A heartbreaking tragedy shook the Jewish community in Antwerp Wednesday morning when an 8-year-old Jewish boy, Yehuda Alter Weiss a”h, was struck and killed by a police vehicle while riding his bicycle to school. The niftar, from a Belzer family, was a grandson of Harav Eliyahu Weiss shlit”a of Yerushalayim and Harav Gershon Padwa shlit”a. The accident occurred around 9:45 a.m. on Provinciestraat, between Ketsstraat and Milisstraat. According to eyewitnesses, a police van responding to an emergency with sirens blaring was driving at high speed when it attempted to swerve around a stationary car. In doing so, the vehicle struck the child, who had been crossing at a pedestrian crosswalk on his bike.

Since the beginning of “Operation Rising Lion”, dozens of IAF fighter jets have been operating in the skies of Iran and striking military targets belonging to the Iranian regime. The IAF’s aerial refueling aircraft support these fighter jets, conducting dozens of sorties and performing over 600 aerial refuelings in the skies of the Middle East thus far. Aerial refueling is a crucial component of the Israeli Air Force’s operations in Iran, enabling the continued maintenance of aerial superiority in the region.   (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee advised U.S. citizens who are seeking to evacuate from Israel on Wednesday. He directed Americans to a program that guides those who wish to depart toward evacuation flights as well as cruse ships. “Urgent notice! American citizens wanting to leave Israel–The U.S. Embassy in Israel is working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures. You must enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) You will be alerted w/ updates,” he wrote, providing a link to the program.

The 15,000 Jews living in Iran are living in what members of the kehilla describe as a state of existential dread in the wake of Israel’s launch of the war, Ynet reported. Jewish life in Iran has come to a standstill, sources familiar with the situation said. “People have vanished from the streets,” said one source. “They’re staying inside their homes, terrified. They’re not going to work. There are no gatherings, no tefillos in shuls—nothing. They’re simply afraid to show their faces.” According to the report, the main fear of Iranian Jews is not of the regime but of mob violence, of angry Iranians retaliating for the Israeli attacks and carrying out lynchings, chalilah.

Iran’s Mission to the UN rejects US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Tehran has offered to come to the White House for negotiations to resolve the ongoing conflict with Israel. An official statement reads: “No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to “take out” Iran’s Supreme Leader. Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance. Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A short while ago, YWN reported on our live blog that three Iranian government aircraft were being tracked heading from Iran to Oman. One had already landed in Oman, and the other two were a short while from landing. YWN notes that previous negotiations between U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff  and Iranian officials took place in Oman. Trump said on Monday that he might send U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet Iranian officials. This morning President Trump was asked by a reporter “if it’s too late” for negotiations, to which he responded “nothing is too late”. Are Iran’s genocidal leaders fleeing the country, or are they rushing there in a last-ditch attempt to revive negotiations with the US? Time will tell. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Donald Trump stepped onto the South Lawn of the White House Wednesday morning to thank workers installing new flagpoles. But it was his impromptu remarks to the press moments later that fueled global intrigue, as the president addressed the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran—and hinted at the high-stakes decision facing his administration: whether to join Israel in direct military action against the Islamic Republic. “For 40 years, they’ve been saying ‘death to America,’” Trump told reporters. “If you go back 15 years, I was saying we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” Pressed on whether negotiations with Tehran were still possible amid the intensifying war, Trump quipped, “Nothing is too late.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday stubbornly refused US President Donald Trump’s call for the Islamic Republic’s “unconditional surrender.” Too cowardly to speak in person, he issued a statement that was read by a TV host on Wednesday as a “message to the Iranian nation.” “Intelligent people who know Iran and the Iranian nation and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening rhetoric because the Iranian nation will not surrender,” the statement said. “The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable consequences.” Khamenei’s statement comes amid reports that US President Donald Trump is considering joining Israel in the war against Iran and its nuclear program. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Residents of the Pardes Katz neighborhood in Bnei Brak told B’Chadrei Chareidim about the tremendous neis they experienced when an Iranian missile hit a school building. The missile struck the Otzer HaChaim Bais Yaakov school, causing it to collapse and seriously damaging the neighboring ALEH rehabilitation center and the Mishkenot Shimon shul and other nearby apartment buildings, killing Avraham Cohen, H’yd. The school, which only a few days ago was bustling with hundreds of students, is now a pile of rubble. Several hours before the missile strike, several teachers cleaned out the school’s bomb shelter so that the neighbors could use the shelter during the sirens.

Israel is running low on defensive Arrow interceptors, the Wall Street Journal claimed on Wednesday, citing a US official. The dwindling supply raises concerns about Israel’s ability to defend against long-range ballistic missiles if the war doesn’t end soon, the report says. The US has been aware of the issue for months, and the Trump administration has been bolstering Israel’s defenses with systems on the ground, at sea, and in the air. According to the report, there is now concern that the US could also run out of interceptors. “Neither the U.S. nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” said Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.