Defense Minister Yisrael Katz has instructed the IDF to seize additional points in the buffer zone in Syria along the Iraeli-Syrian border. Katz also ordered the establishment of a security zone “free from heavy strategic weapons and terrorist infrastructure” beyond the buffer zone that could threaten the State of Israel. IDF troops have also been instructed to establish contact with the Druze communities in the area and other populations in southern Syria.

Hamas submitted an initial list of hostages who would be released in a potential hostage deal, the UK-based Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Monday. The list includes elderly and ill hostages and four hostages with US citizenship. According to the report, Hamas also submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in the deal. The report claims that hostage deal negotiations, which are being carried out in Cairo, are at an “advanced stage” and that an Israeli delegation will arrive in Egypt on Monday to finalize details. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced a bid Friday to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, the latest example of generational shakeup that is beginning to ripple across the Democratic Party in the wake of their election losses this year. The New York lawmaker, who at 35 would by far be the youngest to serve in the post, threw her hat in the ring in a letter to colleagues, saying this “is not a position I seek lightly.” “The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one,” she wrote.

A surprising study of temperature-related deaths in Mexico upends conventional thinking about what age group is hit hardest by heat. Researchers found at higher temperatures and humidity, the heat kills far more young people under 35 than those older than 50. For decades, health and weather experts have warned that the elderly and the youngest children were most vulnerable in heat waves. But this study looking at all deaths in Mexico from 1998 to 2019 shows that when the combination of humidity and temperature reach uncomfortable levels, such as the mid to upper 80s Fahrenheit (around 30 degrees Celsius) and 50% relative humidity, there were nearly 32 temperature-related deaths of people 35 years old for every temperature-related death of someone 50 and older.

Members of Israel’s security cabinet are furious with Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara who refuses to delay Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption case despite the new security challenges Israel is facing following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Baharav-Miara also refused a previous request to allow Netanyahu to testify twice a week instead of three times a week despite the fact that such a demand is unprecedented. On Motzei Shabbos, cabinet ministers confronted Baharav-Miara. In the presence of Netanyahu, Minister Itamar Ben Gvir began by saying: “I know that what I say may lead to another investigation against me. It’s a few minutes before midnight. The Prime Minister will be here until the early morning and also tomorrow.

The United Kingdom’s Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has ordered the removal of a video game from the UK which allows players to simulate Hamas-style terrorist attacks on Israelis. The game, titled Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, was made unavailable to UK users of the digital distribution platform Steam following CTIRU’s intervention, according to a report by TheGamer. Valve Corporation, the parent company of Steam, complied with the request but has yet to remove the game globally, leaving it accessible in countries such as the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Jewish advocacy groups have strongly condemned the game, describing its content as glorifying terrorism and inciting violence.

As tuition costs rise and families struggle to keep up, the outcry for solutions has grown louder. One common suggestion is to demand schools open their financial books to the public so parents can scrutinize their spending. While this might sound appealing in theory, it’s an unrealistic and fundamentally flawed approach. Here’s why: Private schools are just that—private. They were created by individuals or groups offering a service, not by communal organizations obligated to serve everyone at any price. These schools may rely on donors and tuition-paying parents, but that doesn’t make them public entities accountable to everyone’s financial scrutiny. The responsibility to educate children lies with parents, not schools.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that the U.S. government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and that Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power in Damascus. “We think we can get him back,” Biden told reporters at the White House, while acknowledging that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. “Assad should be held accountable.” Biden said officials must still identify exactly where Tice is after his disappearance in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus. “We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” he said.

Russia announced today on Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have received political asylum in Russia and arrived in Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier issued a statement indicating that Assad left Damascus and “ordered a non-violent transfer of power.” A few minutes before the Russian announcement, a Russian transport plane took off from the Russian base in Latakia, Syria. Kan News reported that according to Ukrainian intelligence, Assad’s escape operation from Syria to Russia was meticulously planned by Russian intelligence, including carrying out a deceptive operation during which the plane carrying Assad disappeared from radar. Following the operation, Reuters published a report suggesting that Assad may have been killed in a plane crash.

The Supreme Court announced Friday it will consider upholding a 2019 law enabling Americans injured in terrorist attacks to seek justice by suing Palestinian leadership groups—the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—in U.S. courts. The law, enacted by Congress in response to court rulings dismissing similar lawsuits for lack of jurisdiction, specifically aimed to hold the PA and PLO accountable for providing payments to terrorists or their families who carried out attacks that injured or killed Americans. At stake in the case is whether the law violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections by forcing the PA and PLO to submit to U.S. federal jurisdiction.