Israeli authorities have launched a criminal investigation after two flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea on Saturday. The flares landed in the yard, causing no damage or injuries. Police confirmed that Netanyahu and his family were not at home during the incident. The act has drawn widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum. Opposition leader Yair Lapid and National Unity chairman Benny Gantz called for swift action, urging law enforcement to hold the perpetrators accountable. President Isaac Herzog labeled the attack “a highly dangerous incident, which I strongly condemn,” adding that he had spoken with the Shin Bet chief to stress the urgency of the investigation.

President-elect Donald Trump plans to implement “maximum pressure” sanctions on the Islamic Republic to financially bankrupt it and paralyze its funding of its terror proxies, the Financial Times reported. According to the report, Trump’s transition team is already preparing a plan to target Iran, and the sanctions may be issued on his first day in office. Trump particularly wants to target Iran’s oil exports, aiming to decrease their current oil exports of 1.5 million barrels a day to 400,000 a day. “He’s determined to reinstitute a maximum pressure strategy to bankrupt Iran as soon as possible,” a national security expert familiar with the Trump transition team said.

The IDF on Motzei Shabbos announced that an IDF soldier fell in battle in southern Lebanon on Friday. He was named as Sgt. Ori Nisanovich, H’yd, 21, from Jerusalem. He fought in the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion. Nisanovich attended the Avinoam-Evyatar Yeshiva. His death increases the death toll of IDF soldiers since the start of the war to 795. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

Israel’s airstrikes inside Iran in late October dealt a significant blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions by targeting a covert research site within the Parchin military complex, officials revealed to Axios. The facility, known as Taleghan 2, located about 20 miles southeast of Tehran, had been central to Iran’s resumed nuclear weapons research, despite longstanding denials from Tehran. Taleghan 2 was previously associated with Iran’s Amad nuclear weapons program, which was officially halted in 2003. However, recent intelligence suggested the facility had been reactivated for advanced nuclear research. The destroyed site reportedly housed sophisticated equipment used to develop plastic explosives critical to detonating a nuclear device.

Tragedy struck the Monsey community and Skvere Kehila on Thursday night with the sudden and tragic petirah of R’ Chaim Hersh Cziment z”l, a well-known and beloved Skverer chossid who was niftar after being struck and critically injured by a vehicle at the intersection of W. Maple Avenue and Kingspoint Lane. YWN reported earlier that Rockland Hatzoloh paramedics rushed to the scene for reports of a pedestrian struck, finding two patients – one with critical injuries, and a second with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. R’ Chaim Hersh, who was critically injured, was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was sadly niftar a short time later.

The Rosh Yeshivah of Slabodka, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, spoke harshly against Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who this week ordered the IDF to begin sending 7,000 draft orders to bnei yeshivos, including those learning full-time, and encouraged criminal sanctions against those who ignored the summons.

A serious accident occured this afternoon at the intersection of KingsPoint Lane and West Maple Avenue in Monsey, two individuals were struck by a vehicle Monsey Scoop reported. Rockland Hatzoloh Paramedics quickly arrived at the scene, transporting one person in critical condition to Good Samaritan Hospital. The second individual was also taken to Westchester Medical Center by Rockland Hatzoloh Paramedics with serious but non life threatening injuries. YWN will update with names for Tehilim once they become available to us.  

Iran is building a ‘defensive tunnel’ in Tehran in the wake of the IDF attack on the Iranian capital on October 26, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported this week. The tunnel, under construction near the city center, will connect the Tehran Metro stations to the Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, providing direct underground access to the medical facility, the largest in the country. The Tehran Metro is the largest metro system in the Middle East. “For the first time in the country, a tunnel with defensive applications is being built in Tehran,” the transportation director at the Tehran City Council told Tasnim. Tehran was heavily targeted during Israel’s attack on October 26, including two secret military sites near the capital city.

An IDF officer lost his life, and another was critically injured in clashes in southern Lebanon earlier today, according to the military. The fallen soldier has been identified as Lt. Ivri Dickshtein, 21, a platoon commander with the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion. The same incident also left another officer from the battalion seriously injured, the IDF reports.

High-level Israeli sources told Yisrael Hayom that the Trump team is working on a strategic plan targeting the Iranian regime, indicating a dramatic shift in policy toward the Islamic Republic, the Israeli media outlet reported on Thursday. The sources emphasized that the plan, which will involve close strategic cooperation with Israel, would specifically challenge Iran’s leadership structure. The report added that Trump’s approach toward Iran “may have influenced Tehran’s “recalculation” regarding its vow to retaliate against Israel for its October 26 attack on its soil, which decimated most of its air defenses.