Day 734 - Joy as Trump announces all hostages to be freed 'very soon'
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 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.
US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
US President Donald Trump announced overnight Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have signed off on the “first phase” of his plan to secure the release of all hostages and end the Gaza war, two years and a day after the fighting was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 in southern Israel, with another 250 taken hostage to Gaza.
Speculation had mounted that an announcement was imminent after photographers managed to snap photos of a note that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed to Trump during a White House meeting. Trump later took to his Truth Social platform, saying, “This means that ALL of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw [its] troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable and everlasting Peace.”
Trump’s announcement of the agreement set off a flood of emotion early Thursday morning among freed captives and families and Israelis gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where mass weekly rallies have been held to call for the hostages’ return, cheering the news and chanting, “Nobel Prize to Trump.”
In Gaza as well, residents cheered the news of the deal even as the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee cautioned that the area north of Wadi Gaza — the northern part of the Strip — is still defined as a combat zone.
Magid takes us through what we know of the pressures that pushed all sides to sign onto the deal and what obstacles remain. We hear about the probable timeline for the release of the hostages -- and a victory-lap visit by Trump to the region next week.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Trump announces deal reached on first part of his Gaza plan: ‘All hostages will be freed very soon’
Ex-captives and hostage families respond with tears, relief to news of upcoming release
Trump, after securing deal: ‘This is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East’
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IMAGE: People dance as they celebrate following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting, at a plaza known as hostages square in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:09.7 | Today is Thursday, October 9th, Day 734 of the war. |
| 0:15.2 | Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our U.S. Bureau Chief, Jacob Magid. |
| 0:19.1 | Jacob, thank you so much for joining me on this truly monumental day. |
| 0:23.6 | Historic, right? |
| 0:24.9 | Historic, for sure, as U.S. President Donald Trump announced overnight that Israel and |
| 0:31.0 | Hamas have signed off on the first phase of his plan to secure the release of all |
| 0:36.3 | hostages and end the Gaza war. |
| 0:39.1 | This comes two years and a day after the fighting was sparked by Hamas' October 7, |
| 0:44.2 | 2023 massacre of 1,200 in southern Israel, with another 250 taken hostage to Gaza. |
| 0:53.9 | Speculation, of course, was mounting that the announcement was coming after photographers |
| 0:58.7 | managed to snap photos of a note that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed to Trump |
| 1:04.5 | during a White House meeting. |
| 1:07.0 | Trump later took to his truth social platform announcing this means that all of the hostages |
| 1:12.9 | will be released very soon and Israel will withdraw its troops to an agreed upon line as the |
| 1:18.4 | first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace. So it is very early in Israel and very |
| 1:27.2 | late in the U.S. And details are still solidifying. So it is very early in Israel and very late in the US, and details are still solidifying. |
| 1:30.8 | So Jacob will discuss all that we know now after the break. |
| 1:41.4 | Nothing has given me such delight as the proposal to establish a Hebrew university in Jerusalem. |
| 1:47.0 | More than a century has passed since Albert Einstein wrote this in his diary. |
| 1:51.6 | A century of cutting-edge research and innovation at Israel's leading academic institution |
| 1:56.5 | that Einstein, alongside many other luminaries, helped establish. |
... |
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