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.
Reporter Amy Spiro, filling in for diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman, and environmental correspondent Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.
Spiro says there is optimism that the proposed hostage-ceasefire deal will be signed on Wednesday or Thursday, and reviews the proposed details of the deal — very similar to what was proposed last May — with a first stage in which 33 hostages are to be released in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and negotiations on a second phase 16 days after the ceasefire takes effect.
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Spiro notes that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls this a gradual deal, not a partial deal.
She reviews how the deal would be approved: first by the security cabinet and then by the whole cabinet. She notes that Likud ministers have said the deal will pass, even without far-right politicians National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir or Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on board, and that opposition leader Yair Lapid has said he will do what is necessary to ensure the deal goes through despite any political implications.
Surkes discusses new reforms aimed at the range of goods imported from the European Union, intended to lower prices on goods in Israel.
Surkes also looks at a Tel Aviv University study regarding the lack of cave art in the Levant, and a newspaper that looks at how Israel could become a better place.
The printed newspaper, written only by bereaved families, aligns with the latest Yoni Bloch song that Steinberg speaks about briefly, with an AI clip that imagines the hostages back home and peace in the Middle East.
For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.
Discussed articles include:
Smotrich undecided on hostage deal at this ‘fateful moment’
Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal on brink of finalization, as reports spell out details
Israeli officials: Deal will see 33 hostages freed in 1st stage, most of them alive
Ben Gvir says he repeatedly foiled hostage deals, urges Smotrich to help him stop this one
Along with soaring prices, Israel rings in 2025 with economic reforms, but will they work?
Israeli researchers devise woolly solution to enigma of why Levant has no cave art
AI music clip imagines all hostages released, a new MidEast
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