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.

It is day 244 of the war with Hamas. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in our Jerusalem offices for today’s episode.

A Saudi outlet reported this morning that Hamas officials rejected the Israeli-driven proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal, claiming it was fundamentally different from the deal presented by US President Joe Biden. How credible should we consider this Saudi report?

An Israel Defense Forces reserve soldier was killed and 10 people were wounded in a Hezbollah-claimed attack with explosive-laden drones on northern Israel on Wednesday. The IDF announced the death of the soldier on Thursday morning, naming him as Staff Sgt. (res.) Refael Kauders, 39, a father of five young children from Tzur Hadassah, just outside Jerusalem. Is the IDF prepared for an all-out war in the north?

Police arrested 18 suspects for violent offenses on Wednesday as clashes broke out during the Jerusalem Day Flag March, in which tens of thousands of mostly national religious Israelis marched through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City to celebrate the capital’s reunification in 1967. Horovitz addresses incendiary statements made by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and describes the scene at the march.

Yesterday a report by the FakeReporter organization and The New York Times was published alleging that the Israeli government has been waging a months-long campaign to covertly influence American lawmakers through AI-generated social media posts by fake users with the help of a $2 million contract with an Israeli firm called Stoic. Horovitz weighs in on several of the disturbing aspects of this report.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Saudi report: Hamas rejects hostage-ceasefire deal proposal without clear guarantee war will end

Why Israel needs the hostage-ceasefire deal, and must be wary if Sinwar takes it

Reserve soldier killed, 10 hurt, in Hezbollah drone attack on northern town

Far-right violence, chants of ‘Death to Arabs,’ at Jerusalem Day Flag March in Old City

Ben Gvir boasts of letting Jews pray on Temple Mount; Netanyahu: Status quo unchanged

Diaspora Ministry funded fake social media posts to spread pro-Israel content — NYT

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas’s onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

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