Day 520 - As Gaza ceasefire reaches day 50, no sign of IDF pullout

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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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.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.

Tomorrow marks day 50 of the ceasefire agreement. Fabian explains where the IDF is currently operating in the Gaza Strip and how quickly it could reassemble into war footing.

A Syria war monitor reported on Saturday that over 745 civilians from the Alawite minority had been killed in recent days by security forces and their allies, as authorities clash with militants loyal to the former government of Bashar al-Assad. Coincidentally or not, the IDF said troops captured and destroyed numerous weapons during missions in southern Syria. Is this publication of the IDF's Syria mission a message to the new government there?

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews were escorted by the military on Friday to the traditionally considered burial place of a Babylonian scholar on the Lebanon border, after weeks of illegal attempts to reach the site. Later on Friday, the IDF carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted Hezbollah military sites. We learn about the IDF's current operations in Lebanon during the ceasefire.

The Israel Defense Force’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, is to end his role in the coming weeks and retire from the military, the IDF announced on Friday. Many have seen this step as a de facto dismissal, as Hagari was not given a promotion for his work as IDF spokesman during the war. Fabian weighs in.

Marking International Women's Day, Fabian and Borschel-Dan have a brief conversation about the role of women in IDF leadership. As women are slowly rising in the ranks in combat roles, could we see a female chief of staff in the next 20 years?

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

745 civilians killed in clashes between Syrian regime and pro-Assad forces, says watchdog

IDF says it seized, destroyed weapons in ‘targeted raids’ in southern Syria

IDF says it struck terror targets in Lebanon and Gaza amid ceasefires

IDF escorts hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews to pray at tomb straddling Lebanon border

IDF spokesman Hagari to retire from military, in move widely seen as dismissal

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IMAGE: Israeli soldiers operating inside the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on February 9, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing.
0:06.0	Today is Sunday, March 9th, day 520 of the war.
0:10.9	Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our military reporter, Emmanuel Fabian.
0:14.3	Hi, Manny.
0:14.8	Thanks for joining me today.
0:16.1	Hi, Amanda.
0:16.8	Tomorrow marks day 50 of the ceasefire hostage release deal.
0:21.7	So where is the IDF still operating in the Gaza Strip and what is happening on the ground there?
0:28.4	All eyes around the world are on the current Syrian government's massacre of its al-O-White population,
0:34.3	and Israel has publicized some of its operations over the past week. And the IDF is also
0:40.9	operating in Lebanon, including escorting Qaedaidi Jewish worshippers on a mass pilgrimage just
0:47.6	over Israel's northern border. And in light of yesterday's International Women's Day, we're going to spend the last bit of the program focusing on the IDF's Women Warriors.
0:59.5	All this and much, much more when we're back.
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1:45.7	Visit jcfn.org slash TOI to request an information kit.
2:06.9	Tomorrow marks the day 50 of the ceasefire agreement.
2:16.6	And from what I understand, Manny, the IDF was meant to or is meant to pull out from the much-contested Philadelphia corridor by tomorrow.
2:21.9	So what do we know right now about that and where the IDF is in general operating in the Gaza Strip? So by my count, at least 50 days is tomorrow, 50 days from
	...

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