In a high-stakes counterterror operation, Israeli security forces thwarted a planned shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) and Israel Police announced Sunday that they had arrested 24-year-old Uday Mobarsham, an Arab Israeli from the village of Makr, who had purchased a homemade rifle and begun training for an attack targeting Israeli police officers and Jewish civilians near the Damascus Gate. Mobarsham, who had been undergoing religious radicalization, was captured in February, just before planning to execute his deadly plan.

FDNY firefighters and Boro Park Hatzolah volunteers are on the scene of a fire in a fourth-floor apartment at 1522 55th Street. Multiple patients are being treated for smoke inhalation. Boro Park Shomrim volunteers assisted in evacuating residents from the building as emergency personnel worked to contain the fire. THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON THE BORO PARK SCOOP STATUS CLICK HERE SIGN UP TO THE BORO PARK SCOOP WHATSAPP STATUS TO BE INFORMED OF BORO PARK NEWS IN LIVE TIME (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The IDF has removed a group of reservists from their duties in the Gaza Strip following the emergence of a video. The footage, which surfaced online, shows the soldiers firing their weapons into the air during a Megillah reading on Purim, when hearing the name Haman. The incident reportedly took place amidst the festive atmosphere of the holiday, but the IDF deemed the behavior a violation of military protocol and safety standards. An investigation is underway, and the reservists involved have been withdrawn from operational activity pending further review.

After more than 17 months of captivity, Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage held by Hamas, is set to be released. The 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier has been held since October 7, when he was captured during Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel. Alexander’s release comes as part of a deal brokered by mediators, which will also see the return of the bodies of four other dual-national hostages. The exact timing of the transfer remains uncertain, but it coincides with high-stakes negotiations in Qatar over a possible second phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Born in Israel but raised in New Jersey, Alexander chose to enlist in the IDF instead of attending college.

Rabbi Yehuda Gerami, the Chief Rabbi of Iran Davened Mincha and Maariv and read Megillas Esther this evening at the site believed to be the kever of Mordechai and Esther in Hamadan, Iran. Young Iranian yeshiva students travelled with with Rabbi Gerami to the Kever. Attached video footage taken for YWN shows the Rabbi and his students, some of whom are training to become rabbinical judges and rabbis, danceing outside the Kever before Mincha. After Mincha, they Davened maariv, followed by Kreiyas Megillah in a nearby Shul next to the Kever. They then broke their fast, and began the journey back to Tehran. Despite geopolitical tensions, the Iranian regime continues to preserve the kever due to its historical significance.

President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler has been removed from talks regarding the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, The Jewish Insider reported. The report cited Republican sources who said that some are demanding that he be removed entirely from the Trump administration. “It’s like he’s in Never Never Land,” one senator said. Boehler faced a strong backlash following his interviews with CNN and other US and Israeli media outlets on Sunday, during which he defended his direct talks with the Hamas terror group. Boehler not only spoke directly with Hamas but made extremely controversial statements, saying that the Hamas terrorists he met “don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us.

The Israeli Air Force attacked an Islamic Jihad terror organization in Damascus at noon on Thursday. The target of the attack were Islamic Jihad commanders who were planning attacks against IDF forces on the northern border and in the buffer zone. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed the attack. “There will be no immunity for Islamic terror against Israel, not in Damascus and not anywhere else,” he said. “Wherever terrorist activity is organized against Israel, the leader of radical Islam, Julani, will find the Air Force planes hovering over him and attacking terrorist targets. We will not allow Syria to become a threat to the State of Israel.” The attack follows a series of IDF attacks in Syria since the overthrow of the Assad regime last December.

Hundreds of mispallelim, accompanied by the IDF, entered Kever Yosef in Shechem on Wednesday night, ahead of Taanis Esther and Purim, as part of the regular visits arranged by the Shomron Regional Council and approved by the IDF. Yossi Dagan, the head of the Shomron Council, called for the restoration of full Israeli control over Kever Yosef. “There is no real reason to continue this absurdity, that a site that is supposed to be under full Israeli control, even according to the cursed Oslo Accords, has remained abandoned for over 24 years – one of the most kodesh places for the Jewish nation,” he said. “I call on the government to act to restore the permanent presence at the site, to correct the disgrace and allow every Jew to daven in this kodesh place without fear.

In a special shailos and teshuvos ahead of Purim, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein issued guidelines on the obligation to be careful about drinking too much wine on Purim, especially this year when Purim falls out on Erev Shabbos. At the end of his lengthy remarks about the pitfalls of drinking more wine than Chazal recommended, HaRav Zilberstein issued a surprising p’sak, saying that it’s a special mitzvah this year to refrain from getting drunk.

In just a few hours, Jewish communities will erupt in celebration. The streets will fill with laughter, the sounds of joyous singing and lechaims shared among friends and family. Purim is a day of joy, but for too many people, it is something else entirely. It is a day of isolation, of suffering in plain sight while the world around them dances. It is for these people—the ones who feel invisible in their pain—that we at YWN feel compelled to speak up right now. For many months now, the growing mental health crisis in our community has been something we wanted to write about but held back. Each time we considered addressing the issue, another suicide had just occurred. Out of respect for the grieving families, we waited. Then, another suicide happened. So we waited again.