BBC OS Conversations: Leaving Gaza
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The BBC revealed this week that more than half the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation for the Hamas attacks in October. The war has left tens of thousands dead or injured…and an estimated 1.7 million people have been displaced. There are shortages of water, food, and medicines.
This week, three US doctors who recently left Gaza share their experiences of working in a hospital in the territory with host James Reynolds. “Blast waves hit the operating room, you can see your metal table with all the instruments rattle, doors slam, the plaster falling off the walls,” Dr Chandra Hassan, from international humanitarian NGO MedGlobal tells us. “You learn to live with that, and you sleep out of exhaustion.”
The escalation of the military activities left many people with no choice but to flee their homes. 35-year-old Layan and her two daughters, 12-year-old Sama and Elya, who’s 8, had to take a long – and at times dangerous – journey from Gaza City to Khan Younis in the south. They have since managed to cross the border into Egypt, where they are now living safely in Cairo. They share their experiences of leaving the Gaza Strip and Layan tells us why she feels guilty leaving the rest of her family behind.
A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Una Chaplin, and I'm the host of a new podcast called Hollywood Exiles. |
| 0:05.0 | It tells the story of how my grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, and many others, were caught up in a campaign to root out communism in Hollywood. |
| 0:14.8 | Hollywood Exiles from CBC Podcasts and the BBC World Service. |
| 0:19.7 | Find it wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:22.4 | Hello I'm James Reynolds. |
| 0:24.6 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:28.0 | In BBC OS Conversations, we bring people together to share their experiences in this week's edition |
| 0:34.3 | conversations on leaving Gaza. |
| 0:38.3 | Since the war began we've tried where possible to take a step back to hear from civilians in both Israel and Gaza. |
| 0:45.6 | This time doctors who have been working in Gaza share their experiences of operating during |
| 0:50.7 | bombing raids. |
| 0:52.0 | We catch up with a mother and her two daughters who fled the war. |
| 0:55.0 | Everything we're familiar with, everything that we, our memories is related to, it is now gone. |
| 1:01.0 | I cannot recognize my own city, the city I have spent my whole life with. You may have seen the satellite images published by BBC Verify this week that showed the |
| 1:15.0 | extent of destruction in Gaza. The detailed pictures reveal that more than half of all |
| 1:20.2 | buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Many residential areas are in ruins. There's simply |
| 1:26.0 | nothing to go back to. Obtaining accurate figures, though, for the number of people killed |
| 1:30.6 | or injured since the war began in October is much more difficult. |
| 1:34.5 | Israel says it strives to avoid civilian casualties including where possible |
| 1:39.2 | issuing evacuation orders. But according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, more |
| 1:44.7 | than 26,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 11,500 |
| 1:50.3 | under 18s. Thousands more have been injured and in our first |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.