Daily Briefing April 9: Day 186 - Israel gets aid to Gaza; will allies be appeased?

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman discusses latest in hostage negotiations, why Netanyahu is talking about dates for Rafah operation and how Israel has handled humanitarian aid

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.

It is day 186 of the war with Hamas. Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

Berman speaks about the latest in hostage negotiations, the role that Qatar is playing in the talks, the fact that the US is leaning into the talks out of a desire to see a post-Hamas future, and the flexibility Israel is showing on certain details.

He then looks at the statement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made about a firm date for entering Gaza’s Rafah, the last “unconquered city,” says Berman. He notes some of the preparations made for evacuating Gazans from that area, but adds that it will be a unit-on-unit fight that “can’t be a tiny operation.”

Berman finishes the podcast with a careful look at how Israel has handled letting humanitarian aid into Gaza throughout the last six months, the lack of initiative in the matter on Israel’s part at the start of the war, and, now that the aid effort is finally happening, the expected increase in latitude from Israel’s allies.

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