Day 335 - PM speaks to world, says hostage deal many steps away

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. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. At a press conference to the foreign press last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his positions on the state of the war in Gaza, and particularly his focus on the Strip’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and his refusal to remove Israeli troops from there for a potential ceasefire-and-hostage release deal. Horovitz assesses whether there was different messaging coming out of the two languages and speaks about the Philadelphi sticking point and how other Israeli officials view it. August saw the most rockets fired from Lebanon amid the ongoing war, according to new data published by the Shin Bet security agency this morning. There are some 68,000 displaced people from the northern district from 43 settlements and their return is now a stated war goal. But, has Netanyahu given any indication of when? The first phase of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has concluded successfully, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, providing nearly 200,000 children in the center of the Strip with their initial dose. More than 500 teams, consisting of nearly 2,200 health and community outreach workers, took part in the campaign. Horovitz weighs in on what this cooperation may indicate. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: Under Netanyahu, Israel is in existential danger ‘A step away from victory’? Netanyahu says his April claim was not intended literally Top Netanyahu aide doesn’t rule out pullout from Gaza-Egypt border in deal’s 2nd phase Hezbollah pounds Galilee with over 100 rockets, causing heavy damage but no injuries WHO hails success of polio 1st phase vaccination campaign in Gaza Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves. IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands before a map during a press conference at the Government Press Office in Jerusalem, Sept. 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool via AP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.