BBC OS Conversations: Israel and Gaza - securing freedom
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A week without war meant that the temporary pause in fighting was replaced by the emotions of family reunions. Before the air strikes resumed on Friday, dozens of the hostages captured by Hamas in the 7 October attacks were released, while Palestinians held in Israeli jails had been allowed to leave.
In our conversations host James Reynolds hears a few of those stories of families celebrating seeing loved ones again. “My mum came out of the Earth one day and that was incredible,” Sharone Lifschitz tells us. Her 85-year-old mother, Yocheved, was one of the first hostages to be released but (at the time of recording) her father was still being held. “She told us my father was injured and so we thought that he was gone and now we know that he is there, but we also know so much more about how horrendous the conditions are.”
Human rights organisations say the number of Palestinians held without charge in Israeli prisons has increased dramatically since 7 October. There are now thought to be more than 6,000 Palestinians held by Israel, many still awaiting trial. We bring together Marwan whose son, Wisam, was released after six and a half months in prison, and Eman who recently welcomed home her sister in law, Hanan.
We also meet two parents living under the Israeli bombardment in Gaza who led their families to safety in Egypt. They tell us about the conditions they endured and how their children are coping.
A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Global Story, with Smart Takes and Fresh Perspective, on one big news story, |
| 0:07.8 | every Monday to Friday from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.3 | Search for The Global Story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts to find out more. |
| 0:17.0 | Hello, I'm James Reynolds. |
| 0:21.0 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. In BBC OS conversations, |
| 0:26.8 | we bring together people around the world to share their experiences. And this week, we return to the war in Israel and Gaza. |
| 0:35.0 | With the release of hostages by Hamas and prisoners by Israel, |
| 0:40.0 | we discuss securing freedom with families on both sides. |
| 0:45.0 | For every Israeli hostage taken by Hamas and for every Palestinian held in an Israeli prison, |
| 0:51.0 | there is a family waiting anxiously at home. We hear from |
| 0:55.4 | Palestinian family members for whom the weight is over at least in part and from |
| 1:01.0 | Israelis who had the people they love the most captured in the 7th of October attacks. |
| 1:06.7 | My mom came out of the earth one day and that was incredible and she told us my father was injured and so we thought that he was gone and now we know that he is there but we also know so much more about how horrendous the conditions are. We also play you a conversation with two men who were trapped in Gaza under the Israeli |
| 1:29.8 | bombardment, but who managed to escape with their families over the border. |
| 1:34.0 | Their stories to come a little later. |
| 1:36.0 | We're recording this on Friday morning |
| 1:39.0 | at the end of a week in which the violence for a few days |
| 1:42.0 | largely stopped, but people in Gaza and Israel began |
| 1:46.2 | their day to the sound of airstrikes once again. |
| 1:49.8 | It was though quite a moment, wasn't it, last last Friday nights when with the fighting paused |
| 1:54.1 | there were tears of joy and cheers of jubilation as families were reunited with those |
| 2:00.4 | they were missing. I remember looking at the pictures coming from newly named hostage |
... |
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