Since the start of Sukkos, the IDF has suffered the loss of eights soldiers in separate incidents. The first tragedy occurred on the first night of Sukkos, when five soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were killed during operations in southern Lebanon. The soldiers were identified as Maj. Ofek Bachar, 24, from Nes Ziona; Cpt. Elad Siman Tov, 23, from Tzofim; Staff Sgt. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, 22, from Jerusalem; Staff Sgt. Yakov Hillel, 21, from Jerusalem; and Staff Sgt. Yehudah Dror Yahalom, 21, from Hebron. The incident also left an officer and two additional soldiers seriously injured. Later, on Shabbos, two more soldiers were killed in a separate clash in the northern Gaza Strip. The IDF named the fallen soldiers as Staff Sgt.

CBS News is once again under fire after House Speaker Mike Johnson accused the network of selectively editing portions of his interview on Face the Nation, which aired over the weekend. Johnson took to social media on Monday night, sharing three video segments on X that revealed how CBS cut out key parts of his responses, including criticisms of the Biden-Harris administration. In a series of posts, Johnson highlighted the network’s decision to remove five minutes from his nearly 15-minute interview, which he claimed were crucial to his points on election integrity and disaster response. “CBS has been under fire for selectively editing their interviews to PROMOTE Democrats and UNDERMINE Republicans,” Johnson wrote in one of his posts.

The Biden administration has issued a stern warning to Israel, giving the country one month to make significant improvements to the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential consequences regarding the continued supply of U.S. weapons. In a letter obtained by The Times of Israel on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addressed Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, expressing concern over the significant drop in aid entering Gaza over the past several months. The letter highlights that this decline raises questions about Israel’s commitment to its prior assurances regarding the entry of aid into Gaza and the use of U.S. weapons in compliance with international law.

Iranian state television has aired footage showing a person resembling Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, attending a memorial ceremony, amid widespread speculation about his whereabouts and fate. Qaani had not been seen publicly in recent days, leading to rumors of his possible death. Some reports suggested Qaani had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, which targeted top Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine. Others speculated he may have suffered a heart attack or was being detained by Iranian authorities on suspicion of espionage. The airing of the footage, which appears to show Qaani at a funeral service in Karbala, Iraq, for a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, General Abbas Nilforoushan, seems to refute these rumors.

An elderly Jewish man became the target of a brutal attack in Boro Park after being pepper sprayed while exiting a sukkah on 50th Street near New Utrecht Avenue. The man had just stepped out of the sukkah, intending to head to his car, when a Middle Eastern man approached him without warning and unleashed a stream of pepper spray. The victim was left in agony, his eyes swelling rapidly from the effects of the attack. Within moments, Boro Park Hatzolah arrived at the scene, swiftly transporting the elderly man to a nearby hospital for urgent treatment. As chaos unfolded, Boro Park Shomrim sprang into action. They quickly reviewed surveillance footage from the area and managed to identify not only the make and model of the suspect’s car but also captured a clear image of the perpetrator.

One of the Golani soldiers who was injured on Sunday evening in the drone disaster received special treatment with a new drug, marking the first time it was used in Israel, Yisrael Hayom reported. The soldier had suffered from a tear of the carotid artery in his neck. The new drug is called Kengreal, a blood thinner administered via infusion. “Two of the injured soldiers who arrived yesterday had shrapnel wounds in their necks, with one of them having a shrapnel wound that created a hole in the carotid artery,” says Dr. David Orion, a brain catheterization specialist and the director of the Acute Stroke & Neuro-Endovascular/ Neuro-Interventional Unit and Stroke Center at Sheba Medical Center.

The White House is pushing back against reports suggesting that President Joe Biden is undermining Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, following allegations that he is bitter over being pushed out of his own reelection bid due to concerns about his age and capabilities. In a statement, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates dismissed claims that Biden is deliberately sabotaging Harris. “He believes fiercely in an agenda that will move us into the future, away from unhinged divisiveness and extreme policies the country can’t afford to go back to, like MAGAnomics and a national abortion ban,” Bates said. Bates emphasized that Biden fully supported Harris when he endorsed her after withdrawing from the race.

In a joint statement on Monday, the Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police announced the arrest of two Israeli citizens accused of carrying out a series of sabotage acts on behalf of Iran and plotting to assassinate a senior Israeli figure. The suspects have been identified as Vladislav Viktorson, 30, from Ramat Gan, and his 18-year-old partner, Anna Bernstein. According to authorities, Viktorson was approached by an Iranian operative going by the name “Mari Hossi.” Following the contact, Viktorson recruited Bernstein, and together they executed various acts of sabotage, including spraying provocative graffiti, placing inflammatory posters, setting fire to cars near Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, and committing acts of arson in local forests.

Last week, the IDF called on residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes for their safety ahead of an IDF operation in the Jabaliya area. However, per their usual cruel ways of using civilians as human shields, Hamas terrorists are preventing civilians from heeding IDF directives. Members of the IDF’s Unit 504 (human intelligence) received phone calls from Gazan civilians who reported that Hamas terrorists are beating them and preventing them from evacuating to the humanitarian zone. Listen to one of the conversations below:   (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

IDF soldiers have built a sukkah in the Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza, ahead of Sukkos, set to begin on Wednesday evening. This marks the first time a sukkah has been constructed in Gaza since Israel’s disengagement from the area in 2005, during which approximately 8,000 Jewish residents were forced from their homes. To accommodate troops currently engaged in operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the IDF Rabbinate has provided portable sukkahs that can be assembled and disassembled in the field, ensuring soldiers can observe yom tov in accordance with halacha. Additionally, the Rabbinate has distributed 12,000 sets of arba minim to soldiers in combat roles. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)