Day 502 - Hamas fights for survival with 'grand gestures'

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

In a surprise move, six living hostages will be released on Saturday, including Israelis Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held by Hamas since entering the Strip on their own in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The other four — Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen — were kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel. Why are six being released versus the agreed-upon three, and why is Hamas offering a much more generous phase 2 deal?

Former White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk last week penned his first op-ed since leaving government, taking the opportunity to defend the Biden administration’s handling of the hostage negotiations and insisting that Hamas was consistently the obstacle to an agreement. We hear Magid's thoughts on McGurk's statements, as well as the timing of them.

Israel’s envoy to the United States has accused Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of violating the US-brokered peace deal between Jerusalem and Cairo, profiting from the desperation of Palestinians seeking to flee the Gaza Strip and duplicitously operating to benefit Hamas. This comes as Egypt is working with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to formulate a day-after plan for Gaza. Magid weighs in.

Please see today's ongoing live blog for more updates.

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.

For further reading:

These are the six living hostages set to be released Saturday

6 hostages to be freed Sat.; Hamas says bodies of Bibas mom, kids set for Thurs. return

News of Bibas family’s tragic fate met with confusion, mourning and rage

Biden’s Mideast czar says Trump ‘right to stand firmly by Israel’ on hostage deal

Arab plan for Gaza could involve up to $20 billion regional contribution

Israel’s US envoy: Egypt’s Sissi is breaking peace deal, ‘playing both sides’ with Hamas

IMAGE: Palestinian Hamas terrorist fighters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 15, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. Today is Wednesday, February 19th, day 502 of the war.
0:12.2	Amanda Borsel, Dan, here with our U.S. Bureau Chief, Jacob.
0:15.1	Hi, Jacob. Thanks for joining me.
0:17.7	Hey, man. They're good to be with you.
0:19.0	Always good to see you. All six remaining
0:22.7	living hostages slated to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal will be freed
0:28.6	on Saturday, Israeli and Hamas officials said yesterday. We'll delve into what's behind this
0:35.6	change in plan.
0:43.1	Former White House Mid-East Tsar, Brett McGurk, set the record straight this week on Hamas' intransients during the drawn-out negotiations that eventually resulted in this
0:49.2	phased ceasefire hostage release deal.
0:52.6	We'll hear what he had to say. And we'll learn about allegations
0:56.5	against Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey from Israel's new U.S. ambassador. All this and much, much more
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	...

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