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A cargo aircraft skidded off a Hong Kong runway into the sea when landing early Monday, killing two people. The flight, arriving from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was landing at Hong Kong International Airport around 3:50 a.m., according to Hong Kong’s airport authority. Four crew members on the plane were rescued and taken to hospital. Initial reports from police said two people in an airport ground vehicle were dead. The north runway of Hong Kong’s airport, one of Asia’s busiest, where the aircraft skidded off runway, has been closed, authorities said. Two other runways at the airport continue to operate. The Boeing 747 freighter is a Turkish air cargo carrier AirACT aircraft flying for Emirates SkyCargo, with the flight number EK9788. It was flying from Al Maktoum International Airport. Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement it was following up with the airline and other parties involved in the crash. (AP)

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner are slated to arrive in Israel on Monday, followed by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, according to a U.S. official cited by the Times of Israel. During their visit, the three officials are expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to advance Washington’s ongoing Gaza ceasefire framework discussions. The upcoming meetings have already affected Netanyahu’s schedule. The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday canceled hearings for the prime minister’s testimony in his corruption trial that were set for Monday and Tuesday, after Netanyahu cited “urgent diplomatic meetings.” Netanyahu’s legal team told the court that he would also be unable to testify on Wednesday or Thursday due to Vance’s arrival and a swearing-in ceremony for incoming Shin Bet chief David Zini. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

At least 45 people were killed in a wave of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency and local hospitals, which updated an earlier casualty count. The IDF said it carried out strikes on “dozens of Hamas targets” following an attack by gunmen in southern Gaza that left two Israeli soldiers dead and three others wounded. Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run civil defense agency, told AFP that “at least 45 people were killed as a result of Israeli air strikes on various areas of the Gaza Strip.” Four hospitals in the enclave confirmed the death toll to AFP, saying they had received both the dead and wounded. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s insistence Sunday morning that “we will give nothing” to Russia, President Donald Trump pushed back, arguing that conflicts aren’t typically resolved without territory or concessions changing hands.

“Well, he’s going to take something,” Trump said Sunday morning in a televised interview recorded earlier this week after the Zelenskyy meeting at the White House.

“I mean, they fought and he has a lot of property. I mean, yeah, he’s won certain – you say that, he’s won – certain property.”

Trump argued that the United States has a habit of entering wars without securing long-term benefits, and he criticized that approach.

“We’re the only nation that goes in and wins a war and leaves, you know?” Trump said. “Like we did under President [George W.] Bush in the Middle East.

“We go in, we blast the hell out of everybody, destroy the place and then we leave, you know?”

He also invoked his past calls about Syria’s energy resources, saying that when the U.S. stepped into conflicts it often failed to hold strategic assets.

“Remember, I used to say keep the oil?” Trump continued. “I said two things. I said, don’t go in. But then they went in.

“And I said, well, don’t go in, but if you’re going to go in, keep the oil.

“We didn’t keep the oil. What do we do? We blast it to pieces and then we leave, you know? Doesn’t make sense, never made sense.”

{Matzav.com}

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea on Sunday, crossing the heavily fortified border that divides the two countries, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The soldier was taken into custody and reportedly expressed a desire to resettle in the South. It was the first known defection of a North Korean soldier since August 2024 and remains a rare occurrence given the border’s land mines, fences, and heavy military presence.

A senior Hamas official told Reuters that the terror organization intends to retain security control over Gaza during a transitional stage and cannot guarantee that it will disarm—positions that highlight the serious obstacles facing U.S. efforts to secure a permanent end to the war.

Mohammed Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s politburo, said the group would agree to a ceasefire lasting as long as five years to allow for the rebuilding of Gaza, provided there are assurances that Palestinians are granted “horizons and hope” for eventual statehood.

In an interview from Doha, where Hamas’s leadership is based, Nazzal defended the organization’s recent public executions in Gaza, claiming they were justified. He maintained there are always “exceptional measures” during wartime and alleged that those executed were “criminals guilty of killing.”

Although Hamas has voiced similar positions in the past, the timing of Nazzal’s statements underlines the deep divisions complicating the effort to finalize a lasting truce after the ceasefire’s first phase began, nearly a year after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

His comments highlight major differences between Hamas’s stance and the framework outlined in President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, which is expected to guide upcoming talks focused on disarmament and postwar governance.

When asked about Nazzal’s remarks, the Prime Minister’s Office reaffirmed Israel’s adherence to the ceasefire agreement, emphasizing that Hamas has not fulfilled its obligations. “Hamas is supposed to release all hostages in stage 1. It has not. Hamas knows where the bodies of our hostages are. Hamas are to be disarmed under this agreement. No ifs, no buts. They have not. Hamas need to adhere to the 20-point plan. They are running out of time,” it told Reuters.

President Trump’s plan, announced on September 29, called for Hamas to first return all hostages and then disarm, with Gaza’s administration to be transferred to a technocratic council under the oversight of an international transitional authority.

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu publicly backed the proposal, saying it would eliminate Hamas’s military infrastructure, end its political control, and ensure Gaza could never again pose a threat to Israel.

However, the ceasefire agreement signed in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 9 by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and international mediators did not specifically mandate Hamas’s disarmament or the return of all deceased hostages before Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Despite facing severe military and diplomatic pressure, Hamas continues to resist surrendering its weapons or relinquishing command over Gaza. When asked whether the group would disarm, Nazzal said, “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?”

He explained that the question of arms would be part of future discussions involving not only Hamas but also other Palestinian factions, saying the matter “would require Palestinians more broadly to reach a position.”

When Reuters sought comment from Washington, the White House referred the outlet to President Trump’s statements from Thursday.

“We have a commitment from them and I assume they’re going to honor their commitment,” Trump said, noting that Hamas had returned additional bodies, though he did not directly address the issue of disarmament or the group’s continued presence in Gaza.

Nazzal also claimed that Hamas has no interest in keeping the remains of the hostages taken during the October 7 attacks. He said the group has already returned nine of the 28 bodies and blamed ongoing “technical problems” for delays in recovering the rest. He added that “international parties such as Turkey or the US” may assist in the process if necessary.

A Turkish official confirmed last week that Ankara would join a joint task force with Israel, the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt to help locate and recover the remaining bodies.

Hamas agreed on October 4 to transfer governing authority to a technocratic committee and to release all hostages, though it insisted that broader political issues must still be discussed “within a wider Palestinian framework.” All surviving hostages were freed on Monday.

Nazzal concluded that the next stage of negotiations, addressing these outstanding issues, would begin soon.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States could purchase Argentinian beef in an attempt to bring down prices for American consumers. “We would buy some beef from Argentina,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Florida to Washington. “If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.” Trump promised earlier this week to address the issue as part of his efforts to keep inflation in check. U.S. beef prices have been stubbornly high for a variety of reasons, including drought and reduced imports from Mexico due to a flesh-eating pest in cattle herds there. Trump has been working to help Argentina bolster its collapsing currency with a $20 billion credit swap line and additional financing from sovereign funds and the private sector ahead of midterm elections for his close ally, President Javier Milei. (AP)

A senior Hamas operative freed in February as part of the hostage exchange deal following the October 7 massacre is scheduled to appear as a featured speaker at Panteion University in Athens this Wednesday.

According to reports from Kan and Ynet, Abdel Nasser Issa—identified as a top Hamas figure who managed terrorist operations in Yehudah and Shomron—is expected to participate in a panel hosted by several radical organizations, including Gather for Gaza, the Anti-Imperialist Front, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the Masar Badil Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement.

In a statement issued Saturday, Gather for Gaza and Samidoun praised Issa as a “Palestinian national leader, veteran of the resistance movement, and former political prisoner.”

“Join us for a public talk and discussion with Abdel Nasser Issa, a Palestinian national leader and former political prisoner now in exile, to explore the evolving role of the Palestinian diaspora and international solidarity movements in the struggle for liberation from the river to the sea,” the joint statement read.

Organizers say Issa’s address will focus on mobilizing global efforts to advance what he calls the “national liberation struggle,” highlighting how activists and university groups abroad can support the movement.

Reports from Ynet and the Real Price Project indicate that Issa was directly involved in orchestrating two suicide bombings in 1995, which killed 11 people and injured more than 100 others.

The Palestinian Information Center and Al Jazeera note that Issa was captured that same year and sentenced to two life terms, continuing to lead Hamas’s operations among prisoners from within jail. Both Kan and Ynet confirm that Issa was one of the senior operatives released and exiled under the February hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas. The university has not yet responded to inquiries about his scheduled appearance.

Last October, the United States and Canada imposed sanctions on Samidoun, designating it as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a recognized terrorist organization. Several of Samidoun’s senior officials are alleged to be senior PFLP operatives, and its top leadership reportedly helped establish and continues to serve on the executive board of Masar Badil.

{Matzav.com}

A new AP–NORC poll finds Americans are increasingly anxious about jobs and rising costs, with 47% saying they’re not confident they could find a good job — up from 37% last year. Only 36% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, as inflation, high grocery prices, and mounting electricity and housing costs continue to strain households. Sixty-eight percent of adults describe the economy as “poor,” while just 12% say they’re getting ahead financially.

Israel Police on Sunday morning arrested a 41-year-old man from Afula on suspicion of running a large-scale travel scam that left dozens of Chabad chassidim stranded as they attempted to travel to New York for the Yomim Nora’im and Tishrei Yomim Tovim.

According to the allegations, the suspect posed as a travel agent and sold what appeared to be flight tickets for trips to and from New York. However, the tickets were later discovered to be either forged or completely fictitious, leaving many travelers without valid travel arrangements.

In recent weeks, police have received numerous reports from across the country describing the same scheme. Each victim said they paid the man thousands of shekels per ticket, trusting that he would arrange their flights, only to find out at the last minute that they had been deceived.

Accounts from those affected reveal the extent of the chaos: some travelers en route to New York were stranded in Athens after learning that their connecting flights didn’t exist; others reached Ben Gurion Airport and discovered there were no reservations under their names. A few even made it to New York but were left without valid return tickets to Eretz Yisroel.

Investigators from the Northern District Police have so far identified 69 victims who collectively lost over 400,000 shekels to the scam.

Early Sunday morning, after gathering sufficient evidence, police conducted a raid on the suspect’s home in Afula. He was taken into custody for questioning and later brought before the Beis Mishpat HaShalom in Nof Hagalil, where police requested an extension of his detention as the investigation continues.

{Matzav.com}

Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a fire and forcing it to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan, Russian and Kazakh authorities said Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump meanwhile suggested that Kyiv may have to give up territory in exchange for an end to Moscow’s more than 3 1/2-year invasion, in the latest of apparent reversals on how to pursue peace. The Orenburg plant, run by state-owned gas giant Gazprom and located in a region of the same name near the Kazakh border, is part of a production and processing complex that is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters. It handles gas condensate from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field, alongside Orenburg’s own oil and gas fields. According to regional Gov. Yevgeny Solntsev, the drone strikes set fire to a workshop at the plant and damaged part of it. The Kazakh Energy Ministry on Sunday said, citing a notification from Gazprom, that the plant was temporarily unable to process gas originating in Kazakhstan, “due to an emergency situation following a drone attack.” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Sunday that a “large-scale fire” erupted at the Orenburg plant, and that one of its gas processing and purification units was damaged. Kyiv has ramped up attacks in recent months on Russian energy facilities it says both fund and directly fuel Moscow’s war effort. Trump says Ukraine may have to give up land for peace Trump appeared to edge back in the direction of pressing Ukraine to give up on retaking land it has lost to Russia, in exchange for an end to Moscow’s aggression. Asked in a Fox News interview conducted Thursday whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be open to ending the war “without taking significant property from Ukraine,” Trump responded: “Well, he’s going to take something.” “They fought and he has a lot of property. He’s won certain property,” Trump said. “We’re the only nation that goes in, wins a war and then leaves.” The interview was aired on Sunday on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” but was conducted before Trump spoke to Putin and Zelenskyy last week. The comments amounted to another shift in position on the war by the U.S. leader. In recent weeks, Trump had shown growing impatience with Putin and expressed greater openness to helping Ukraine win the war. In Thursday’s interview, he was noncommittal about sending Tomahawk missiles requested by Ukraine, saying “I’m looking at it” but expressing concern about depleting U.S. weapons stocks. “We need them for ourselves too,” Trump said. “We can’t give all our weapons to Ukraine. We just can’t do that.” Contrary to Kyiv’s hopes, Trump did not commit to providing it with Tomahawks following their meeting at the White House on Friday. The missiles would be the longest-range weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal and would allow it to strike targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow, with precision. Deliveries of Tomahawks could provide leverage to help push the Kremlin into negotiations, analysts say, after Trump expressed frustration over Putin’s refusal to budge on key aspects of a possible peace deal. Russians modified bombs for deeper strikes Meanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors claim that Moscow is modifying its deadly aerial-guided bombs to strike civilians deeper in Ukraine. Local authorities in Kharkiv said Russia struck a residential neighborhood using a new […]

At his first meeting with Shin Bet field coordinators, incoming agency head David Zini made waves by reprimanding one of them for using the term “West Bank,” according to a report by i24News.

During the briefing, one of the coordinators referred to certain operational measures “in the West Bank.” Zini immediately interrupted and told the group that such terminology would no longer be used within the agency.

“What is this ‘West Bank’? From now on you erase that expression from your lexicon – there is only Judea and Samaria,” he said.

Attendees later told reporters that Zini’s comments carried a clear message: “Do not expect me to continue the line of my predecessors.”

Earlier in the day, Zini met with President Isaac Herzog. After their meeting, Zini reflected on the encounter, saying: “I explained to the lads the symbol we stand before here, and I explained to them what statesmanship is that the Presidency symbolizes and maintains in its apolitical role that is greater than all divisions – by virtue of what we rediscovered here 2,000 years ago – we returned only by virtue of unity, by virtue of our deep roots and our great future. We will act with statesmanship, loyal to this people, to this state, to its values, to all its shades and sides with full loyalty and great unity, and out of great comradeship for the security of the state and its citizens.”

He added, “We came here to receive your blessing and on this occasion to tell you that we will act to do everything and be faithful emissaries to this people with all our strength, as we have done up to now. My whole prayer is that the year and its curses end and a year of blessings begin, that you have a happy holiday, to the whole State of Israel – to our wounded, to our captives who will return safely, and to all the families of the fallen, comfort and consolation – and with God’s help may we have a complete victory and the return of peace to our home in all its aspects and shades.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump said Hamas has “promised” to disarm under the current Gaza ceasefire framework but acknowledged there is no fixed deadline for when that will occur. “They promised they would,” Trump told Fox News in an interview conducted Friday and aired in full Sunday. Pressed on when the terror group must follow through, Trump replied, “It’s not a hard timeline, but it’s a line in my own mind. At a certain point, if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, then we’ll have to do it for them.” Asked if that meant a U.S. intervention, Trump said Washington would not send “boots on the ground,” suggesting instead that Israel could act “as a proxy” if Hamas fails to meet its commitments. While Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan envisions Hamas disarming as part of a broader stabilization effort, the ceasefire agreement signed earlier this month in Egypt focuses only on the IDF withdrawal, a hostage–prisoner exchange, and humanitarian aid — not on disarmament or governance. The president also addressed reports of Hamas executions of rival factions in Gaza, calling the group “very violent people” and describing the region as “a very violent part of the world.” In the interview, Trump defended his revised Gaza reconstruction plan, which he said now encourages Gazans to remain in the Strip rather than relocate abroad — an apparent departure from his earlier, widely criticized proposal for neighboring Egypt and Jordan to host refugees. “The whole thing is all rubble, so it’s not too hard to top that,” Trump said. “We’d build houses… paid for by the wealthiest countries” in the region. Trump praised Arab states that have backed his plan, singling out Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, calling him a “fantastic man” and “very smart.” He said Qatar, one of the four mediating countries, “had great courage” in supporting the agreement despite regional risks. Asked whether he had to pressure Doha to push Hamas toward the deal, Trump replied, “I didn’t have to make too much of a case because they are very smart people.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israel announced on Sunday evening that humanitarian deliveries to Gaza would soon resume, reversing an earlier decision to halt the shipments after Hamas violated the ongoing ceasefire agreement.

Earlier that day, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had ordered the IDF to suspend all aid transfers following Hamas’s assault on Israeli troops stationed in Rafah.

A diplomatic official confirmed that the convoys would shortly begin moving again, explaining, “Because of the massive attacks and the dozens of dead on Hamas’ side, Israel stopped the trucks’ travel today; it will renew at the conclusion of the attacks.”

The official further noted that “Rafah Crossing will open only when we see that Hamas is continuing to return the deceased hostages at a reasonable pace.”

Earlier on Sunday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid revealed that the Trump Administration had cautioned Israel against resuming large-scale military operations in response to the ceasefire breach, including the morning’s assault on IDF forces in Rafah.

According to Ravid’s report, U.S. officials advised their Israeli counterparts that the main strategic goal should be “isolating” Hamas and rapidly establishing a viable alternative to its rule in Gaza.

{Matzav.com}

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HAPPENING NOW: Thousands of Chassidim are gathered in Manhattan at the Satmar-led protest against the IDF drafting of Yeshiva Bochrim.

Morton Klein, the National President of the Zionist Organization of America, reacted to the deadly assault in Rafah today (Sunday), saying Hamas’s renewed breaches of the ceasefire pose a direct challenge to the credibility of President Donald Trump.

“In light of Hamas’s new ceasefire violations – yet again attacking Israel and murdering hundreds of their own people, it’s important to remember President Trump’s pledge that if there is a Hamas violation, ‘the U.S. will support Israel doing whatever it needs to do’ in response,” Klein said. “In order for President Trump to maintain his credibility and never be seen as a paper tiger and in the interests of a true peace, we believe that President Trump will support any necessary Israeli response.”

“History has shown us that not responding to an illegal serious action brings war, not peace. The world didn’t respond to Germany illegally taking over the Sudetenland; the U.S. didn’t respond to Iran taking 66 American citizens hostage; In 2021, President Biden stopped Israel from responding properly to 4,500 Hamas rockets against Israel in a few days – Biden threatened to withhold arms from Israel if it didn’t stop its strong retaliation against Hamas. The U.S. and Israel didn’t respond to Yasser Arafat and Abbas violating the Oslo accords by continued terrorism, incitement and paying Arabs to murder Jews and Christians. This week, the Palestinian Authority paid the released terrorists over $70 million for their murder of Jews,” he said.

He warned: “The world must understand Hamas, Qatar, and Turkey agreed to a deal only because Hamas was in trouble with Israel on the verge of destroying them in Gaza City. They viewed this deal as an Islamic Hudna, a temporary ceasefire until Hamas is strong again after it regroups and brings in new Hamas leadership from the 2,000 released terrorist prisoners.”

“It’s also a mistake to allow Qatar and Turkey any real role in overseeing Gaza. Their leaders have supported Hamas, stating that ‘we are all Hamas’ and continuing to give safe harbor to Hamas leaders,” he said.

“This is a religious war against Jews, Christians and the West – it is not about a Palestinian state or economics. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly supports Israel responding forcefully to finally destroy Hamas by any means necessary, as President Trump has stated and pledged,” Klein concluded.

Officials confirmed that two IDF soldiers were killed this morning in the anti-tank missile strike near Rafah.

{Matzav.com}

A man convicted of spying for Israel has been executed, an Iranian prosecutor told the Mizan news agency. Kazem Mousavi, a judicial official from the Qom province in central Iran, said the unnamed individual was given a death sentence on charges of intelligence cooperation with Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad. “This individual, for personal and professional reasons, initiated contact with the Zionist regime’s services, held meetings with Mossad officers, engaged in intelligence cooperation, and began sending confidential information in cyberspace to the child-killing and fake Zionist regime, but through swift and intelligent actions by the country’s intelligence and judicial apparatus, he was identified and the leakage of sensitive information was prevented,” Mizan reported, quoting Mousavi. Last month, Iran handed down another citizen a death sentence on a similar charge. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Tens of thousands of Chasidic Jews are gathering outside the Israeli Consulate on Second Avenue in Manhattan to protest the Israeli government’s plan to draft yeshiva students into the army. The event marks a rare show of unity between the rival Satmar factions led by brothers Reb Aharon Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Joel and the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg, Reb Zalman Leib Teitelbaum. The rally comes just weeks after a anti-draft asifa in Lakewood, New Jersey, led by prominent roshei yeshiva, and attended by a few thousand people. It is the first time since 2013 that both Satmar factions appear together at a joint demonstration against the Israeli government. The last such rally, held that year in Foley Square, drew tens of thousands in opposition to similar draft proposals. Organizers said the timing of the Manhattan rally reflects a longstanding Satmar policy not to hold public protests against Israel while the country is at war. With fighting in Gaza now paused following the ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump, they said the time has come to voice their opposition to the gezeiras hagiyus — the decree of conscription. The planned demonstration follows months of debate in Israel’s Knesset over how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling that the decades-long exemption for Charedi men from military service must end. Many Charedi leaders view the draft decree as an existential threat to their religious way of life. The Knesset is expected to resume debate on the matter in the coming weeks.