Axle clips, the ring in the axle ends that keep them in place one on the transmission side of the drivers axle and one on the intermediate shaft to hold the passenger axle.
They are like harness connectors, if you pull on the connector before releasing the clasp it will be under pressure and never release no matter how hard you pull on the wire connector.
The axle ring is the same if you slowly apply pressure to the axle until it wont come out the clip will get pinned to the backside groove in the axle and won't get pushed into the axle by the tapered part of the differential gear. You need to push it in and then pull with a running start (space between the clip and gear) to get the clip to curl into the axle and clear the pinion gear splines.
The problem with trying to pry it out is the leverage point or lack of availability, which leads to applying an up and outward pressure on the axle, if up happens before or more than out the clip wont release.
It is more a question of speed than strength, like a bump key your trying to get the tumbler back in it's groove. push the drivers axle cup in and pull quickly straight out, turn the axle and repeat.
Sometimes with new axle the clip grove is off or rough or tight and the clip doesn't want to go back in, direct impact pressure from the end of the axle is required to curl the clip and remove the axle.