Hamas on Wednesday issued a ten-day ultimatum to a Gaza militia leader accused of working with Israeli security forces, warning he would be tried in absentia if he failed to surrender. Yasser Abu Shabab, 32, from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, is facing a series of allegations, including treason, espionage, and leading an armed rebellion. According to Hamas officials, Abu Shabab commands weapons reportedly supplied by Israel and heads a group they consider a direct threat to Gaza’s stability. “The announcement is a clear message to any party thinking about fomenting division within the resistance,” Hamas said. Abu Shabab leads the Popular Forces, a militia that portrays itself as a civilian defense group distributing aid and protecting local residents.

Ye, the U.S. rapper formerly known as Kanye West, was recently stripped of an Australian visa after he released his single “Heil Hitler,” a government minister said on Wednesday. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed Ye has been traveling for years to Australia, where his wife of three years, Bianca Censori, was born. Her family live in Melbourne. Burke said “Heil Hitler,” released in May, promoted Nazism. The song has been criticized as an antisemitic tribute to German dictator Adolf Hitler. “He’s been coming to Australia for a long time. He’s got family here. And he’s made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the ’Heil Hitler’ song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia,” Burke told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Two serious traffic accidents occurred on Wednesday evening in Chareidi neighborhoods, one in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem, where a child was killed, and the second in the Ramat Beit Shemesh Daled neighborhood of Beit Shemesh, where a girl was critically injured. The accident in Jerusalem occurred at the intersection of Petah Tikva and Zichron Yaakov streets in the Romema neighborhood of the city. The boy was critically injured and was pronounced dead minutes later. MDA emergency medics Mordechai Musai, Baruch Eliyahu Hoffman, and Eli Raymond reported, “When we arrived at the scene of the accident, there was a lot of commotion. We saw the cyclist, a child about 5 years old, lying unconscious after being hit by a car.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee in New York City’s mayoral election, offered an apology for past comments widely criticized as antisemitic, describing his ability to acknowledge mistakes as a personal strength as he seeks support among Jewish voters ahead of the general election. Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a longtime talk radio personality, has faced renewed scrutiny over remarks in which he portrayed Jews as power-hungry and dependent on public benefits, and claimed antisemitic attitudes were “in his DNA” as a non-Jew. Speaking to The Forward on Tuesday, Sliwa called those statements wrong and said he had apologized before but wanted to restate his regret.

Iran’s president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors’ ability to track Tehran’s program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. “I don’t think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,” Araghchi said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments that talks could start as early as this week.

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday identified the soldier killed in combat in northern Gaza as Sgt. Yaniv Michalovitch hy”d, a 19-year-old tank crew member from Rechovot. Michalovitch served in the 82nd Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, known as “Saar Migolan.” According to the IDF, two other members of the same battalion — a tank commander and another soldier — were seriously wounded in the same incident. In a separate battle elsewhere in northern Gaza, a soldier from the elite Egoz unit of the Commando Brigade was also seriously injured, military officials said. All wounded soldiers were evacuated to hospitals for medical treatment, and their families have been informed. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Hamas on Wednesday cracked open the door to a potential ceasefire with Israel but rejected President Donald Trump’s latest US-backed initiative unless it guarantees a permanent end to the war in Gaza. Trump on Tuesday announced that Israel had agreed in principle to a 60-day pause in fighting, urging Hamas to seize what he called a narrowing window for a deal before conditions on the ground deteriorate even further. The president insisted the proposed truce could be the first step toward ending the war that has ravaged Gaza for nearly 21 months. Hamas, however, responded by reiterating its hardline demand: that any ceasefire must fully end the war and include a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi on Wednesday sent a strongly worded letter to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman saying that the IDF’s Home Front Command is failing to provide adequate warnings of missile attacks to the Chareidi sector. Karhi wrote, “Yesterday, Israeli citizens, except for the Chareidim, received alerts about missile fire from Yemen towards Israel. They received the alerts on their smartphones, on television, on the radio, and on siren loudspeakers. “In contrast, Chareidi citizens, who own kosher phones, without television, and who listen to Chareidi radio networks, did not receive advance warnings and life-saving instructions in the north and south.

The Iranian military loaded naval mines onto vessels in the Persian Gulf last month, a move that increased concerns in Washington that Tehran was preparing to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, two US officials told Reuters. The previously unreported preparations, which were picked up by US intelligence, occurred some time after Operation Rising Lion began on June 13, the officials said. The preparations of the mines, which were not deployed, indicate that Tehran was seriously considering blocking the strait, the world’s most important oil passageway. About a third of the world’s seaborne oil traffic passes through the strait from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Bahrain, as well as liquefied natural gas from Qatar.

IDF forces carried out a special operation overnight Tuesday in southern Syria and arrested a terrorist cell operated by Iran. The operation was carried out following intelligence information compiled in recent weeks during the interrogations of other terrorists who had been detained. During the arrest, weapons were also found, including several guns and grenades. The IDF spokesperson said, “The division’s forces continue to operate and prevent the entrenchment of any terrorist element in Syria in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel and the residents of the Golan Heights in particular.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)