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.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Impromptu gatherings across Israel last night marked the first time in over 11 years without hostages being held in Gaza, following the return of Ran Gvili’s body to Israel.

For more than 50 days, he was the only hostage still held in Gaza, amid Hamas’s insistence that it had been unable to locate him, leaving his family and country fearful he might never be recovered.

In today's episode, Fabian takes us through Operation Courageous Heart and its massive team of soldiers and forensics experts, which successfully recovered Gvili's remains after checking over 250 bodies in a Gazan cemetery.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

‘Our pride is greater than our sorrow’: Family of Ran Gvili hail his heroism, Israel’s strength, as body comes home

All of them are home now: Body of last hostage Ran Gvili found in Gaza, returned to Israel

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves and Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: A woman walks by chairs with photos of Ran Gvili, the final hostage in Gaza who was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023 attack and whose remains have been recovered, in a plaza known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 26, 2026. (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.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The IDF confirmed yesterday it is searching for the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line in the enclave’s north in a cemetery. According to the PMO, The IDF is currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence and upon completion of this operation -- and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US -- Israel will open the Rafah Crossing. Fabian fills us in on the recovery efforts, how the IDF plans to secure the crossing into Egypt and what is happening on the ground in Gaza.

The IDF said Monday that its wave of airstrikes last night against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon hit weapon depots and other infrastructure. We speak about the recent wave of airstrikes and how deeply inside Lebanon the IAF is targeting. We then discuss whether a much weakened Hezbollah would consider joining ranks with Iran in any escalation of hostilities.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

IDF confirms searching for body of Ran Gvili at cemetery in northern Gaza Strip

Israel says Rafah Crossing to reopen when IDF finishes search for last hostage body

IDF reservist injured in Hamas attack in southern Gaza succumbs to wounds

IDF: Wave of strikes targets Hezbollah operatives, infrastructure across Lebanon

Northern Command chief: IDF ready on all fronts if US attack on Iran sparks retaliation

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves and Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: A photo of slain hostage Ran Gvili, whose remains are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is displayed during a rally calling for the return of the deceased hostages held in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)

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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.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The Board of Peace launched on Thursday in Davos and is chaired for life by US President Donald Trump. It is beginning its work by addressing the Gaza conflict and at its launch, the US announced plans for a “New Gaza” rebuilt from scratch, to include residential towers, data centers and seaside resorts, part of US President Donald Trump’s push to advance an Israel-Hamas ceasefire shaken by repeated violations. We hear about Jared Kushner's vision for a "New Gaza" and the demilitarization of Gaza.

The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, said on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing — effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million people who live there — would open this week. We learn who will be manning the crossing and how involved the IDF will be.

And finally, we discuss the increased involvement of the Palestinian Authority -- albeit in different garb and under changed names.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Witkoff and Kushner meet Netanyahu as US seeks to advance its Gaza peace plan

With Hamas armed and Strip in ruins, Kushner’s vision for Gaza faces major obstacles

Rafah crossing reopening was ‘imposed’ on Israel by Gaza mediators — officials

Israel reportedly plans to monitor Rafah Border Crossing, as its reopening nears

Despite concerns, PM’s reliance on Trump left him no choice but to join Board of Peace

Arab diplomat: Turkey, Qatar filling vacuum in Gaza created by Israel’s snub of PA

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves and Ari Schlacht.

Check out yesterday’s episode here:

IMAGE: Hamas terrorists search for the remains of Israeli hostage Ran Gvili in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, January 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This week, we dive into the 12-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The technocratic council is headed by former Palestinian Authority deputy planning minister Ali Shaath. It is tasked with running daily affairs on the ground and providing services for Gazans in place of the Hamas terror group.

The committee held its first meeting in Cairo on Thursday, but is currently barred by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip and its work remains in limbo as the Board of Peace begins its activities in Davos this week.

We hear how the names on the technocratic council are relatively consensus figures -- among Gazan Palestinians -- and learn about Israel's objections to this committee and Trump's naming of Qatar and Turkey to the Gaza Executive Board.

Alkhatib delves into the lack of popular Hamas support throughout the Strip, but points out the massive enforcement problem that the committee will face as the armed terrorist group maintains its hold.

And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (courtesy) / A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, January 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

We update that last week's main movie, "Holding Liat," is now playing in 20 locations throughout North America.

Then we hear a "Jangle" about unabashed Zionist Michael Rapaport, who was just in the news for his participation in "The Traitors."

The first "Schmoovie" of the week is "It Was Just an Accident" by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Nominated for two Academy Awards, it is playing internationally at major arthouse theaters.

The premise is roughly based on Panahi's stints in Iranian prisons for his films exposing the oppressive regime. It includes a ragtag group trying to assess if a kidnapped man is indeed their interrogator/torturer. Though the set-up sounds grim, there is plenty of Panahi's trademark wit to keep you thinking -- and chuckling.

The second film discussed is 2015's "Taxi," which was produced during a period in which Panahi was barred from creating films. Smuggled out and screened at the Cannes film festival, the movie takes place in a borrowed taxi and includes an uncredited cast of everyday Iranians -- or are they?

Check out the two "not bad" films (our highest mark) in this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Director Jafar Panahi poses for a portrait photograph for the film 'It Was Just an Accident' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 21, 2025. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

Since October 7, 2023, there has been a focused and intense campaign to paint Zionism as a supremacist, racist, and inherently violent movement that has no place in academia, popular culture, or public life in the West.

Jews and supporters of Israel usually label such attacks as antisemitism, since they often take old tropes about Jews and apply them to Israel.

Anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein, who emerged from the Colombian jungle on October 9 and found himself under attack from colleagues for his support of Israel, is leading the effort to cast anti-Zionism as a hate movement that seeks to deny Jews a place in the public square on their own terms by portraying Zionism as the root of much of the world's evil and violence.

Louis-Klein applies his critical lens to anti-Zionism, examining its roots in Nazism, Islamist ideology, and Soviet propaganda. He unpacks terms like "settler-colonialism," "genocide," and " apartheid," and explains why the anti-Zionists chose those loaded words in their attack on the Jewish state.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Adam Louis-Klein (courtesy) / Demonstrators gather on the UCLA campus, June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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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.

Legal correspondent Jeremy Sharon joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

WATCH the full episode here:

After the Public Defender’s Office of the Justice Ministry was forced to reveal reports about visits to four prisons in 2024, showing systematic violence and unsanitary conditions for Palestinian detainees, Sharon discusses the disturbing findings and the yearlong battle by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to get ahold of the report and make it public.

Sharon also reports on a rally last week’s at which protesters demanded the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews. He describes the sense of solidarity at the Jerusalem gathering, where thousands of people from the secular and national religious camps spoke out against government-backed legislation seeking to reinstate blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Palestinians in Israeli jails face ‘conditions unfit for human beings,’ state agency says

Thousands rally in Jerusalem to demand ultra-Orthodox IDF enlistment

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves.

IMAGE: Handcuffed Hamas terrorists sit next to a picture of Palestinians walking past destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli flag, in a prison in central Israel, May 6, 2025. (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.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Following Iran's foreign minister's direct threat against the US, Fabian reports on the buildup of potential US offensive and defensive firepower in the region, including an aircraft carrier and fighter jet squadrons.

As the IDF continues its nearly daily strikes against Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, Fabian discusses Israel's tacit agreement with the US that allows it to act against anything it considers an immediate threat, and the Lebanese government's ongoing efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

The IDF reported a 27% rise in settler violence in the West Bank in 2025, says Fabian, who breaks down elements of the report, including the rise in the severity of the settler attacks alongside the decrease in Palestinian terrorism, attributed to the army's sustained offensive activity against terror cells.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

US Central Command announces arrival of F-15 squadron in Mideast amid tensions with Iran

IDF: Settler violence rose by 27% in 2025, severe attacks spiked by over 50%

IDF targets Hezbollah tunnels, rocket launch sites in Lebanon

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves.

IMAGE: In this Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, photo made available by U.S. Navy, a helicopter lifts off of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as it transits the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln sent to the Mideast in May over tensions with Iran transited the narrow Strait of Hormuz for the first time on Tuesday. The ship previously had been in the Arabian Sea outside of the Persian Gulf. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Stephanie Contreras/U.S. Navy 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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Dozens of world leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, received an invitation over the past week to sit on US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. The US is aiming to hold the board’s first meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. In the meantime, various countries have reacted to their invitations to Thursday’s signing ceremony in Davos, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Horovitz fills us in on international responses, including shades of daylight between Netanyahu and Trump.

In the hours after two babies lost their lives in an unlicensed and massively overcrowded daycare in the ultra-Orthodox Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday, Haredi leaders blamed the tragedy on the state and the legislative efforts to draft young men of the community. Two infants died and 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in the incident. We speak about the avoidable nature of the tragedy, which, because of the prevalence of unsupervised daycare, could occur in any Israeli community at any time.

And finally, regular listeners of The Daily Briefing will have missed their weekly dose of David Horovitz, who is just back from a three-week trip in Japan. We hear observations.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Trump to hold Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos, but participants may be limited

PM vows no Qatari, Turkish troops in Gaza after countries given role on oversight body

Smotrich calls to shutter US-led Gaza coordination center, resettle Strip

Netanyahu invited to Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace alongside European, Mideast leaders

Haredi leaders blame babies’ deaths on state’s push to draft ultra-Orthodox men

2 babies die in incident at unlicensed Jerusalem daycare; 3 caregivers detained

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves.

IMAGE: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest sparked by the deaths of two babies in an unauthorized daycare in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (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.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

As the Trump administration sends invitations to world leaders to join the Board of Peace overseeing Gaza, Magid discusses the various committees led by the board, which is headed by US President Donald Trump and is considered the oversight group for Gaza and all conflicts, a move that may also try and usurp the role of the United Nations.

While other Board of Peace committees are being formed, Magid discusses Israel’s discomfort with planned representation from Turkey and Qatar, while the Trump administration views those countries as critical to getting Hamas on board for the ceasefire, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly opposed to their involvement.

Menwhile, the appointed Palestinian technocrats on the NCAG, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, are currently sitting around in Cairo, reports Magid, awaiting civil servants approved by Israel.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Gaza Palestinian technocratic committee says it will pursue ‘peace, democracy, justice’

Full text: Charter of Trump’s Board of Peace

Overboard: Making sense of the various Gaza oversight committees created by Trump

Netanyahu fumes at Gaza oversight panel makeup as Trump invites Erdogan to peace board

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Pod-Waves.

IMAGE:A man holds two mannequins depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a rally in support of the Iranian government, in Istanbul, Turkey on January 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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