Day 593 - The 'Rafah model': How the IDF is now operating in Gaza

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 21 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.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza over the past two days. Fabian describes the situations that led to the deaths of Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu, 20, and Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22.

Even as Israel has begun to allow humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, the United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die within 48 hours. Yesterday, the United Nations received permission from Israel for 93 aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip, but questions remain over how it will get to the Gazans who need it -- and not be usurped by Hamas.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said IDF strikes killed at least 19 people overnight, as Israel faces mounting international pressure over its military offensive. Dozens of others have been reported dead in unverifiable numbers in the past several days since the operation ramped up on Saturday. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned in a video statement on Tuesday that the IDF is prepared to capture more territory in the Gaza Strip if Hamas does not agree to release the remaining hostages it is keeping in captivity. We hear what appears to be the IDF's operational strategy during Operation Gideon's Chariots.

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

For further reading:

IDF soldier killed in Strip; Hamas-linked agency raises day’s Gazan death toll to 91

Israel allows UN to bring 93 aid trucks into Gaza as international pressure mounts

Israel will seize more of Gaza if Hamas doesn’t free hostages, IDF chief warns

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: IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published on May 11, 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 Wednesday, May 21st, Day 593 of the war.
0:11.5	I'm Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our military correspondent, Emmanuel Fabian.
0:15.5	Hi, Many.
0:16.5	Thanks for joining me today.
0:17.5	Hi, Amanda.
0:18.5	Even as Israel has begun to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the United Nations
0:23.9	humanitarian aid chief Tom Fletcher claims that some 14,000 babies could die in the strip
0:30.9	in the next 48 hours.
0:33.2	We'll hear what aid is now being let in.
0:36.4	We'll also hear warnings coming from IDF Chief of Saff
0:39.1	Ayal Zemir to Hamas saying if you do not release the hostages, the army is poised to take
0:46.1	control of swaths of territory. And we'll learn about the fighting on the ground and where it may
0:52.4	go from here. All this and more when we're back.
1:02.0	Tolkien's trilogy was a perfect book to send to a POW. Very well-defined good and evil.
1:14.6	And it was a great escape from the physical environment that we were in. It's November 16, 1973, and we're at the military section of the Lode Airport.
1:20.6	A red and white, DC-6 passenger plane lands, and out of it comes a stream of young men.
1:26.6	Ten men known collectively as
1:29.2	Shvuyay Milcham It Atasha, the POWs of the War of Attrition. All of them had been held,
1:35.5	most of the time together, in an Egyptian prison for more than three and a half years.
1:40.2	So it was very much a kibbutz. I want to draw your attention to a small, tattered bag, Menachem Eini is holding.
1:48.2	That brown knapsack actually held a treasure.
	...

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