Hamas has not yet submitted a list of living hostages held by terror groups in Gaza as part of ongoing ceasefire negotiations, according to a report by Channel 12 citing Israeli officials. Despite the delay, Israeli authorities believe progress is being made in the talks. On Friday, leaders from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine convened in Cairo to discuss the terms of a potential ceasefire and hostage release deal. Hamas said after the meeting that reaching an agreement was “closer than ever” if Israel refrains from introducing new conditions. A major sticking point remains the nature of the ceasefire.

Arabs surveilled the apartment and schedule of an elderly couple in Bnei Brak and then violently broke into the home when the wife was alone and stole money and valuables. B’Chadrei Chareidim spoke to the victim, who revealed the frightening details of the incident. Chaya, in her 80s, is a resident of the Ganei Warsaw neighborhood in Bnei Brak. Her husband had just left to Shacharis shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday when she heard a knock on the door. “It was very early, and I was wondering who would be knocking at such an hour,” Chaya told B’Chadrei. “At first, I ignored it, but they knocked again, this time very loudly. That raised my suspicion but nevertheless, I went to the door. When I opened it, there were two men in orange clothing who looked like gas company employees.

Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, said Saturday that she’s removing herself from consideration to be a Florida senator — ending speculation that she could replace Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been tapped to be the incoming administration’s secretary of state. “After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” Lara Trump posted on X. Instead, she promised a “big announcement to share in January.” The announcement comes weeks after Trump announced that she was stepping down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, a move which raised questions about whether she might be vying for a Senate seat.

Along with his new beard, opposition leader Yair Lapid seems to have acquired a bottomless pit of rage, displayed in all its glory in an unhinged speech at the weekly left-protest in Tel Aviv on Motzei Shabbos. Like leftists all over the world, people who have nothing truthful or constructive to say instead rant and rage and spew out lies, and that’s exactly what Lapid did. His speech was so irrational that after footage of the speech was circulated on social media, many users expressed shock, with some questioning his mental health, asking, “Is there a doctor in the audience?” During the speech, Lapid screeched: “We’re here. We won’t give in.

Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said. Both pilots were recovered alive, with one suffering minor injuries, but the incident underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become after a year of ongoing attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was. “The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S.

The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader whose forces led the ouster of President Bashar Assad earlier this month. The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, and the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first U.S. diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. HTS remains designated a foreign terrorist organization, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased. But, she told reporters that al-Sharaa had committed to renouncing terrorism and as a result the U.S. would no longer offer the reward.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Chanukah is coming!   What is the story with the Book of Maccabees I and II?

The top uniformed police officer in the New York Police Department has resigned amid allegations he demanded inappropriate favors from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted the resignation of Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey Friday night, effective immediately, according to an emailed statement from the department Saturday. John Chell, the department’s chief of patrol, will take over as interim chief of department and Philip Rivera will assume Chell’s duties as the head of the patrol division, the department said.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package. The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers. “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “it ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity.

Germans on Saturday mourned the victims of a terror attack in which authorities say a doctor drove into a busy outdoor X-Mas market, killing five people, injuring 200 others. The attack Friday evening in Magdeburg, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, killed a 9-year-old and four adults and injured 41 people badly enough that authorities warned the death toll could rise. The driver, a 50-year-old doctor who immigrated from Saudi Arabia in 2006, surrendered to police at the scene. He’s being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said at a news conference.