Day 744 - As skirmishes continue in Gaza, when is the war over?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 October 2025
⏱️ 20 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.
Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
As two more hostages' bodies are released to Israel, leaving 16 captives' bodies in Gaza, Fabian discusses the moment when Hamas will not be able to locate additional bodies and will require the help of other countries, creating a longer process.
With terror operatives attacking Israeli troops in Gaza on a nearly daily basis, Fabian talks about reaching the end of war, with IDF troops still operating in more than half of the Gaza Strip's territory, demolishing tunnels, and enforcing the yellow line of withdrawal.
After two soldiers were wounded by an explosive device in the West Bank, Fabian discusses whether this denotes a significant increase in activity in the area, given that incidents have been on a downturn since the start of the war.
He also looks at an IDF strike that killed a Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon, another breach of the nearly year-long ceasefire as individual operatives haven't given up, and which is why the IDF is still present in the area.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Ronen Engel, Thailand’s Sonthaya Oakkharasr identified as hostage bodies returned by Hamas
Hamas says it returned 2 more bodies of hostages; remains taken to forensic lab for ID
2 troops wounded by bomb thrown in West Bank; reports of settler attacks on Palestinians
IDF says strike kills Hezbollah operative acting in breach of truce in southern Lebanon
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves.
IMAGE: Hamas uses bulldozers to search for the bodies of Israeli hostages held in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 18, 2025. (Photo by Saeed Mohammed/Flash90)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the time of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Sunday, October 19th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with military correspondent Emmanuel Fabian. Hey, Manny. How are you doing? Hi, good morning. Good morning. It is day 744 of the war. |
| 0:20.8 | Ronan Engel from Kupitz and Eur-Os was identified as44 of the war. |
| 0:26.5 | Ronan Engel from Kupitz near Oos was identified as one of the two bodies returned to Israel overnight, |
| 0:30.1 | now leaving 16 bodies of hostages in Gaza. |
| 0:34.4 | We'll talk about the return of those two bodies of hostages. |
| 0:39.4 | What is happening currently with the IDF in Gaza? We'll also talk about troops in the West Bank and a Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon. Stay with us. |
| 0:49.3 | This episode is brought to you by the Jewish communal fund, helping individuals and families make the |
| 0:55.5 | most of their charitable giving. When new tax laws taking effect in 26, 2025 is the optimal time |
| 1:03.3 | to open or contribute to a donor-advised fund. Open a JCF fund with as little as $5,000, |
| 1:10.6 | choose how your funds are invested, and make grants to any IRS qualified charity on your own timeline. |
| 1:18.0 | JCF's donor advised funds make it easy to manage your giving, maximize your tax savings, and make a lasting impact. |
| 1:26.5 | Open your fund by December 31st to lock in 2025 tax savings. |
| 1:31.7 | Learn more at jcfnY.org. Okay, Manny, so we are now at the count of 16 bodies of captives in Gaza. |
| 1:56.4 | What can you tell us about where we are right now and that? |
| 2:00.8 | So, of course, as you mentioned, Ronan Engel's body was returned by Hamas last night, |
| 2:06.6 | along with the body of another hostage. |
| 2:08.7 | As far as I understand, that body has been identified as well, |
| 2:12.5 | but the name has not yet been made public. |
| 2:14.7 | We'll probably hear about that later in the day, |
| 2:17.2 | which leaves us with |
| 2:18.1 | 16 bodies of hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas has been saying that it's unable to return |
| 2:26.3 | all of them immediately. It needs special equipment to reach some of them. Of course, Hamas held many of |
... |
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 2026.