The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 85 of the war. US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

Magid updates how despite a second Gaza border crossing being opened, there is a marked decrease of humanitarian aid entering the Strip. What's happening here?

Qatari mediators have reportedly told Israel that Hamas “agrees in principle” to resume negotiations for the release of further hostages taken by the terror group during the October 7 atrocities, in exchange for a truce of up to a month in the Gaza. Magid tells us what else is known about any potential deal.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken fast-tracked the sale of munitions to Israel, bypassing congressional review over weapons being sent to Jerusalem for its war against Hamas for the second time this month because of the emergency. How long can this go on and what should we expect from Blinken's trip to Israel this week.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 30, 2023

Hamas said to ‘agree in principle’ to resume talks with Israel on hostage deal

US bypasses congressional review for month’s second fast-tracked arms sale to Israel

Under pressure from Smotrich, PM cancels war cabinet meeting on post-war Gaza plan

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

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IMAGE: Released Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel marches with teenagers from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during a five-day march from Tel Aviv to the Jerusalem Knesset on December 28, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 84 of the war. Political correspondent Sam Sokol and environmental reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Sokol looks at issues regarding reservists discussed in Knesset over the last week, including aid to small businesses owned by reservists who have been on duty for the last two months, and a decision to temporarily extend reservists' retirement age for the duration of the war.

Surkes comments on decisions made at COP28, 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Dubai through the start of December.

She also looks at the lack of environmental progress made by current government in 2023, from solar energy to tax-free plastic goods.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 29, 2023

At Knesset, reservist decries lack of aid as businesses fail while they fight in Gaza

Knesset panel puts off vote on extending age for end of IDF reserve service

Knesset passes emergency bill delaying retirement for reservists

Gallant, Smotrich present NIS 9 billion wartime aid plan for IDF reservists

Little room for optimism after COP28 climate confab, environmental leaders say

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: IDF reserve units guard a kibbutz near the Syrian border in the northern Golan Heights on October 8, 2023 (Photo by Michael Giladi/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 83 of the war. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

The High Court of Justice is likely to strike down the highly controversial reasonableness law passed by the government this summer as part of its judicial overhaul program, according to a draft decision leaked to the media on Wednesday evening. Horovitz speaks to the timing of this leak and how it may impact Israeli leadership.

At the start of the ground offensive, the IDF warned the government that this would be a long and hard war. At the same time, there is a certain dissatisfaction in the pace and progress of the troops in some corners, especially as Israeli casualties climb. How are we seeing that play out in the political sphere?

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant detailed to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Israel is being “attacked from seven fronts — Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran.” But is the IDF ready to defend itself on every front?

And finally, we hear some impressions from Horovitz's trip to the Gaza envelope communities this week.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 28, 2023

Bombshell leaked draft ruling shows High Court set to nix key judicial overhaul law

Northern towns rocked by heaviest Hezbollah barrages since outbreak of war

Gradually dismantling Hamas, the IDF is also battling its own government’s impatience

The war against Hamas may be almost half-done. The second half will be harder

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: Then-Supreme Court Chief of Justice Ester Hayut and Supreme court justices arrive for a court hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 6, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 82 of the war. Political correspondent Tal Schneider and health editor Renee Ghert-Zand join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Schneider discusses a Hezbollah missile that hit an ancient church in the Galilee, near the evacuation zone up north, while a rocket fired from Gaza scored a direct hit on the roof of a synagogue in one of the Negev border communities.

Ghert-Zand looks at Israel's health community's concern over diseases spreading from Gaza, as Gazans deal with crowding and disease amid mass evacuations and refugee tent camps, and with the possibility of illness spreading via soldiers and hostages.

She also speaks about new Health Ministry protocols, creating guidelines for the treatment of terrorists detained in Israel since October 7, in terms of where and how terrorists would receive medical treatment.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 27, 2023

9 soldiers injured rescuing elderly man wounded in Hezbollah strike on church

Gaza rocket hits synagogue in southern town, causing damage but no injuries

As soldier with fungal infection dies, fears grow of Gaza diseases spreading into Israel

Health Ministry issues directives for medical treatment of detained Gazan terrorists

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: A temporary tent camp set up for Palestinians who were evacuated from their homes in Khan Yunis on December 11, 2023 (Photo by Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 81 of the war. Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that before there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians, “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized," which he also laid out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Rettig Gur delves into the remarks and posits who was the target audience.

Also yesterday, in his first public message since the massacres of October 7, Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar spoke defiantly against Israel the "occupying force" and grossly inflated the terror group’s achievements in the war. What was he really saying -- and why yesterday?

Rettig Gur was among the hundreds who attended the funeral of IDF Master Sgt. (res.) Nitai Meisels, 30, on Monday, a day after he was killed in the Gaza Strip. Born in Baltimore during a family relocation to the US for his father’s postdoctoral fellowship, Meisels was laid to rest in his hometown of Rehovot. We hear about the always-smiling man.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 26, 2023

PM: For peace, Hamas must be crushed, Gaza demilitarized, Palestinians deradicalized

In first public message since Oct. 7, Sinwar says Hamas won’t surrender

‘You will forever remain 30’: Soldier Nitai Meisels, killed in Gaza, laid to rest

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Left: Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, Gaza City, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) Right: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, December 10, 2023. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 80 of the war. Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

The IDF announced this morning that the number of troops killed fighting in Gaza has risen to 156, with the additional deaths of two soldiers during battles in the northern Gaza Strip. This weekend saw more than a dozen other casualties. Fabian gives insight into the relatively rising number of casualties.

The Israeli Navy struck several Hamas cells identified near ground forces in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the IDF says, releasing footage of Navy shelling along the coast. We hear about the role the IDF's Navy plays now as well as Hamas's maritime capabilities.

A 1-km squared network of tunnels was announced by the IDF yesterday after it had razed the system. Five bodies of hostages were previously found in various arms of the subterranean lair.

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out “wide-scale” strikes against Hezbollah targets Sunday after barrages of rockets from Lebanon targeted multiple communities in northern Israel. Fabian explains what is different this time.

Yesterday, Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip found a large cache of weapons used by Hamas in a building where civilians were sheltering in the northern part of the enclave, including “explosive belts adapted for children." What else did they find?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 25, 2023

IDF razes tunnel where 5 hostages found dead, says Hamas HQ under north Gaza crushed

IDF carries out ‘wide-scale’ airstrikes on Hezbollah as rockets from Lebanon hit north

IDF: Troops find kid-sized explosive belts in Gaza building used to shelter civilians

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in a handout photo released December 25, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 79 of the war. Arab affairs reporter Gianluca Pacchiani and legal affairs reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

The Israel Defense Forces recently halted the operational activities of a controversial unit implicated in multiple incidents of abuse against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The unit, called “Sfar Hamidbar,” or Desert Frontier in English, was known for recruiting so-called “hilltop youth.” Sharon gives background and explains what has happened recently.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn criticism from the international stage for drawing an equivalency between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Pacchiani spoke with several experts in the Middle East to see whether that was correct. As expected, he heard different things from different people.

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi wrote an op-ed for an Arabic-language outlet that was taken to mean that the government may allow a reformed Palestinian Authority to play a role in governing Gaza after the ongoing war with Hamas in over, and that earned him criticism from far-right coalition members. Hours later, a "senior Israeli official" walked back these comments. What's going on behind the scenes?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 24, 2023

IDF freezes operations of ‘hilltop youth’ unit linked to anti-Palestinian violence

Hanegbi’s words ‘misunderstood,’ PA can’t rule post-war Gaza — senior Israeli official

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Landscapers work beneath a billboard depicting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wearing a Hamas headband, in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 23, 2023. The billboard equates Abbas' internationally recognized Palestinian Authority with Hamas, a rival Palestinian terror group that rules Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 78 of the war. US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

The United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution on December 22, sponsored by the UAE, which passed with 13 votes in favor while the US and Russia abstained. We start with what was included and discuss the notion of a UN humanitarian coordinator to oversee and verify third-country aid to Gaza.

Three senior Western diplomats told Magid over the past week that the diplomatic echelons are increasingly unconvinced that Israel won’t reoccupy Gaza permanently after the war. We hear why and what we're hearing out of Israel about the day after the war.

Forty percent of Jewish Israelis want US President Joe Biden to be reelected in the 2024 presidential election, compared to just 26.2% who back Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, a poll conducted on Wednesday found. Magid explains why.

Finally, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar shared her story of how she survived 49 days in Hamas captivity. The answer is surprisingly musical.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 23, 2023

Security Council passes resolution calling for steps to immediately increase Gaza aid

Full text of UN Security Council resolution calling for Gaza pauses, boost in aid

Israel cornering itself into postwar Gaza military occupation, Western diplomats warn

In major shift, survey finds Israelis prefer Biden to Trump as next US president

‘Thanks to you, I’ll sing with new enthusiasm’: Bocelli writes to freed hostage who used his music to endure captivity

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Trucks with humanitarian aid arrive at the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 18, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 77 of the war. Health reporter Renee Ghert-Zand and political reporter Sam Sokol join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

As of this morning, 139 soldiers have fallen in the IDF’s ground offensive in Gaza. But thousands more are wounded. Ghert-Zand reports how Israel is not prepared to handle these numbers in the long or short term.

Sokol accompanied a mission of US evangelical leaders to the south this week that was put together by Joel C. Rosenberg, a Jerusalem-based Israeli Christian interfaith activist, and Likud MK Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN. We hear impressions from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Ken Blackwell, a former US ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights who worked for Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek in the 1970s.

The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed the deaths of 21 hostages, with the bodies of only eight of them having been recovered by Israel. The task of determining the death of hostages held in Gaza has fallen to an independent committee of three leading Israeli medical professionals. Ghert-Zand brings highlights from her interview with Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s director general Prof. Ofer Merin, one of the members of the committee.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 22, 2023

War caught Israeli rehab hospitals unprepared to handle number of wounded

Devastation of Gaza border towns a ‘gut punch,’ says Huckabee during evangelical tour

How an unprecedented medical committee determines when a hostage held in Gaza is dead

Soldier from battalion that mistakenly shot hostages meets mom of one of those killed

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: People walk by photographs of civilians held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, posted in Tel Aviv, December 21, 2023. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today is day 76 of the war. Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's podcast.

As of this morning, 137 soldiers have fallen during the Gaza ground operations. Fabian updates on the status of the fighting in the Stri, north and south.

Ahmed Kahlot, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya has revealed in a Shin Bet interrogation that his northern Gaza hospital was turned into a military facility under Hamas’s control and that at one point, it had housed a kidnapped soldier. Fabian tells us more.

Fabian reports back from his trip this week to Gaza City and a look at the underground terror city concealed under its surface, including private tunnels for Hamas leadership and an intricate network with plumbing, electricity and elevators.

A military investigation into the accidental killing of the three escaped hostages in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers has found that one of the captives was recorded days earlier on a dog camera shouting for help during a gun battle between troops and Hamas terrorists at a site where they were being held. But, as Fabian explains, the recording didn’t make it to intelligence in time.

Finally, Iris Haim, whose son Yotam was shot dead in error by IDF troops in northern Gaza, recorded a message on Wednesday for the soldiers who killed him, telling them that she and her family love them and do not blame them for his death. Fabian relays her frankly heroic message.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog December 21, 2023

IDF says it’s fighting in new areas as it nears end of ground offensive in north Gaza

Gaza hospital director admits Hamas used medical complex as operational hub

Under the heart of Gaza City, IDF digs up a vast hive of lairs where Hamas’s elite hid

IDF dog recorded escaped hostage calling for help days before mistaken slayings

‘Not your fault’: Mother sends love, support to troops who killed son in tragic error

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Israeli soldiers are seen on a Namer APC near Palestine Square in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood, December 19, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

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