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.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman and reporter Ariela Karmel join host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

After hostage family members met with members of the Trump administration in the White House on Tuesday, Berman discusses the latest developments in the hostage negotiations, with Hamas continuing to leverage the remaining hostages for political gain while negotiators say Hamas must accept US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff’s latest proposal.

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Berman also looks at Iran’s rejection of a nuclear deal proposal, after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US proposal went against the country’s national interest of continuing to enrich uranium. Berman notes that Iran is continuing to negotiate and wants a deal of some kind, particularly one that will protect it against future Israeli attacks.

Berman describes one of the aid sites in Gaza that was created by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and the complications of funneling Gazans into the space to receive their aid packages. He notes that the aid centers are closed today to fine-tune the process and prepare safe access routes after the IDF opened fire at Palestinians who had approached troops after straying off a pre-approved path to a Rafah distribution site.

Berman also looks at Spain’s decision to cancel another arms deal with Israel, spiking a $325 million system that would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advance Defense Systems. Berman notes that Spain is a long-time critic of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Karmel speaks about government settlement policies that incentivize Israelis to move to the West Bank due to rising housing costs inside Israel, and how that situation has been concretized by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

She also describes the launch of a book by released hostage Eli Sharabi — the first book by a former hostage — and his determination to keep living despite the personal tragedies he has experienced.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

Senior Israeli official: Hamas ‘must understand it has to accept the Witkoff outline’

Key US consulting firm withdraws from American- and Israeli-backed Gaza aid agency

Israel punches back at UN chief for demanding probe into Gaza aid site shooting

Trump insists no enrichment in Iran deal after US said to offer limited nuke activity

Spain reneges on $325m purchase of anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael

Is the government using the housing crisis to drive the settlement movement?

A book to wake up the world: Ex-hostage Eli Sharabi launches memoir of captivity and survival

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 and video edited by Thomas Girsch.