Day 516 - Arab states plan for Gaza, are frustrated with PA

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 26 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 Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing.

Following US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, in the presence of several recently released Hamas hostages, Magid discusses that Trump did not mention any of the former Israeli hostages by name, although some were in the audience.

Magid speaks about his interview with a senior Qatari official who emphasized the need to stick to the current hostage deal and that any new ideas won't work, noting that Hamas won't accept releasing hostages en masse as suggested by the US, unless there's an end to the war.

He reviews the much-anticipated summit of Arab states, which gathered to discuss alternatives to reconstructing Gaza, not aligning with Trump's plan of relocating Gazans. The current plan, led by Egypt, will have technocrats ruling Gaza for an interim period and dividing the area into zones before handing it over to the Palestinian Authority.

Magid also discusses the positioning of the Palestinian Authority on the Gaza plans and the frustration of Arab countries with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, as they try to get him to be more flexible, or at least not be an obstacle to the planning in Gaza.

Finally, Magid briefly looks at prisoner payment reform after an interview with a senior Palestinian Authority official, who spoke of a threat to cut ties with the Trump administration if the US president advances with his plan to take over Gaza.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

‘We are bringing back our hostages from Gaza,’ Trump says in address to Congress

As Israel, US align on new hostage proposal, Qatar urges sticking to existing framework

Aiming to stymie Trump’s ‘Riviera’ vision, Arab leaders endorse $53 billion Gaza plan

Seeking funds abroad, Abbas ally touts prisoner payment reform that’s ‘unpopular’ at home

Feeling heat from Trump to ‘solve’ Gaza, Arab states losing patience with PA’s Abbas

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: A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the west of Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, on Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It's Wednesday, March 5th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid. Hey, Jacob.
0:16.2	Hey, Jessica. Good to be with you again. Glad we are here together today. It is day 516 of the war. This morning,
0:24.5	Ohadya Halomi, whose body was released from captivity in Gaza, will be buried in the cemetery of his
0:30.2	community, Kibbutz near Oz. Several freed hostages attended U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union
0:36.2	addressed Tuesday. We'll talk about some of
0:38.8	what the president said in his speech to Congress. We'll also discuss Jacobs' interview with the
0:43.7	top Qatari official regarding the hostage deal, the Arab leaders plan for Gaza, frustration
0:51.0	with the Palestinian authorities, Mahmoud Abbas, and some more details regarding
0:55.9	the Palestinian prisoner payment reform. All of that after a quick break.
1:05.8	Some moments in history continue to spark debate through the ages, and few are as controversial as
1:12.7	the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel by the Irgun. This month, on unpacking Israeli
1:20.0	history, host Noam Weissman takes you inside this gripping story. Was it an act of terrorism
1:26.8	or a strategic move in the fight for Jewish
1:29.6	sovereignty? Why did the Irgun target the British headquarters and how did this event change
1:35.6	the course of history? Listen to this special two-part series on unpacking Israeli history,
1:42.2	where, through historical context, first-hand accounts, and deep analysis,
1:47.1	Noam unpacks the complexities of British rule in Mandate Palestine, the Jewish paramilitary response,
1:53.3	the political fallout, and the lasting debate of the moral and strategic implications of the attack.
1:59.6	Listen to Unpacking Israeli History now, wherever you get your podcasts.
2:09.0	Okay, Jacob, let's start with the most recent news,
2:17.9	a state of the union address.
2:20.2	There were some recently freed hostages in the audience,
	...

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