Day 580 - IDF poised to begin phase two of its plan to defeat Hamas

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 22 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.

According to the Hamas health ministry, two IDF airstrikes early Wednesday hit the Karama School in Tuffah, a suburb of Gaza City, killing 15. Later in the day, an Israeli strike near a restaurant and market in the city killed at least 33 people, including women and children. Fabian reports on these two incidents and assesses where the IDF is currently heading in Gaza based on statements from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir yesterday.

A Hamas commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern coastal Lebanese city of Sidon early Wednesday morning. What was Khaled Ahmad al-Ahmad responsible for?

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in two attacks carried out by Palestinians in the northern and southern West Bank on Wednesday afternoon. Even as the fighting in Gaza is ramping up, we learn that the concentration of forces are still largely in the West Bank.

As the army is searching for manpower, it apparently has no lack of woman power. Women still cannot enlist into all fighting units, but where they can, they’re showing up in record numbers. Fabian talks about this and a new rededicated unit -- where women can serve -- aimed at fighting drones along the northern border.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Hamas-run authorities say at least 48 killed in series of IDF strikes in Gaza

Hamas, Hezbollah commanders killed in IDF strikes in Lebanon

3 soldiers wounded, 2 seriously, in West Bank attacks

Ultra-Orthodox incensed as IDF chief orders boost in community’s conscription

IDF sees continued surge in female combat recruits amid Gaza war

Revived air defense battalion to aim new weapons at drone threat in north

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 and video edited by Thomas Girsch.

IMAGE: Soldiers stand near an Israeli army mobile canon at a position by Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on May 6, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing.
0:05.4	Today is Thursday, May 8th, day 580 of the war.
0:10.1	I'm Amanda Borschal Dan here with our military reporter, Emmanuel Fabian.
0:14.0	Hi, Manny.
0:14.5	Thanks for joining me this kind of early morning.
0:17.0	Amanda.
0:17.6	As Israel gears up to implement plan B of a plan to defeat Hamas, according to IDFT
0:24.1	for staff Ayal-Zamir. Yesterday, several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed dozens of Palestinians,
0:32.0	according to Hamas authorities. We'll hear more about these strikes, including one on a school, and many will also
0:39.3	update us on what is happening in general in the Gaza war. We'll also hear about a Hamas commander
0:44.5	who was killed in Lebanon, who was this man, and we'll learn about attacks on three Israeli
0:50.6	soldiers in the West Bank yesterday. In the second half of our program, we're going to
0:55.4	discuss the IDF manpower needs and maybe find a solution through women power. All of this,
1:01.8	and much, much more when we're back.
1:08.3	Tolkien's trilogy was a perfect book to send to a POW.
1:13.6	Very well-defined good and evil.
1:16.6	And it was a great escape from the physical environment that we were in.
1:21.6	It's November 16, 1973, and we're at the military section of the Lode airport.
1:26.6	A red and white, DC-6 passenger
1:29.6	plane lands, and out of it comes a stream of young men. Ten men known collectively as
1:35.6	Shvuyi Milchamitat Asha, the POWs of the War of Attrition. All of them had been held,
1:41.8	most of the time together, in an Egyptian prison for more than three and a half years.
	...

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