An El Al plane flying from Warsaw to Israel on Sunday was forced to make an emergency landing at Antalya airport in Turkey due to a passenger’s medical crisis. Turkish authorities not only refused to allow passengers to exit the plane, with passengers forced to sit on the plane for several hours, but also refused to refuel the plane. Eventually, the plane flew to Rhodes, Greece to refuel before continuing to Israel. It is unclear what happened with the passenger who required medical treatment. Direct flights between Israel and Turkey were canceled after the war in Gaza began in the wake of the October 7th massacre.

A group of Rabbanim have appealed to the Israeli Defense Ministry and the army to permit the family of a fallen soldier to add ‘HY”D’ to his Kever. The request comes after the ministry refused to include the letters on the gravestone of Yisroel Yudkin HY’D, a soldier who fell in battle in Gaza on May 22. The Tzohar rabbinical group wrote to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief-of-Staff Herzi Halevi, asking them to allow the family to add the acronym. The ministry’s refusal was based on formalistic grounds, citing that the acronym is outside protocol for military headstones, which generally follow a uniform format with only a few permissible deviations. However, the rabbanim argue that the family’s sacrifice and interests should take precedence over uniformity.

The sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an IDF airstrike in the Shati neighborhood of Gaza City, Arab media reported on Tuesday morning According to the reports, 13 people were killed, including nine of Haniyeh’s relatives. The IDF spokesperson responded to the reports by stating: “Air Force fighter jets, with the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet and IDF, attacked two buildings in Shati and Daraj in the northern Gaza Strip while they were being used by Hamas terrorists. The terrorists were operating from school premises that the organization used as a shield for terrorist activity.

Over 100 victims of the October 7th massacre filed a lawsuit on Monday in a New York federal court against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), alleging that its employees were responsible for Hamas atrocities including genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and rape. The lawsuit names six former and present UNRWA leaders, including Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini. “Hamas did not carry out these atrocities without assistance.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, is hiding like a “cornered rat” in tunnels in Gaza, the New York Post reported. The report quotes Colin Clarke, a counter-terrorism expert at the New York-based Soufan Group, who said that Sinwar has survived by staying radio-silent and using Israeli hostages and Gazan civilians as human shields. “He’s likely still in Gaza, deep within the tunnel network and surrounded by hostages to secure his safety,” Clarke said. “Sinwar is someone who is out for his own survival. “It’s his ultimate goal, like a cornered rat.” Clarke added that Sinwar likely uses a network of couriers to transmit his commands, including his repeated rejections of ceasefire/hostage release deals.

A violent clash between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and supporters of Israel outside the Adas Torah shul in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles is now being widely condemned by political leaders and local officials following outrage over their silence. President Biden, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass denounced the incident, which resulted in one arrest and left no injuries reported. The individual arrested is facing a misdemeanor charge for carrying a prohibited item at a protest – a spiked flag. Shockingly, there have been no arrests for assault or anything like that.

The IDF says that soldiers from the 828th Infantry Training School Brigade, under the command of the 162nd Division, have been conducting targeted operations in the Rafah area over the past few weeks. The operations, which have been precise and intelligence-based, have resulted in the location of weapons, the elimination of terrorists, and the destruction of terrorist infrastructure. In one incident, the troops found a tunnel shaft inside a child’s room, along with a butcher’s knife next to it – highlighting once again the willingness of terrorists to put innocent lives at risk in pursuit of their goals. In addition, the troops identified six terrorists near a school in the area, who were subsequently eliminated by a combination of UAV and tank fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress is expected to be met with a “large” boycott from the Democratic caucus who plan to use the move as a rebuke of him, amid ongoing Democratic objections to his handling of the war in Gaza. In 2015, Netanyahu’s speech to Congress – which was perceived as a major snub to the Obama administration –  was skipped by 58 Democratic lawmakers. This time around, many Democrats have voiced opposition to inviting Netanyahu in the first place, accusing Republicans of attempting to divide their party with the speech. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal says that the boycott “will be large” and that many people are “extremely upset” about Netanyahu’s visit.

The IDF has vehemently denied a report claiming that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi rejected a plan to raid Gaza City’s Shifa hospital to rescue hostages in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre. The report, based on an upcoming memoir by former officer Ido Nordin, alleged that a multidimensional attack on Hamas’s leadership, believed to be under the hospital, was proposed, but Halevi dismissed the idea. The IDF responded, calling the report “false and baseless claims.” According to the IDF, the plan lacked operational plans, intelligence, and information on hostages in the hospital. “If there was intel like that, the plan would have been advanced to be carried out. The plan as presented would have killed hostages and harmed our security and our forces,” the IDF stated.

The IDF recently confirmed the deaths of four hostages who had been abducted by Hamas on October 7. Among them was Chaim Peri, a 79-year-old longtime peace activist who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Back in 2005, Israel was embroiled in a raging debate over whether it should withdraw from the Gaza Strip and hand over control to the Palestinians. In Gush Katif, fierce verbal – and eventually physical – confrontations ensued. Among those strongly advocating for the withdrawal was Chaim hy”d, who was making his case to an anti-withdrawal individual. “One of the most annoying and infuriating claims [of the anti-withdrawal camp] was: ‘If we’re not here, they will kidnap everybody,'” Chaim is seen saying.