Hundreds of Israeli ex-officials appeal to Trump to help end Gaza war

Newshour

BBC

News, Daily News

4.4 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

The Israeli prime minister is reportedly planning to expand military operations in Gaza. It comes as hundreds of retired Israeli security officials have written to President Trump, urging him to pressurise their government to end the war. They say Hamas is no longer a threat and the war is no longer just. We speak to one of signatories of the letter Ami Ayalon, a former director of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic secret service agency.

Also in the programme: More than 70 migrants have died in a shipwreck in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen; why Texan Democrats are running away from a vote; and Sir David Attenborough's latest BBC One series documents how parents from across the animal kingdom sacrifice everything in order to raise their young.

(Photo: Protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. Credit: Reuters)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello there and welcome to Newsag from the BBC World Service coming to live from our studios in London with me, Sean Lay.
0:11.8	Today we'll bring you the latest from Israel where tensions run high after the release of two hostage videos
0:17.7	and former security officials call on America to help stop the war.
0:22.2	We'll also look ahead at the week's 80th anniversary of the nuclear bombs dropped by the United
0:27.0	States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
0:31.5	And we'll hear from a woman who was born in Hiroshima three years after the bomb fell there.
0:36.3	We must be absolutely condemned about the use of nuclear weapon,
0:42.9	not from the standpoint of ideology, nationalism, or ethnic identity,
0:49.3	but instead from the universal dimension of humanity.
0:54.7	More from Koko Gibson and her family in about 15 minutes time here on NewsHour.
0:59.9	But first, Israel's Prime Minister is reported to be planning an expansion of military operations
1:05.7	after a weekend in which Israelis were shocked by the condition of hostages held by Hamas.
1:11.3	Videos showing two of the men seized on October the 7th, 2023,
1:15.9	show them in an emaciated state.
1:17.8	One claims he's digging his own grave.
1:20.9	Out of a meeting of the UN Security Council later to discuss the situation in Gaza,
1:25.5	where Sisyphar talks are deadlocked,
1:27.4	Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa, condemned the treatment.
1:31.2	This past weekend, Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
1:35.2	cruelly released horrifying videos of our hostages,
1:39.8	Vyatta David and Rome Broslavsky.
1:42.7	The world witnessed the terrible condition,
	...

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