Israel-Gaza: Why Is Hamas Recalling Fighters?

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, we look at the progress of the Trump peace plan for Israel and Gaza as Hamas recalls 7,000 fighters to reassert control over Gaza amid fears of renewed internal violence.

The Hamas mobilisation had been widely anticipated amid growing uncertainty about who will govern Gaza once the war ends.

The ceasefire appears to have held but Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are yet to be released.

Laura and Paddy speak with international editor Jeremy Bowen about the latest.

Plus, Laura explains how the contest to become deputy leader of the Labour party could be seen as a verdict on Keir Starmer.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn and Adam Chowdhury. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Jack Graysmark. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:10.9	Hello, it's Saturday's newscast, we're reunited because you've been at the conference season.
0:14.4	I have, and how nice to be back with you. And we're even matching today.
0:17.9	We're not matching in terms of life experience, but we are fashion-wise. It's a very,
0:24.2	very busy news cycle and weekend, and so we're absolutely over the moon to have Jeremy Bowen,
0:30.0	who's in Jerusalem with us. Hello? Yeah, hello. And Jeremy, you're in your hotel room in front of
0:35.8	Pelly cases where we keep all our news equipment.
0:38.6	You must have a strange feeling about sort of being poised for the big moment when there's already been momentous days.
0:45.6	What's the atmosphere like there?
0:47.3	Yeah, well, a Pelly case, actually, I keep my flat jacket stuff in.
0:51.9	But because we're not allowed into Gaza by order of the Israelis, I haven't needed it.
0:58.7	It's been in there since actually before my last visit, because I didn't need it then either for the same reason.
1:04.9	But in general, you know, of course it's been very busy here, nonstop for, well, you know, I think mentally nonstop for
1:13.1	Palestinians and Israelis who are watching what's happening. And, you know, first journalists,
1:18.8	a lot of nonstop reporting as well. So there's a, I think there's a, this is a bit of an
1:23.8	in-between day today. We're talking on Saturday. And after the, you know, the alarms and
1:30.4	excursions of the last few days were those great lines of people going back to Gaza City. Of course,
1:36.6	that's continuing today. I noticed that the Egyptians offering have been, they sent in trucks and
1:42.9	offering free transport back to back
1:45.1	there because people were walking or having to pay apparently £900 for a car ride.
1:51.2	So it's a ridiculous amount of money for people who've got nothing.
	...

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