Day 779 - Hamas needs a ceasefire, but doesn't want to disarm
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2025
⏱️ 18 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.
Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
As Hamas leaders meet in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence officers to discuss the ceasefire, Berman says that the terrorist group wants to limit the ability of Israel to strike, and wants to deepen their control over 40% of the Gaza Strip, making it more inevitable that Hamas will be seen as the rulers of Gaza.
Berman discusses his second visit to the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, focusing on the American tone of the center and the civil governance and nation-building efforts underway at the site. He notes that the CMCC won't be the body that will force Hamas to disarm, which will only happen through Israel's military pressure or diplomatic pressure from Turkey and Egypt.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses several questions in an interview with Abu Ali Express, a popular local Telegram channel, says Berman, including ruling out a Palestinian state, while also discussing the possibility of Saudi normalization and continued talks with Turkey.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Top Hamas team said in Cairo to discuss escalation in Gaza, transition to 2nd stage of Trump plan
Optimism abounds at Gaza coordination center, but violence puts truce at risk
As US dives into remaking Gaza, shades of nation-building come into focus
Netanyahu: ‘There will not be a Palestinian state,’ even at cost of ties with Saudis
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IMAGE: Islamic Jihad militants search for the bodies of hostages north of Nuseirat, Gaza strip, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Sunday, November 23rd, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. |
| 0:09.2 | Just want to mention before we begin today, something that we have at Times of Israel, a series of Israeli documentary films. |
| 0:15.2 | You can watch from home with English subtitles. After each film, viewers can ask questions directly to the filmmakers in exclusive |
| 0:22.1 | Q&A webinars that we're hosting. It's called Docuination, and it's available to members of |
| 0:27.5 | the Times of Visual community. You can go to timesavisual.com slash films for more info. |
| 0:33.5 | Okay, back to today's podcast. I'm speaking today with diplomatic correspondent, Laser Berman. |
| 0:38.4 | Hello, Laser. Good morning. Shavua Tov. |
| 0:41.4 | Shavua Tov and good morning. It is day 779 of the war. A delegation of Hamas officials are in Cairo |
| 0:51.6 | to discuss the recent escalation of hostilities in the Gotz Strip. |
| 0:55.9 | Laser will take us through that and what we could be seeing ahead in the days to come. |
| 1:01.2 | We'll also talk about Lasers visit late last week to the Civil Military Coordination Center, |
| 1:08.5 | the CMCC in Kiriakat, |
| 1:16.1 | and a recent interview conducted with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| 1:18.0 | So stay with us. |
| 1:29.6 | Ladieser, let's start with the Hamas officials who are in Cairo. |
| 1:38.2 | They are discussing the recent IDF strike in Gaza that killed five Hamas officials. |
| 1:44.5 | And, you know, there's the headline that we're seeing over the last couple of days, you know, about the ceasefire. |
| 1:51.9 | Could this, what will this do to the still standing ceasefire? So what are you hearing and what are you thinking? Yeah, so this, we're still in the first phase of the ceasefire. The ceasefire |
| 1:56.7 | that was announced on October 10th, it went into effect on October 13th. So now we are, what, |
| 2:03.4 | six weeks into it, and it really has lost a lot of momentum. And it's really not clear how we get |
| 2:09.8 | to the second phase. I'll say that it's not clear. Forso, Hamas wants to avoid the second phase, |
| 2:15.6 | and they never did sign on to the second phase. |
... |
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