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.
Culture editor Jessica Steinberg joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
Steinberg, who has covered hostages' families and their struggle to return their loved ones for the past two years, relates several anecdotes of reunions and other moving moments. We hear about how several favored performing artists have delivered personal performances to their freshly freed fans and about a pair of prankster brothers.
At recording time, a total of seven of the eight hostage bodies returned by Hamas over the past two days have been identified. They are named as: Yossi Sharabi, Cpt. Daniel Perez, Bipin Joshi, Guy Illouz, Uriel Baruch, Tamir Nimrodi, and Eitan Levy. A fourth body transferred last night does not belong to a hostage, according to the IDF. We hear about the bereaved families who are again ramping up the protests to close the circle on this painful chapter.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
4 bodies, purportedly of unnamed hostages, return to Israel after threat to limit aid
‘Coming back to life’: Freed hostages’ families give updates, thanks; some snub PM
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IMAGE: Relatives of hostages whose bodies are still in Gaza Strip shout slogans calling for their release at the plaza known as Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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