Day 597 - As IDF increases Gaza strikes,ex-hostages share fears
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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 episode.
Following reports of nine children killed from one family by an Israeli strike, Magid discusses the recent toll on Gazan children and the need to carefully weigh statements from Gaza Health Ministry, and the international headlines about this loss.
Magid also reviews statements made this weekend by released hostages and families of hostage members regarding the frightening experiences of captives in Gaza during Israeli strikes, including a harrowing story of narrow escape to safety by recently released hostage Edan Alexander. The statements highlight the lack of certainty felt by hostages and their families as the IDF increases the intensity of fighting in Gaza. He also mentions recent comments made by Democrats party head Yair Golan and colleagues, and how Israelis are expressing similar feelings in polls about the ongoing war.
As Israel continues to manage the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip following the 11-week blockade meant to squeeze Hamas, Magid discusses an American program that will handle the aid distribution, including non-food items and medicines.
He looks at the funding mechanisms and the distribution process, and whether this plan is close to operational.
Magid looks at comments made by Israel's Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, during a PragerU podcast, in which he criticizes the Israeli opposition, and relates to the charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dismissing them out of hand and relating to topics that diplomats don't generally touch. Leiter also talks about implementing President Donald Trump's plan to relocate Gazans.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Gazans say 9 children of doctor couple killed in Israeli strike; IDF looking into report
IDF strikes on Hamas tunnel nearly killed Edan Alexander in his last month of captivity — report
Letter shows Israel may let humanitarian groups in Gaza stay in charge of non-food aid
Israeli envoy to US accuses Netanyahu’s political opponents of ‘blood libel’
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: Protestors at Begin Road in Tel Aviv on May 24, 2025, carry a large banner, 'Save the Hostages End the War' (Credit: Dana Reany/Israeli Pro-Democracy Movement)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Visual's Daily Briefing. It's Sunday, May 25th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. |
| 0:08.7 | I'm speaking today with U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid. It is day 597 of the war. Hi, Jacob. |
| 0:16.6 | Hi, Jessica. Good to be with you again. It's good to be together today. It is the start of a new week, and the IDF has said that all of its standing army infantry and armored brigades are now deployed to the Gaza Strip, |
| 0:28.2 | as Israel prepares to further intensify its offensive against Hamas. |
| 0:33.4 | We'll discuss the latest regarding the ongoing offensive, including claims yesterday from Gaza |
| 0:39.7 | that an Israeli strike in Chen Yunus killed nine children of one family. There were also statements |
| 0:46.7 | by released hostages about the fears engendered by Israeli strikes while they were still in captivity. |
| 0:53.1 | We'll also talk about a possible shift in |
| 0:55.0 | eight operations in Gaza and political comments made by Israel's ambassador to the U.S. |
| 1:01.3 | Yathiel later. Stay with us. |
| 1:08.4 | 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. A red and white, DC-6 passenger |
| 1:29.8 | plane lands, and out of it comes a stream of young men. Ten men known collectively as |
| 1:35.8 | Shvueh Milchamitatashah, the POWs of the War of Atrition. All of them had been held, most of the |
| 1:42.4 | time together, in an Egyptian prison for more than three |
| 1:45.7 | and a half years. So it was very much a kibbutz. I want to draw your attention to a small, |
| 1:52.2 | tattered bag, Menachem Eini is holding. That brown knapsack actually held a treasure, a manuscript that would |
| 1:59.1 | make these men in their unlikely story momentarily famous. |
| 2:02.7 | It was the fruit of their communal work during the years in which they were held in one of |
| 2:06.9 | Egypt's most notorious dungeons. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.