Defense establishment determines that tunnel which penetrated into Israeli territory near Khan Yunis was intended for use by Hamas.

In an interview with Yisrael Hayom, which will be published in full tomorrow, Minister for Community Advancement Orly Levy-Abekasis responds to criticism from left-wing voters who are disappointed with her party, Gesher. Polls show Gesher attracting virtually no support in a future election."After the first round of elections in which Gesher did not pass the electoral threshold, I wanted to leave the race," she said. "But Amir Peretz did not give up and started chasing after me to make an electoral pact with him. In the end I agreed, In the condition that Gesher remained independent in every way. But I didn't want the association with Meretz. That happened behind my back. Amir Peretz didn't want it either, but there was a lot of pressure from people within Labor and Meretz - probably with the aim of ousting Peretz. In the end, I stayed because Peretz appealed to me to do so, saying he needed me in order to remain in his position" as Labor party leader.

Today: Clear to partially cloudy, with temperatures increasing mainly inland and In higher ground, to above the seasonal average and even verging In heatwave conditions.Tomorrow: Temperatures will continue to rise.Shabbat: Temperatures will remain unseasonably high. Possibility of local rain showers in the evening in most parts of the country, together with thunderstorms. There may be flash floods in riverbeds in the South and East of the country.Sunday: Continued likelihood of thunderstorms and rain showers as well as flash flooding. Temperatures will drop.

IDF suspects military personnel entered epidemiological test database and leaked details of Minister Gamliel, causing 'unusual incident'.

New report shows that proportion of the world’s Jewish population living in Europe today is at its lowest level for almost a thousand years.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz In Wednesday night took off for the United States where he will meet with his American counterpart Mark Esper."I am setting out In a brief and important defense commitment in the United States, meeting with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, to discuss some very important issues for Israel's security for years to come.""We must remember that, alongside the battle against the coronavirus, our enemies never cease their aggression. Yesterday we saw what happened with the tunnel in the south and we are familiar with other challenges across all fronts. We will continue tending to Israel's health and security," Gantz said.

The Trump administration is considering declaring that several prominent international NGOs &mdash including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam &mdash are anti-Semitic and that governments should not support them, two people familiar with the issue told Politico In Wednesday.The proposed declaration could come from the State Department as soon as this week, according to the report. If the declaration happens, it is likely to cause an uproar among civil society groups and might spur litigation.

NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft lands In asteroid Bennu as part of mission to collect rock and dust samples.