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 correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
As two more hostages' bodies are released to Israel, leaving 16 captives' bodies in Gaza, Fabian discusses the moment when Hamas will not be able to locate additional bodies and will require the help of other countries, creating a longer process.
With terror operatives attacking Israeli troops in Gaza on a nearly daily basis, Fabian talks about reaching the end of war, with IDF troops still operating in more than half of the Gaza Strip's territory, demolishing tunnels, and enforcing the yellow line of withdrawal.
After two soldiers were wounded by an explosive device in the West Bank, Fabian discusses whether this denotes a significant increase in activity in the area, given that incidents have been on a downturn since the start of the war.
He also looks at an IDF strike that killed a Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon, another breach of the nearly year-long ceasefire as individual operatives haven't given up, and which is why the IDF is still present in the area.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Ronen Engel, Thailand’s Sonthaya Oakkharasr identified as hostage bodies returned by Hamas
Hamas says it returned 2 more bodies of hostages; remains taken to forensic lab for ID
2 troops wounded by bomb thrown in West Bank; reports of settler attacks on Palestinians
IDF says strike kills Hezbollah operative acting in breach of truce in southern Lebanon
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IMAGE: Hamas uses bulldozers to search for the bodies of Israeli hostages held in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 18, 2025. (Photo by Saeed Mohammed/Flash90)
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