Day 577 - IDF prepares to conquer and occupy Gaza
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2025
⏱️ 26 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 episode.
Late last night, Israel approved a plan to significantly broaden the military offensive against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. The plan provides for the “conquering of Gaza” and retaining the territory. One voice was heard above all in warning, that of Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who reportedly warned ministers that this could endanger the hostages held there. Fabian debriefs us on what he knows about this plan and what else is happening on the ground in Gaza.
Yesterday morning, a Houthi ballistic missile struck the Ben Gurion Airport compound. Fabian explains the initial conclusions about the failure and discusses Israel's anti-missile array, including a Patriot air-defense system that will be refurbished and sent to Ukraine.
Finally, we learn conclusions from the IDF's probe into the October 7, 2023, battles at Zikim Beach and hear that a squad of Israeli soldiers stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip abandoned civilians sheltering on the beach as Hamas terrorists invaded the coast.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
IDF planning major shift in Gaza aid delivery in bid to thwart Hamas diversion
UN humanitarian agency rejects new Israeli plan for Gaza aid deliveries
Netanyahu threatens Houthis, and Iran, as cabinet convenes after missile hits airport
Patriot air-defense system based in Israel to be refurbished, sent to Ukraine – NYT
Most foreign airlines halt flights to Tel Aviv after Houthi missile hits airport
In ‘massive failure,’ troops abandoned civilians at Zikim Beach on Oct. 7, IDF probe finds
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IMAGE: Troops operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released for publication on May 4, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:05.7 | Today is Monday, May 5th, Day 577 of the war. |
| 0:10.1 | Amanda Borchelle, Dan, here with our military reporter, Emmanuel Fabian. |
| 0:13.7 | Hi, Manny. Thanks for joining me today. |
| 0:15.3 | Hi, Amanda. |
| 0:16.2 | The security cabinet announced last night that it had approved the operational plan for the next |
| 0:22.0 | phase of the campaign in Gaza, which would mean actually, quote, unquote, conquering all of the |
| 0:27.7 | Gaza's strip and holding the territories. So, Manny will discuss what this actually means on the ground. |
| 0:34.6 | We will also learn about the probe into the Houthi ballistic missile that |
| 0:38.8 | struck the compound of the Ben-Gurion International Airport yesterday and the probe into why it |
| 0:45.3 | actually did land on the ground. And finally, we're going to turn to the IDF's probe into the |
| 0:51.7 | October 7th battle at the Zikim Beach, which was released yesterday. |
| 0:57.0 | All of this and more when we're back. |
| 1:04.2 | Tolkien's trilogy was a perfect book to send to a POW. |
| 1:10.0 | Very well-defined good and evil, and it was a great escape from the |
| 1:15.5 | physical environment that we were in. It's November 16, 1973, and we're at the military section |
| 1:22.0 | of the Lode Airport. A red and white, DC-6 passenger plane lands, and out of it comes a stream of young men. |
| 1:29.2 | Ten men known collectively as Shvuyay Milchamitat Asha, the POWs of the War of Attrition. |
| 1:36.3 | All of them had been held, most of the time together, in an Egyptian prison for more than three |
| 1:41.4 | and a half years. |
| 1:42.5 | So it was very much a kibbutz. |
| 1:45.7 | I want to draw your attention to a small, tattered bag, Manachem Eini is holding. |
... |
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