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 reporter Emanuel Fabian and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment and approved battle plans for “the various fronts,” the military said yesterday, as the country braced for an attack from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. How is the IDF ramping up its preparations for "peak alertness"?

The military wing of Hamas on Monday said that members of the terror group assigned to guard Israeli hostages killed a male captive and seriously wounded another two female hostages. The Israel Defense Forces said it could neither confirm nor deny the claim. Fabian tells us what little we know.

The United Nations Security Council is set to meet today to discuss Gaza in the wake of this weekend’s Israeli airstrike on what it says was a terror HQ inside a school that was being used as a shelter. Fabian updates with new numbers of terrorists killed during Saturday's strike.

In a petition filed Sunday to the Tel Aviv District Court, 14 Tel Aviv residents and the Rosh Yehudi group accused the municipality of facilitating sex-segregated prayers on public grounds by Muslims on their holidays, while preventing similar activities by Jews on Yom Kippur and beyond. Lidor gives background to this tinderbox issue.

Today is the annual Jewish day of mourning, Tisha B’Av. Lidor notes a sad new addition to the lamentations traditionally recited today.

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

Discussed articles include:

IDF on ‘peak alert’ for Iran, Hezbollah attacks; US expects it may happen this week

IDF chief approves multi-front battle plans as Israel girds for Iran, Hezbollah attack

Hamas says its guards killed a hostage, wounded two others; IDF investigating claim

IDF names another 12 Hamas, Islamic Jihad terrorists killed in Gaza school strike

Sidelined by war, fight over gender-segregated prayer in Tel Aviv resumes in court

October 7 trauma reconnects Israelis with a 2,000-year-old Jewish day of mourning

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IMAGE: Jewish men pray during Tisha B'Av, at the Wall Western, in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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