Daily Briefing Feb. 4: Day 121 - Anatomy of the fraying Israel-Egypt alliance

Arab affairs reporter Luca Pacchiani on Hamas’s hostage deal flip-flopping; reporter Canaan Lidor on Kfar Aza returnees, the rescue/looting of pets from Gaza, and a French flame war

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 121 of the war. Arab affairs reporter Gianluca Pacchiani and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

In 2005, Egypt and Israel signed the “Philadelphi agreement,” which stipulated that Egypt was responsible for securing the 14 kilometer-long axis with 750 soldiers. A slew of Israeli diplomatic faux pas is causing Egypt to question its relationship with Israel. Pacchiani explains why.

According to the Wall Street Journal, internal divisions among Hamas leaders are preventing the Palestinian terror group from backing a proposed hostage release deal that would include a pause to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, and they’ve also been changing their minds. Pacchiani picks at this knot.

Lidor recently spent time on Kibbutz Kfar Aza with Shahar Shnorman and his wife Ayelet Cohen, the first two kibbutznikim to move back there. We hear what life is like there for the couple.

Soldiers, mostly reservists, have been moved by the starving animals they’re seeing in Gaza and have rescued some. But rescue is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to animals that may have monetary value. We hear more.

Two French celebrities’ online row over the Israel-Hamas war has taken an unusual turn, attracting extensive media coverage. This story has almost every cultural trend in it — class warfare, gender issues, ageism and of course, antisemitism. We hear how it’s playing out.

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