Global News Podcast: UN says 2nd aid convoy enters 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 Monday the 23rd of October these are our main stories.

A number of trucks carrying humanitarian aid have crossed into Gaza from Egypt. The second

such convoy in two days. The Israeli army has apologized for what it says was the accidental

shelling by one of its tanks of an Egyptian military post. A surge in violence against

US interests in Iraq has prompted Washington to order many diplomatic staff and families to leave.

Also in this podcast, people get to get a real time sense of what happens when North Koreans flee.

We see their journey from the beginning and we get to go on that journey with them once they flee.

A new documentary tells the dangers people face as they try to escape North Korea.

We start with the conflict in the Middle East. The United Nations has confirmed that another

14 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The UN's humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths

described the convoy as a small glimmer of hope for those in need but he said much more help was

needed. Two million people live in the territory and since the attacks by Hamas militants two weeks

ago Israel had put in place a total blockade of Gaza. Hamas is designated a terror organization

by many western governments including the UK. The aid vehicles had been detained on Sunday at

the Rafer Crossing for several hours whilst they were searched by officials. The White House says

President Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have confirmed there will

now be a continued flow of aid into Gaza. I heard more from our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams

who's in Jerusalem. Well it was another 14 trucks carrying food, water and medicine. There were

supposed to be 17 trucks going through I'm not quite sure why it's only 14 but I think you know

even though we heard from Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu that they've agreed that this flow of

aid should now be continuous it's worth noting that so far it's pitifully small amounts and crucially

it does not include fuel and the UN is arguing that unless they get their fuel stocks replenished in

the next couple of days their entire humanitarian effort will grind to a halt because the fuel is

needed to obviously for the trucks that drive the aid into Gaza it's needed for hospital generators

and water purification plants and so they are insistent that fuel should be part of this deal

and the Israelis are equally adamant that it should not and that is a problem. We saw that

there was a hold up today at the Rafer Crossing. Logistically it's going to be very difficult

getting enough aid in through just one entry point isn't it? Yes but it's not going to change that

is the only entry point and that will be the only entry point I suspect until Israel completes its

military operations in Gaza and that could be a matter of weeks if not months. The UN have said

that they need not you know 15 or 20 trucks a day but 100 or 200 trucks a day particularly if they

have to carry water because that's a very bulky thing to transport it is in increasingly short

supply in the Gaza Strip and so water is part of the of the shipments that have to go through

and so you know the whole thing is just going to have to ramp up hugely to address what are

mounting humanitarian difficulties inside the Gaza Strip. I'm not sure how much to read into

this but I was seeing today there was a cross border raid into Gaza by a small number of Israeli

troops and one Israeli troop was reported to have been killed in that. To what extent are we seeing

more of a buildup and more signs that this could be the start of some kind of land invasion? Well

the Israelis have indicated that they have already conducted a number of smaller incursions small

teams going in probably with a couple of objectives in mind one to start probing the Hamas defences

and also to look for clues as to the whereabouts of hostages. I think the the ground operation

may not be just a big bang it may gradually escalate and evolve as larger teams go in

with specific objectives in mind but certainly Israel's defense minister speaking today indicated

that the moment for this to start was close and that it could last one two or even three months.

Paul Adams in Jerusalem there well Israel has stepped up its bombardment of the Gaza Strip

possible ground offensive more than two weeks after those attacks by Hamas that left 1400

Israel is dead according to Hamas more than 260 people were killed over a 24-hour period many

of them children. The BBC's Rushdie Abu Alouf lives and works in Gaza and has been reporting on the

situation there since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October the 7th. On Sunday he visited a camp

for internally displaced people in Khan Yunus a city about 10 kilometers into Gaza from the

Rafa crossing he sent this report. The scene here inside the Anurwakam with about 210 housing

more than 3000 families is chaotic people are struggling to find food people are struggling

to find water outside the camp there is shops people are selling dry food people are selling

canned food I can see shampoo people are selling batteries power banks for people to charge their

phones because electricity is always a challenge but I noticed people are selling all the clothes

they found them somewhere I tried to ask the guy he said that we try to help those people who like

flee their house without having to collect any clothes or any belongings with them so they are

trying to sell what they have for a very little price as they said one of the people who are

trying to maintain the security in this place he said security is challenged because there is no

longer police are maintaining law and order in this area also he said people are fighting because

when you have a very little food very little water very little electricity people will be fighting

everyone will want his share and what they said is extra they said we try to register the people

who are in the camp so we can calculate how much food and water they but they said every day more

and more people are coming they are all of them mainly coming from the Gaza city and the north

the place that Israel asked the people to leave to the south but in the south the humanitarian

crises are getting deeper and deeper and with the 20 trucks coming in from the border there

isn't enough at all people are asking for more food more food more fuel to be able to survive

the BBC's Rushdie Abu al-Aluf in Gaza well aid agencies are said to be concerned about the

situation in the territory Shainu Lau is an advisor with the Norwegian refugee council

we have 54 colleagues in Gaza who are in various degrees of panic and chaos we have 11

staff who are still remain above the Wadi Gaza demarcation line who report just harrowing harrowing

conditions I learned today that one of our colleagues he spent the entire day just to find

some bread and a gallon of water for his family which includes his pregnant wife our colleagues

in the south report difficult conditions as well struggles to find basic necessities

five hour wait to get bread this morning similar to as your correspondent explained

just tension in the streets that's that's causing to internal fighting because people

are living under such tremendous pressure and stress we've heard that from colleagues that

they really don't know how much longer they can take it anymore they're under tremendous stress

those who have moved to the south are constantly telling us about the ongoing airstrikes that

are happening there one of our colleagues lost her six-year-old son this week in an airstrike in

Rafa most southern part of Gaza well beneath that Wadi Gaza line that people were told to move south

of they'll shine a low from the Norwegian refugee council or conditions in Gaza's hospitals continue

to deteriorate nearly two weeks after the Israeli government announced that siege of

the territory cutting off access to water food fuel and medicines apart from the small amount

that's gone in from Egypt this weekend al-Shifa hospital is the main medical facility in Gaza

city dr. Qassan Abu Sita is a British Palestinian surgeon who's been working there since he went

to Gaza just before the conflict erupted james menendez asked him what was the situation there on

sunday-like and as you can hear it's been difficult to get good communications with that hospital

this integration of the system continues we have more and more wounded come in we've run out of more

and more things we now have dressings for burns even though we have over 70 patients with almost

40 percent or more of their body surface area burnt and twice as many with less burns all of

who need daily if not alternate day dressings and we've run out of the burns dressings we've run out

of a lot of the solutions that we need to treat patients and the staff is not just physically

exhausted we operate around 16 to 18 hours a day we do 10 to 12 cases and this is just one

department in the hospital we had the first aid trucks moving through from egypt into to

gaza on on saturday just 20 trucks do you know whether any of the supplies on those trucks

have made it through to your hospital no condition of these trucks they do not go beyond the south

of Gaza and none of them had medical supplies in but if you think about how saltimony and

criminally miniscule 20 trucks are for a place with two and a quarter million people with a

health system struggling to deal with 14 000 major injuries this is just a media gimmick when we

spoke a few days ago you said that fuel was getting very very low indeed and that was making it

difficult to run the generators or there was a risk that you wouldn't be able to run the generators

i mean what's the update on that i mean how close to running out of fuel are you now it looks like

it's very close because today we've had the electricity cut out multiple times we've had to

delay our operating list today because we haven't been able to make sure that that that generator

is going to stay on and i know you're not a pediatrician but what does that mean for example

premature babies in neonatal care basically it's a death sentence i mean all of these

do have a battery charged in case there's a short electricity but not for long periods

and the same with the ventilators in the intensive care units that was Dr Gassan Abu Sitta a British

Palestinian surgeon at the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza the Israeli military has expressed regret for

the shelling of an Egyptian position near the border with Gaza by one of its tanks it said the

incident near the Rafa crossing was a mistake and would be investigated it happened as checks were

carried out on the second convoy of trucks waiting to take that humanitarian aid from Egypt to the

Gaza Strip the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Lebanon's Hezbollah militants

that they face counter strikes of unimaginable magnitude if they join the current conflict

Hezbollah is backed by Iran and designated as a terror organization by many western countries

wearing a bulletproof vest as he met commandos near the Lebanese border Mr Netanyahu said

Israel was fighting for its existence we are now in a double battle one here at the Lebanon-Israel

border to make sure Hezbollah back off and the other battle there in the south to ensure decisive

victory that will crush Hamas if Hezbollah decides to enter the war it will miss the second Lebanon

war it will make the mistake of its life we will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine

in recent days there have been continuing cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel

and Hezbollah Andrea Tenenti is with the UN interim peacekeeping force in Lebanon the security

situation is tense and volatile it has been tense and volatile for at least a couple of weeks

everyone is concerned about the situation because this has not happened since 2006 but at the same

time hope and also being this conflict at the moment very localized the hope that it would not

escalate into something larger but as it happened in the past it's very difficult to predict a daily

escalation of conflict meanwhile the u.s. state department has ordered eligible family members

and non-emergency staff in iraq at its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil to leave immediately

there has been a surge in attacks on u.s forces there since the start of the war in Gaza from

washington here's shinghain yoka the u.s. state department that issued that statement and they

are saying that u.s citizens as well as government personnel are facing an increased risk of terrorism

and threats to their safety including the potential for violence and kidnapping they weren't specific

that this is related to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza a few days ago the u.s also

issued a worldwide caution to all american citizens shinghain yoka well in a separate

development the white house says president biden has held a phone call with a number of world

leaders including the british prime minister rishi sunak about the war between israel and hamas

earlier in the day mr biden also spoke to the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu

when hamas launched its attack on southern israel it killed at least 1400 people mainly

civilians hamas also took a large group of hostages back to gaza is now thought they hold

212 people captive among them several elderly people and some very young children amongst the

youngest of the hostages are four-year-old ariel and her brother kafir who's just nine months old

they were filmed by hamas being taken on october the 7th together with their mother shiri a teacher

their father jordan bibas was also taken jordan's sister ofri is in london as part of efforts to

secure their release she's been speaking to james menendez about what happened to her family on

october the 7th my brother texts is the watson family group he had a gun asked is the is the gun

loaded he said it's loaded i'm waiting i asked them to to keep it quiet so the terrorist wouldn't

hear him from inside the house he said we're trying to but it's difficult with a four-year-old

and a baby a few minutes later nine forty three said they were coming in meaning they were coming

inside his house and that was the last time i heard from him over two weeks ago about two or

three hours later we got a picture of shiri and the kids with the terrorists around them kidnapping

them and about two hours later we i got from a friend here in england she sent me the video

of shiri and the kids being kidnapped because it started to circulate quite widely didn't it yeah

the hamas posted his own videos and so at that point what was going through your mind i was scared

like i've never been scared before i started hearing what's going on in other kibbutz and i knew

what they were doing so i was really worried about what's what's gonna happen to them and no no sign

for my brother and three days later it was the morning of his birthday his 34 birthday i got the

first picture of him being taken as well i can see him there surrounded by a terrorist

alive but is bleeding from his head i can see one of the terrorists holding a hammer in his head

do you think that you know military operations particularly a ground offensive do you think

that should be delayed until those negotiations are able to run their course i'm just i'm just

wondering how worried you are that if you know Israeli soldiers go into Gaza it's going to

make it so much more difficult to get your family back look i'm just a family member i'm not a

politician i'm not an army person i just i have to put my trust in the Israeli government and the

army that they would do whatever they can to bring our families safe with as much as less

casualties on both sides and do you trust them i have to i have to for my family otherwise

otherwise i have no hope so i have to trust them that was awfully levy

still to come this would be a major deal if it was just an economic story because we're talking

about a company foxconn it's one of the world's biggest makers of electronic products the Taiwanese

electronics maker foxconn is now under investigation in china for alleged tax violations we look at the

political machinations jewelry isn't a gift you give just once it's a way to remind your loved one

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do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed when you check the news on your phone first thing in the morning

that's everything everywhere all at once i'm hannah i'm the presenter of what in the world from the

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any more greenhouse gases to the total in the atmosphere just search for what in the world

wherever you get your bbc podcasts welcome back to the global news podcast now to some other news

russian terror that is what the ukrainian president volodymyr zolensky has called a

russian missile strike on the northeastern city of harkiv six postal workers were killed and more

than a dozen injured when a sorting office was hit on saturday night a correspondent jenny hill

is there in harkiv i asked her what she'd seen we arrived a little earlier in the daylight we were

able to look at you know what was effectively a scene of devastation and the warehouse has a huge

hole in its ceiling where the missiles struck we saw for ourselves the violence with which shrapnel

was flown through that space as you'd imagine shards of glass bits of twisted metal remains of

packages packaging and so on and all over the warehouse and strewn outside on the yard too and

we understand there were about 30 people working in that depot when the missiles struck just before

half past 10 last night sirens apparently went off warning sirens but those people had apparently

just a few seconds to try to get themselves to safety and jenny harkiv is very close to the

russian border indeed how frequently is it attacked like this these days well my understanding is that

there are attacks daily not all of them with missiles like this not all of them resulting

in deaths but you know make no mistake about it you know this is a really difficult place to live

i spoke to a manager who'd come here today he was here he said in the immediate aftermath of the

strike last night and i asked him you know what's it like to live with that kind of threat hanging

over you all the time and he just said he sort of shrugged and and almost said you know it's normal

obviously there are defences but they don't always work and your listeners will perhaps

recall that certainly just within this month there've been two really deadly strikes one

involving the deaths of more than 50 people they were in a grocery a cafe when a missile hit and then

more recently a little boy and his grandmother were killed in a strike on their apartment

and this attack and the attacks you just mentioned that horrific attacks weren't strategic targets at

all it seems it seems that these attacks come randomly well this is an interesting point

russia throughout this conflict has always said it does not deliberately target civilian

infrastructure and places where civilians are likely to be ukraine would argue very much the

opposite now this warehouse is part of a really important and actually very well loved ukrainian

postal service which has kept its deliveries its operations going throughout the war we haven't

heard anything from moscow with specific regard to today's attack not officially anyway but president

silenski of ukraine has condemned this strike and said you know this was an attack on an ordinary

civilian facility jenny hill in kharkiv well staying in ukraine and drones have had a profound

effect on the war in the country just a cursory glance online shows a plethora of videos showing

drones being used by both sides in the conflict but now chinese restrictions on drone exports have

led to concerns about their continuing viability as a weapon bbc monitoring's russia editor vitale

investigates the skies above ukraine are buzzing with drones or uncrewed aerial vehicles

both ukraine and russia are using them to conduct reconnaissance direct artillery fire clear mines

as well as hits enemy forces with explosives carried on board many of these drones are made in china

and now chinese restrictions and drone exports have led to concerns about their supply the latest

came into force on the first of september they apply to longer range heavier drones as well as

drone related equipment such as some cameras and radio modules chinese producers of such equipment

are now required to apply for export licenses and show that they're not going to someone who is likely

to use them for military purposes ukrainian volunteers and soldiers say the availability of

parts has dropped and they fear that the situation may worsen over time luba shepovich heads dignitas

one of the largest ukrainian volunteer groups supplying the military with drones the only

change for now is that we're more active in buying whatever stock is left in european warehouses

dealers in europe still have stock imported before the restrictions came into force at the moment

anything that's left in warehouses in europe is being bought up what we'll be doing in the future

is unclear miss shepovich is particularly worried about the availability of parts such as a thermal

imaging cameras because days are getting shorter and nights longer this is definitely having an

impact on supplies for our military and how warfare is conducted in general because we don't

have as many thermal imaging drones our units are going blind at night this is just the latest

hurdle facing volunteers procuring drones for both russian and ukrainian armies the world's largest

commercial drone maker the chinese company dji halted direct sales to both countries

two months after the start of the full-scale invasion in february 2022 and it also banned

its distributors across the globe from selling dji products to customers in russia or ukraine

also they've been claims that the number of chinese drones available for purchase in europe

has declined and europe is where ukrainian volunteers often shop but it is not just ukraine

that is affected referring to the curbs that came into force on the first of september russian

newspaper komir san said the restrictions imposed by the chinese authorities on drone exports have

seriously complicated their supplies to russia and led to a shortage of some parts to minimize the

impact of the chinese restrictions ukrainian volunteers have been busy looking for alternatives

both in the west and in ukraine itself for example volunteer anatoly bolkovnikov says that a

ukrainian startup is preparing to launch the production of drone motors he's also optimistic

about the future i don't think these chinese restrictions will have any impact on the general

situation i have the feeling that long term they will stimulate production in ukraine

drones have been used in unprecedented numbers in the war in ukraine and both of the warring sides

are heavily reliant on them that report was by bbc monitoring's russia editor vitale

chevchenko and next to switzerland and an anti-immigrant party is on course to come out on top in the

swiss parliamentary election exit polls suggest a victory for the swiss peoples party image and

folks reports from geneva opinion polls had predicted gains for the right and losses for the

greens but the projected increasing vote share for the right-wing swiss peoples party

up 3.4 percent on the last elections is a surprise the social democrats on the left have also made

modest gains but the big loser is the green party although swiss voters repeatedly say they are

worried about climate change they are also concerned about immigration and the cost of living things

the peoples party campaigned hard on imagine folks in switzerland there tax violations and

irregular land use those are the accusations leveled against the taiwanese electronics maker

foxconn in china when the company makes products for amongst others apple and it employs hundreds of

thousands of workers across china the investigation could also have political implications i asked

asia pacific regional editor mickey bristow how important the company foxconn is this would be

a major deal if it was just an economic story because we're talking about a company foxconn

which makes um like it's one of the world's biggest makers of electronic products it means

makes all kinds of things for apple the big u.s firm and another company's too in china and across

the world it employs hundreds of thousands of people so these reports that it's been investigated

in four chinese provinces for potential tax abuses and land use violations would be serious enough

just as a bigger story but there's something a little bit more as well here foxconn is a taiwanese

company operated in mainland china and that's complicated because china believes taiwan is

a part of its own territory so there's a connection there which allows china to subtly and sometimes

not so subtly exert pressure on taiwanese businesses to try and change events in taiwan itself and

that is significant now because of the founder of foxconn wanting to stand in next year's taiwanese

presidential election isn't it indeed that's exactly the case terry go founder of foxconn

has decided he wants to stand as an independent candidate in taiwan's next presidential election

which takes place in january so china obviously can exert some influence through terry go through

foxconn in taiwan and it's not just me that's saying that chinese state-run media which broke

this story it quotes an academic saying that foxconn should actively contribute to promoting

peaceful cross-strait relations that means actively promote good relations between taiwan and china

it's a delicate tightrope walk that all candidates at presidential elections in taiwan tread

china and china's desire to have taiwan unite with the mainland is the biggest issue

and all of them to some degree have to cope with that question and somebody like terry go who's

got business interests massive business interests in china that tightrope walk is even more precarious

mickey brister north korea is for all intents and purposes a closed country very few people get

in and almost no north koreans can get out but some do manage to leave to escape king jong-un's

regime it is a hazardous journey which normally involves a network of contacts at a route out

via china there's a new documentary featuring footage shot by people who've managed to get out

it's called beyond utopia imagine waking up one day and realizing that you're born on a

completely different planet and everything you learn towards life and the heroes you were

were actually monstrous villains su mi terry is a former director for korea at the u.s national

security council and is the co-producer of this film she told julian waraker more about the main

protagonist was who only is a mother who has arrived in south korea she's a north korean

defector who has been living in south korea for some time and after learning about freedom and of

course she wants to get her son who's left in north korea out of north korea so the film tells

her story her quest and her desperate desire to get her son out people will have seen documentaries

about the way the country is run and the suffering that ordinary people endure as a result of living

there what do you think is different about what you're saying here i think people get to get a

real-time sense of what happens when north koreans flee we see their journey from the beginning and we

get to go on that journey with them once they flee this is why you want fuel's attention when you're

watching the movie because you don't know what's going to happen you're you're experiencing it

with them people might be under the impression that if you are fortunate enough to get across that

river that borders north korea and china the problems are still huge aren't they just because

you arrive in china it doesn't mean anything right you can be caught the chinese government's

policy is to send north koreans back so you have to run from them right you have 3 000 mile journey

so you are constantly fleeing from chinese security services north korean security services

so to get to south korea and to get to freedom it's a very treacherous and long journey and

this is where the pastor calls upon a sort of network of people who he knows he can trust

along that journey doesn't he yes it's a huge underground network of people that that helps

or you know some are brokers some are driven by mission to help but this is a business for them

but for this one family the royal family that's in the film some 50 brokers were used to just

help this one particular family escape at some of them make money out of doing that yes this is

business for many of them but it's also risk for them because if they are caught helping

these north koreans they will be also sent to prison you're a former us national security expert

i wonder what that level of expertise has brought to this film in terms of the role that you've had

here namely as a co-producer even as a national security expert and i worked at the cia over a

decade as a north korea expert there were many things that were new to me for example i've debriefed

defectors often after they arrive in south korea and then i hear about it so i understood

theoretically this is what one does they go through this jungle and this kind of mountain

and this kind of treacherous journey it is a quite another thing for me to see it with my own eyes

how it happens as it was happening and it's the north korean government making it ever harder

for people to get out at all kim jong-un regime recently has really cracked down on this because

i think what the regime is most worried about is the people right people fleeing also get information

getting into north korea even more so than let's say us and south korean governments or military

and whatever threat they can repose kim jong-un is most worried about his own people su mi terry

a former director for korea at the us national security council and the co-producer of the film

beyond utopia and that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the global news

podcast later if you want to comment on this podcast all the topics covered in it you can

send us an email the address is global podcast at bbc.co.uk you can also find us on x formally

known as twitter at global news pod this edition was mixed by javid gilani the producer was lian

mcchefrey the editor is caron martin i'm nick marz and until next time goodbye

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.