Episode description

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 reporter Emanuel Fabian and reporter Amy Spiro joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Yesterday, the four female soldiers held hostage in Gaza for 477 days — Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag — were reunited with their loved ones, embracing them with smiles and tears after their release from captivity. Today, we concentrate on the Hamas violation of the ceasefire deal due to the failure to free civilian hostage Arbel Yehud and Israel’s consequent decision to pause its pulling out from part of the Netzarim Corridor — even as thousands of Palestinians gather on the coastal road in central Gaza, waiting to return to the Strip’s north.

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations accept more Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area and create a virtual clean slate. We discuss the feasibility of this idea, as well as the Palestinian security prisoners who were deported to Egypt yesterday.

The initial 60-day truce in Lebanon has run out this morning and the Lebanese army is calling on its civilians to “exercise self-restraint” and follow instructions as people attempt to return to villages in south Lebanon, despite the IDF presence there. We learn which parts of southern Lebanon the IDF still holds and what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared intentions are, and hear updates about the IDF’s presence in the Syrian buffer zone.

And finally, we end with the bittersweet win of Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, who was voted in last week as Israel’s contestant at the 2025 Eurovision in Switzerland in May.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

‘Unfazed’: Freed hostages say they knew they had to project strength at Hamas handover

Israel bars Palestinians from returning to north Gaza in row over hostage Arbel Yehud

Trump proposes Jordan, Egypt take in Gazans so decimated Strip can be ‘cleaned out’

IDF warns Lebanese against return to border villages as it prepares to extend stay

Israel won’t complete full withdrawal from Lebanon by Sunday deadline, PM says

Yuval Raphael, survivor of Nova massacre, to represent Israel at 2025 Eurovision

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

IMAGE: Lebanese women hold portraits of of slain Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, as they check the destruction in their village Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, January 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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