Israeli

airstrikes have now killed more than 4,100 people in Gaza. Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of October,

killing more than 1,400 people. BBC Arabic's Adnan El-Bush reports from a neighbourhood

in central Gaza on the impact of the bombardments that happened on Thursday night into Friday morning.

Overnight, it's been completely destroyed. 32 tower plucks each containing dozens of flats

are now totally gone. They told us to evacuate at around 8.30 or 9 at night.

We ran through the streets. Then Israel started bombing the area non-stop,

from 9 until 7 this morning. You can see all of this destruction.

Umusalim lived in one of these blocks of flats. She tells me all the families in her tower

are now living stranded in the streets of Gaza with nowhere to go.

Other residents say many people remain trapped. We cannot bring people out from under the rubble.

Ambulances cannot get here. We cannot pull the bodies out. People are screaming,

but we cannot pull them out. Last night's attack took many residents by surprise.

As people told me that it has been a relatively calm area in Gaza.

We are civilians living peacefully in our homes. Why are you bombing us and ruining our lives?

As we were filming here, a new warning came in from the Israeli army telling people to evacuate.

We have now left because it's dangerous, but the reality is for many people still there.

There is nowhere safe to go.

Well throughout Friday, all eyes were on the Egyptian border with Gaza.

Wood Delores parked up at the Rafa crossing loaded with food, water and essential medicines

for the territory finally start rolling. Well, they didn't, leaving more than two million people

in urgent need. Egypt and Israel still can't strike a deal to get the aid flowing,

which explained the presence of the UN Secretary General at the border crossing on Friday,

appealing for the trucks to roll. The BBC's Andrew Harding now reports from northern Egypt.

He's been to Al-Arish, close to the Gaza border, where a consignment of essential supplies has

arrived by air from Jordan. High above the Egyptian desert, a consignment of humanitarian aid

on its way towards the besieged territory of Gaza.

This military plane from nearby Jordan has brought medical equipment, including bandages

and syringes. They join other supplies being offloaded here in Egypt just a few kilometers

from the border crossing into Gaza. And inside Gaza, more signs of growing hunger and desperation.

People scrambling to buy a few remaining chickens in crowded cities that remain entirely cut off

from the outside world. No wonder there's such pressure to get this aid in.

This is an operation fraught with risk. The aim is to channel vast amounts of humanitarian aid

into Gaza through one narrow border crossing amid continuing Israeli airstrikes, amid genuine

Israeli fears that this route could be used by their enemy Hamas to smuggle in more weapons,

and amid the constant risk that at any moment an Israeli ground offensive could put a stop to

all of this. But first, the border itself needs to open. A logjam of over a hundred trucks packed

with aid still stuck on the Egyptian side as negotiations drag on. So when the United

Nations Secretary General arrived at the border this afternoon, he did not hide his frustration.

Behind these walls, we have two million people that is suffering enormously. That has no water,

no food, no medicine. Nearby, an angry crowd demanding the border be opened and the siege

of Gaza lifted. Andrew Harding in Northern Egypt. Still to come in this podcast, the tech tycoon

Elon Musk is bringing in two new paid-for subscription formats for his social media

platform X. Two tiers of X premium will be launched soon. The entrepreneur posted online

that one tier will be at a lower cost with all features but no reduction in adverts. The second

tier is more expensive but has no ads. Before we move on, here's Andrew Peach with news of this

week's happy pot. Yes, there's an animal theme this week with stories about whales in Australia

that like to play with seaweed and a cat in Pennsylvania that wears glasses to encourage

young children to wear their glasses too. We've got innovation to offset climate change in Kenya,

Andy who managed to play croquet at the top of a mountain in Sequoia National Park in California

and Caroline who listens to the happy pod and got in touch to let us hear her children's orchestra

in Bogota in Colombia. So please join us for half an hour of uplifting stories from around the

world in the happy pod available in this feed every Saturday.

Oh wow, oh my god, I'm so excited, thank you. That's the sound of Casey getting a

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Welcome back to the Global News Podcast, now to other news. A third person close to Donald

Trump has pleaded guilty in the 2020 US election interference case in the state of Georgia.

The lawyer, Kenneth Chesbro, has been charged for his role in what prosecutors describe as a

conspiracy to overturn the election in favor of Mr. Trump. Nomia Iqbal reports. Kenneth Chesbro

will no longer face a trial next week. He took a plea deal last minute in the wide-ranging criminal

racketeering indictment. He'll now face a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing of

false documents. He potentially could get a prison sentence and a large fine. He has agreed to

truthfully testify against the remaining co-defendants, something two others,

including Donald Trump's former lawyer Sidney Powell, has also agreed to do.

This is a victory for prosecutors as it adds real momentum to their case against Mr. Trump

and his remaining co-defendants. Nomia Iqbal. Police in Brazil have arrested two agents of the

Intelligence Agency and carried out 25 search and seizure warrants as part of an investigation

into illegal surveillance. The alleged irregularities happened in the run-up to last year's election.

Leonardo Rosha reports. Federal police agents raided homes and offices in five Brazilian states.

Police say the phone hacking targeted members of the Supreme Court, as well as politicians,

lawyers and journalists linked to the opposition. The agency allegedly used sophisticated spying

software to listen to more than 30,000 phone calls in the run-up to last year's election,

in which Mr. Bolsonaro was defeated by the veteran left-wing leader,

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. Leonardo Rosha. Now to West Africa, and lawyers representing the

deposed president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, say allegations made by the military government that

he attempted to escape house arrest are false because he's being held unlawfully. Mr. Bazoum

and his family have been confined to their homes since he was forced from office at the end of

July. James Reynolds heard more from our West Africa correspondent, Mayani Jones,

who's monitoring events from Lagos in neighbouring Nigeria. Spokesperson for the Junta came on

television late on Thursday and said that Mr. Bazoum and his family, he's been detained with

his son and his wife, as well as two members of staff, tried to escape in the early hours of

Thursday, they say around three. And their plan, according to the Junta, was to leave the presidential

palace where some cars were waiting for them. Those cars would drive them to the outskirts of

the city, of the capital, Nyami, and then from there they were allegedly going to be going on

two helicopters owned by unnamed and unnamed foreign power that would take them here to

neighbouring Nigeria. But this is something that Mr. Bazoum's team of lawyers has disputed. They say

that Mr. Bazoum wasn't trying to escape detention because he's been detained illegally.

Now that might seem kind of like just legal wrangling, but I think they're using this opportunity to

push the message that Mr. Bazoum's human rights are being infringed, that he hasn't had access to

any of his lawyers, and they say that this is unacceptable for former head of state to be treated

this way. Can anyone go and knock on the door and try and find him, his lawyers or his supporters?

Yeah, that's very tricky right now because nobody knows where he is since this incident.

The only person that had been seen him was his doctor. Apparently he was going to see the family

every other day, and today he apparently went to see the family with some food for them and wasn't

given access, and I think that that might have been what triggered this statement by his lawyers

saying that his human rights are being abused. Not only does he not have access to his lawyers,

but he now doesn't have access to his doctor. Manny, in the introduction I talked about the

military government in Niger. In practical terms, how is the military government ruling the country?

So the junta has been in power since late July, as you've mentioned, and they're still enjoying,

I was in Niger a couple of weeks ago, they are still enjoying what seems like quite a bit of

popular support on the streets of Niame. People were frustrated with Mr. Bazoum's party who's been

in power for many years. They felt that it was corrupt even though Mr. Bazoum himself was seen

as a reformist. They were worried that previous members of other administrations were too influential

in power, there was still too much corruption going on. So they are happy to see the military junta

in power. What's not clear is how they plan to rule. What they've done so far is to kick out

the French, who are the former colonial power in Niger. They've asked the UN to leave as well,

because they accused them of colliding with the French to try and reinstatement Mr. Bazoum into

power. This is something that the UN obviously denies, and they say it's going to cause a lot

of distress to people in Niger who are very poor, despite the country being mineral-rich and also

affected by terror-related violence. And so the way they've ruled so far is by it's kicking out

former allies, Western allies that were helping them in this fight against terrorism. But it's

not clear. They haven't really established what they plan to do for the country, how they plan

to develop it, how they plan to fight terrorism themselves. We've seen an uptick in terror attacks

in Asia since the coup. Marnie Jones in Nigeria. The tech tycoon Elon Musk says his social media

platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is to offer two new tiers of premium subscription.

Some users already pay nearly $9 a month for its blue tick service. It's unclear whether there will

be a free version of the platform. Here's our technology reporter, Shona McCullum.

As ever with this kind of announcement from Elon Musk, the detail is thin. But what we do know is

that two tiers of X premium will be launched soon. The entrepreneur posted online that one tier will

be at a lower cost with all features but no reduction in adverts. The second tier is more

expensive but has no ads. It's not clear if there will be any free option. This development comes

as X started charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines a dollar a year for accessing the

platform. One of the main issues with X has been how to monetize it and this is Mr Musk's latest

attempt. He's always said that his solution for getting rid of bots and fake accounts is to charge

for the service but since his tenure as boss began advertisers have left in their droves.

Shona McCullum. On Friday the Sydney Opera House was 50 years old. It's probably one of the most

famous buildings in the world. It's not the Taj Mahal or the Eiffel Tower but in terms of

recently constructed buildings it is right up there. The Opera House is Australia's most popular

tourist destination welcoming more than 10 million visitors annually. It was big news right from the

start as this 1967 report suggests. And it's fashionable to admire the Opera House built to

epitomize the old sailing ships. This controversial and lovely Opera House has bust its budgeted

costs so badly that only a lottery can now finance it. It's an architect's dream and a challenging

curves to the straight glass and steel structures that now make the skyline. Owen Bennett Jones

spoke to Tristram Khafre, Deputy Global Chair of Arup, the company responsible for the engineering

of the Opera House and its layers of soaring concrete sails. So was the building difficult

to construct with its unusual shapes? Well I would say it was difficult to design to make

it constructable to build but in the end actually it was built very easily. Right you surprised me

there so because I mean I imagine an architect came up with a hopelessly impractical plan to have

these soaring concrete structures and then you as the engineers were stuck there thinking how on

earth do we do that? Yes a bit like that. The architect actually had a romantic notion a beautiful

notion for a very lyrical extraordinary building to be built on the end of Benelong Point but actually

even the material to be used whether it was concrete or steel was still to be determined.

But working together architect and engineer you know we rationalize the geometry to be something

that could then be mass produced and erected on site in a very elegant construction process.

Tell us about the geometry you had to get your slide rules out did you? Yes indeed and in fact

we only made it work by the use first one of the first uses of digital computers in construction

and design so we're using the big computers in the basements of universities firstly in England

and then then in Australia but the main thing as I say was to take what started as an irrational

geometry a sketch and turn it into something that was both rational and repetitive in fact

all the surfaces of the building built are taken from the same sphere the same ball the same football

if you like or or orange. Orange you've lost me there so you get an orange on a on a piece of

paper you get a sphere on a piece of paper and you're trying to work out how to make it solid

so that a can be built and b won't collapse. Absolutely definitely won't collapse and as you

say to be built but actually it's a hollow sphere or a hollow orange but the the concrete ribs that

make up the sails the dominant part of the opera house what gives it its unique image its beauty

if you like the glistening tiled sails they are made from concrete ribs which are in effect the

same as the segments of an orange and what I mean by that is they repeat so each one can be made

out of concrete ribs cast in the same mold out of individual pieces that are then lifted into place

glued together with epoxy glue and we're talking now you know something being done in the early 60s

and then clamped together using steel um tendons high strength steel strands so then jacked to hold

each bit of concrete to each other bit of concrete and in the end we get an integral structure and

all this was done out on ben along point in the full public view over a period of years obviously

not that many years but a few years and so in some ways this construction was the first

public performance of the opera house. Tristram Kalfrey and that's all from us for now but before

we go here's Jackie Leonard with details of another special podcast on the Israel Gaza conflict.

Yes thanks Nick as you might remember a week ago we put listeners questions about Israel and Gaza to

our correspondents in the region Lees, Doucette and Jeremy Bowen and the response was such that

we're doing it again obviously a great deal has happened since the last edition this time we have

questions about the hostages about the Israeli policy of telling civilians to vacate northern Gaza

what Hamas wants and the UN response the global news podcast special edition will be up early on

Saturday and if you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it you can send us an email

the address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk you can also find us on x formally known as twitter

at global news pod this edition was mixed by Chris Hansen the producer was Lear McChefrey

the editor is Karen Martin I'm Nick Miles and until next time goodbye

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.