Day 478 - Hamas violates Gaza ceasefire; Lebanon truce expires

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 and
reporter Amy Spiro joins host Amanda
Borschel-Dan for today's episode.


Yesterday, the four female soldiers held hostage in Gaza for 477
days — Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag
— were reunited with their loved ones, embracing them with smiles
and tears after their release from captivity. Today, we
concentrate on the Hamas violation of the ceasefire deal due to
the failure to free civilian hostage Arbel Yehud and Israel’s
consequent decision to pause its pulling out from part of the
Netzarim Corridor — even as thousands of Palestinians gather on
the coastal road in central Gaza, waiting to return to the
Strip’s north.


US President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan,
Egypt and other Arab nations accept more Palestinian refugees
from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the
population to “just clean out” the war-torn area and create a
virtual clean slate. We discuss the feasibility of this idea, as
well as the Palestinian security prisoners who were deported to
Egypt yesterday.


The initial 60-day truce in Lebanon has run out this morning and
the Lebanese army is calling on its civilians to “exercise
self-restraint” and follow instructions as people attempt to
return to villages in south Lebanon, despite the IDF presence
there. We learn which parts of southern Lebanon the IDF still
holds and what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared
intentions are, and hear updates about the IDF’s presence in the
Syrian buffer zone.


And finally, we end with the bittersweet win of Yuval Raphael, a
survivor of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, who was
voted in last week as Israel’s contestant at the 2025 Eurovision
in Switzerland in May.


For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s
ongoing live blog.


Discussed articles include:


‘Unfazed’: Freed hostages say they knew they had to
project strength at Hamas handover


Israel bars Palestinians from returning to north Gaza in
row over hostage Arbel Yehud


Trump proposes Jordan, Egypt take in Gazans so decimated
Strip can be ‘cleaned out’


IDF warns Lebanese against return to border villages as
it prepares to extend stay


Israel won’t complete full withdrawal from Lebanon by
Sunday deadline, PM says


Yuval Raphael, survivor of Nova massacre, to represent
Israel at 2025 Eurovision


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podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.


IMAGE: Lebanese women hold portraits of of slain Hezbollah leader
Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, as they check the destruction in their
village Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel,
south Lebanon, January 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)


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