IDF forces carried out airstrikes on Hamas infrastructure once again on Wednesday night in response to the continuous launching of incendiary and explosive balloons into Israel from the Strip. The balloon terror continued on Thursday, with a balloon attached to a grenade found near the greenhouses of Moshav Ohad in the Eshkol Regional Council. Another explosive balloon landed inside the village of Kfar Aza and a third balloon sparked a fire in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, the second fire by 10 a.m. A total of 33 fires were sparked from incendiary balloons on Wednesday, including one a few meters away from train tracks in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. שריפה על פסי הרכבת סמוך לזמרת – מועצה אזורית שדות נגב. השריפה בשליטה.

An arsonist torched a University of Delaware’s Chabad Center, investigators revealed Wednesday. On Tuesday, shortly after 11 p.m., a fire damaged the building on the 200 block of South College Avenue which houses the Chabad Center. Firefighters arrived at the scene and spotted flames shooting from the structure. They were able to bring the fire under control and no injuries were reported. The fire caused extensive damage. The Delaware Fire Marshal’s office later determined the blaze was intentionally set. A criminal investigation is underway. A fund has been launched on The Chesed Fund to help the Chabad House rebuild. STAY WITH YWN WHATSAPP FOR BREAKING UPDATES IN LIVE TIME!  YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status.

The saga of Bresolover chassidim traveling to Uman ahead of Rosh Hashanah reached a crisis point in the past couple of days, with chassidim arriving in the airport in Odessa being refused entry into the country. Those at the scene told B’Chadrei Chareidim that chassidim are being required to sign forms forcing them to return to Israel. Meanwhile, many chassidim were stuck for hours at the airport, in Odessa as well as Kiev, without food or drink, with some even reportedly falling ill and requiring medical attention. “The want us to sign forms that we agree that they’ll return us today,” one Bresolver told Kan 11.

A man who ambushed a New York City police officer in June — stabbing him in the neck and stealing his gun to shoot other officers — had an interest in violent Islamic extremism and punctuated the attack with screams of “Allahu Akbar,” prosecutors alleged in court papers filed with his indictment Thursday on state and federal charges. Days later, according to prosecutors, suspect Dzenan Camovic told a hospital worker: “My religion made me do it.” Camovic, a 21-year-old Bosnian immigrant living illegally in the U.S., faces state charges including attempted aggravated murder and federal charges including theft and unlawful possession of a firearm. Camovic’s lawyer said arraignments could be scheduled within a few weeks.

A miracle occurred in a Chareidi neighborhood in Netivot on Tuesday evening when an incendiary device exploded on a basketball court where a group of Chareidi boys were playing. A moment before the explosion, one of the boys noticed the balloon, from which the incendiary device had detached, and called to his friends to flee, averting a mass tragedy. One boy was lightly injured by shrapnel. “We play basketball every evening after learning,” one of the boys told Chareidim10. “During the game, one of the boys saw the balloon from which the device had detached. He yelled to all of us that an incendiary device is falling.” “We all ran – and then a huge explosion occurred.

Ukraine issued a temporary ban on Wednesday against the entry of foreign nationals into the country, according to Hebrew media reports. The announcement follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement just one day earlier, on Tuesday, that he will limit the entry of Israelis ahead of Rosh Hashanah next month. The ban is apparently meant to thwarts tens of thousands of Jews from traveling to Uman ahead of Rosh Hashanah, an issue that has been subject to much controversy both in Israel and Ukraine in recent days. There are reportedly about 2,000 Israelis already in Uman but the Ukrainian government has stated that large gatherings inside of Uman will be strictly prohibited. The ban will be implemented until September 28.

Laura strengthened Wednesday into a menacing Category 4 hurricane, raising fears of a 20-foot storm surge that forecasters said would be “unsurvivable” and capable of sinking entire communities. Authorities implored coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana to evacuate and worried that not enough had fled. The storm grew nearly 70% in power in just 24 hours to a size the National Hurricane Center called “extremely dangerous.” Drawing energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, the system was on track to arrive late Wednesday or early Thursday as the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. so far this year. “It looks like it’s in full beast mode,” said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

The victim of the terror attack on Wednesday afternoon was identified as Rav Shai Ochayan, h’yd, who was on his way home from his morning seder at his kollel when he was fatally stabbed. Rav Ochayan, a Breslover chassid, moved to Petach Tikvah two years ago from the yishuv Shaar Ephraim, where he served as the Rav of the Sephardi shul and the chazzan, in order to provide a Chareidi education for his children. “Everyone would come to hear his shiurim,” a relative said about the period when Rav Ochayan was serving as a Rav. “He would deliver them in such a riveting way that everyone felt connected to the subject of the shiur.” The niftar’s friend, Yosef Dovid, told Ynet: “Hakadosh Baruch Hu took a holy man, he was murdered al kiddush Hashem. It’s hard for me to internalize this.

Amar’e Stoudemire, an American-Israeli professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League and the EuroLeague, announced on Wednesday on his Instagram account that he has officially converted to Judaism. “It’s official,” wrote Stoudemire. ” I finalized my final meeting with the Beth Din and went to the Mikva, Graduation complete. Hebrew name is Yahoshafat Ben Avraham.” Stoudemire has been learning b’chavrusah for an extended period of time with an avreich from Yeshivas Orchos Yosher in Bnei Brak, the kollel headed by Hagaon Harav Chaim’s Kanievsky’s oldest son, HaRav Avraham Yishayahu, Kikar H’Shabbos reported.

A suspected terror attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon when a 39-year-old Chareidi avreich was stabbed to death by an Arab in Petach Tikvah. Paramedics arrived at the scene and found the man lying on the sidewalk unconscious. They provided emergency medical treatment and evacuated him to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah in critical condition. “We found the victim lying next to a bus with no pulse and not breathing with multiple stab wounds to his upper torso,” said Chesky Farkash, an MDA paramedic. “We carried out resuscitation efforts and attempted to stop the bleeding and transferred him to the hospital in an MDA intensive care vehicle as he was in critical condition.” Unfortunately, the man’s death was confirmed a short while later.