Daily Briefing Dec. 13: Day 68 - Daring Gaza rescue missions with tragic consequences

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian on a series of deadly blasts in Gaza City and the mandate to return fallen Israelis; filmmaker Eli Katzoff on ToI’s ongoing Times of War video series

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.

Today is day 68 of the war. Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and filmmaker Eli Katzoff, creator of our Times of War video series, join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s podcast.

This morning brought the news of 10 fallen soldiers in Gaza. We’re hearing that many of them died in a series of blasts while searching buildings in a Gaza City suburb. Fabian fills us in on this tragic operation and what is happening on the ground in Gaza in general.

Of the 115 Israeli soldiers killed to date in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas, 20 were killed by so-called friendly fire and other accidents. What is the army doing to prevent more such deaths?

Yesterday we heard the IDF announce that it had recovered the bodies of civilian Eden Zacharia and IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, who were seized by Hamas on October 7. But this retrieval operation came at a terrible cost. Fabian speaks about the operation and the IDF’s mandate to retrieve the fallen.

Finally, filmmaker Eli Katzoff speaks about the behind-the-scenes decision-making that goes into the ongoing Times of War video series, now featured on The Times of Israel.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.