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 231 of the war with Hamas. Political reporter Tal Schneider and environment reporter Sue Surkes join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will "soon" give an address to a joint session of Congress. Schneider wonders at Netanyahu's motivations for this speech and compares it to his previous House address.

Likud members and members of Knesset are taking note of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's recent challenge to Netanyahu's decision-making during the war. What is Schneider seeing about their “pragmatism”?

In the first three months of the war, activity was at a low in the Knesset. But Schneider points out that with the declaration of war, the government was automatically accorded broad authorities with very little oversight. She brings us new research.

About a year ago, a research team led by Tel Aviv University’s Omri Bronstein found that the entire Black Sea urchin population living on coral reefs off the southern city of Eilat had been wiped out in weeks. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Surkes brings the full story.

The State of Nature 2023, the tenth report of the National Ecosystem Assessment Program (“Maarag” in Hebrew), was published in the run-up to Wednesday’s World Biodiversity Day. There’s good news -- and a lot of bad news. 

For the latest updates, please see The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF recovers bodies of three hostages from north Gaza, who were killed on October 7

Netanyahu will ‘soon’ address joint session of US Congress, House speaker announces

Deadly pathogen that wiped out Eilat’s sea urchins reaches Indian Ocean

World Biodiversity Day report: Israel’s butterflies, birds, reptiles in serious decline

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

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: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks against the US-led international nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 before a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 3, 2015. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)