Israel resumes war in Gaza after ceasefire talks fail. Hamas says more than 400 people died in Israeli strikes. Also: Hard-hit Italian town marks five years since Covid, and how astronauts adjust to life back on Earth.
Chapter 1: What are the key events in the Gaza conflict?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and at 14 hours GMT on Tuesday 18th March, these are our main stories. More than 400 people are dead, according to Palestinian officials, as Israeli warplanes bring an explosive end to the Gaza ceasefire. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are holding a much-anticipated phone call about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine.
Also in this podcast, two American astronauts stranded in space for nine months are on their way back to Earth and... Being with the musicians, not knowing how it's going to be night after night, the challenge.
I love it.
Chapter 2: How is Israel's military responding to the ceasefire collapse?
Herbie Hancock takes one of the biggest prizes in global music. The Israeli military says it's continuing to strike targets belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad across the Gaza Strip. The statement from the security agency and the Israel Defence Force said that in the past hours they'd hit what were described as terrorist cells, weapons stockpiles and additional military infrastructure.
The airstrikes across Gaza have killed more than 400 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It said many of those who died were children. More than 600 people are reported to have been injured. It's the largest wave of airstrikes since the start of the ceasefire, which began on the 19th of January.
Israel's foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmerstein blamed Hamas, accusing it of repeatedly refusing to extend the ceasefire and release the hostages.
From this point forward, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military intensity. I want to talk about the suffering of the Israeli hostages. 529 days Israeli hostages are being chained, starved, abused and held in Hamas tunnels. 59 hostages are still being held.
Chapter 3: What is the humanitarian impact of the Gaza strikes?
The Red Crescent says hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of casualties. And Rosalia Bolan from the children's charity UNICEF, who's in Almawasi in southern Gaza, says people are turning to her for help and advice.
What do you think we should do? We're here in Al-Mawasi. Do you think we should go back to our homes? Lots of our neighbors have, but we haven't because it seems so fragile. It seems so precarious. We are not ready to move, to package up whatever belongings we have left, go back to what remains of our house. and then being forced to flee again.
And this is going to be the reality for many families here in Gaza who have gone back to their homes in the north, because evacuation orders were just issued a couple of hours ago for parts of northern Gaza. So families will again be faced with that choice of renewed displacement or possible death.
Hamas has responded furiously, accusing Israel of treachery for overturning the ceasefire agreement. It also says Israel is exposing the remaining Israeli hostages to what it called an unknown fate. So, why has Israel launched this new wave of strikes now? I asked our Middle East regional editor, Mike Thompson.
Well, ostensibly because Hamas, it says, has refused to extend the ceasefire to mid-April, which is what Israel wanted. And that's part of an American proposal, which also involved releasing five living hostages. But of course, Hamas is saying, look, we want to go straight to phase two. That had already been agreed. But there are other reasons, too.
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Chapter 4: Why did Israel resume airstrikes in Gaza?
If Prime Minister Netanyahu was to agree to a permanent ceasefire, which would be all part of a phase two discussion, he risked then getting members, far right members of his cabinet. leaving, resignations from them which could unseat his government. He's also facing corruption charges himself. These would then come more to a head.
Members of his top aides are also facing different allegations in terms of supposed suspect connections, ties with Qatar. And there would also be a reckoning at the end of the war for his role in how October 7th, 2023 came about, which so far he's not admitted any responsibility for. So from what you're saying, has this actually strengthened Mr Netanyahu's hand? Well, yes, in many ways it has.
And of course, at the moment, he has the very firm backing of President Trump, which he didn't have in the same way from President Biden. So he, you know, as I said before, you know, this all does suit his current situation. And when you look, in fact, at the situation now facing Hamas, now, if they were to agree to release all
all the hostages, which the Americans have said they should be doing, President Trump has said they should be doing. And that would then put them in a position where Israel would come at them anyway, because Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that eliminating Hamas is one of the major war goals, as well as getting hostages back. So what hope now for NEC's fire? It seems over, isn't it?
Well, it looks that way because I can't see, for the reason I just gave, Hamas agreeing to the sort of terms that are being proposed. So I'm afraid for the moment it looks like things could be going from bad to even worse for the population of Gaza.
Mike Thompson. A highly anticipated phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on finding a way to end the war in Ukraine is due to take place over the next couple of hours. The US president is pressuring his Russian counterpart to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire. Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that both leaders would build on earlier discussions.
The US envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow and there were negotiations in Istanbul, and before that there was the first telephone conversation between the two presidents. Therefore there are certain understandings, but there's also a large number of questions, both with the further normalisation of our bilateral relations and with the Ukrainian settlement.
All this will have to be discussed by the two presidents.
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Chapter 5: What discussions are taking place between Trump and Putin on Ukraine?
Mr Trump has said he will discuss dividing up assets such as Ukrainian land and power plants. But most observers agree that the Russians will only accept keeping the areas that they've conquered and occupied. Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford is following developments. I asked her whether this was really a negotiation or was Vladimir Putin still firmly in control?
I think so far until this point, he has been in control. I do think it's quite clear that from a Russian perspective, they've seen Donald Trump and his administration give way to some of their key demands, you know, even ahead of any discussions about a ceasefire. So I think there is a degree to which Russia feels like it's pulling the strings and it can continue. somewhat control this process.
But I do think there are some limitations to that because, of course, Donald Trump came into office promising essentially that he was going to resolve this crisis. He has since had to admit that it's become much more complicated than he had anticipated and it is taking time. But I'm not sure how much time and how much he is going to be willing to give Russia.
I suspect at some point Russia is going to have to give something back. But for the moment, at least, it does seem that Russia is kind of the one calling the shots. And it is sounding pretty bullish, certainly in all the comments that we've heard so far from Russian officials. It does seem that they believe that their agenda is what's setting Russia the tone for all of the discussions so far.
So, yeah, I think at the moment it's going into these talks with maximalist demands still on the table.
Sarah, ahead of the call, Kirill Dmitriev, who's been named by Mr Putin as his special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation, has been speaking. What's he had to say?
He has. And I think his role in this entire process, including in those talks in Jeddah, the first conversations between Russian and American officials, his role is quite interesting because he's very close to Vladimir Putin, but he's also very much focused on money, on investment, on the economy. And the very fact that he has been talking about
the prospect of working with the United States, even talking about the potential for Russia and Elon Musk to cooperate and to collaborate and fly to Mars together. He's talking about big business deals. He's talking about the potential to entice American firms to Russia, to look for rare earths in Russia, not just in Ukraine or instead of Ukraine. So I think this shows that Russia is very much
I think, focused on the idea of normalising relations with the US, getting rid of those sanctions which have been so detrimental to the economy, returning to business as usual and very much business as usual at the heart of all of this. And obviously, you know, that's the goal, whether that's actually reasonable or a possible prospect is another big question.
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Chapter 6: How are astronauts adjusting after returning from space?
But the spacecraft they were travelling on, made by Boeing, suffered technical problems and it was deemed too risky to bring them back to Earth. It meant their eight-day mission was dramatically extended.
The NASA pair have made the most of their stay, carrying out an array of experiments and going on a spacewalk, with Sunny breaking the record for the most hours spent outside of the space station. And there was even a chance to celebrate Christmas that they'd planned to have at home. So from all of us to all of you,
Merry Christmas!
All of that's now behind them. They will feel, first of all, fantastic to be back on Earth. So the fresh air is the first thing that gets you, really. But then, of course, their bodies will have suffered in space. So particularly bone loss, muscle loss as well. Their hormones balance will be all changed. Microbiome will be changed. So all of that will have to get back to normal.
Freedom, SpaceX on the big loop. Depart burn zero nominal.
With a blast of the engines, the astronauts are on their way, hoping for a smooth ride and a gentle splashdown off the coast of Florida.
Rebecca Murrell reporting. So, if all goes well, after 286 days, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams will splash down on Tuesday night. But how long will it take them to adjust to life back on Earth? The BBC heard from Colonel Katie Coleman in Massachusetts. She's a veteran astronaut of two space shuttle missions and has logged more than 500 hours in space.
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Chapter 7: What challenges do astronauts face after long missions?
Even once you've been gone for a few, I would say for three weeks or so, you're going to definitely have some, you know, some changes to your body in terms of... you know, maybe some bone and muscle loss. But what we've learned up on the space station is unfortunately that exercise is here to stay in that we've learned that by exercising up there a lot, we actually maintain our bone mass.
And when we get home, it's kind of, it's kind of strange where we're in, I was in the best shape of my whole entire life. And so when you get home, you're very strong, but your head is kind of not connected to the Because up there we fly from place to place. And it's really delightful.
It's like being in Peter Pan, in the land of Peter Pan, where the touch of a finger can send you 50 feet until you run into something. It just takes no force at all to move. In fact, I have kind of long hair. I can take a single hair from my head, stretch it between two hands, and push off the edge of, say, a table. And if I push gently, I will push myself across the whole entire space station.
I flew with the Russians, and so I came down on the Soyuz, and then we fly halfway across the world to get home in a regular airplane. And I'll say that I couldn't walk a straight line at first. And people are always on either side of you making sure you don't fall down. And so the first time we get off the plane to refuel, I'm still kind of like walking kind of like back and forth, weaving.
And then the second time it's less. And then by the time we stopped in Maine on the way back to Houston and had pizza while they were refueling, I could definitely walk on my own. No one was afraid I was going to fall down.
Colonel Katie Coleman. Still to come in this podcast.
The first reaction was fear, but after the fear, I experienced the humanity. You know, just a few words, very simple words, or just a hand on my shoulder.
Five years on from Covid, we hear from people in the Italian city of Bergamo.
MUSIC
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