1. Israel shutters main Gaza crossing

Israel’s Prime Minister has just announced the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing point with Gaza until further notice. This checkpoint is the only place along the Israeli border where food, water and aid can be transferred into the strip. Israel says specially approved shipments will still be allowed in but in announcing the closure, Prime Minister Netanyahu made it very clear that the majority of operations will be shuttered.
2. Nationality bill ‘harms state of Israel’

Rabbi Ariel Konstantyn, Founding Rabbi at the Tel Aviv Int’l Synagogue and Rabbi Dov Lipman, Former MK; Yesh Atid Party speaking at ILTV Studio about how Israeli president Reuven Rivlin breaks silence on the draft legislation.

1. P.A. plows ahead with ‘Martyr’ payments

Despite a growing international condemnation of the practice, the Palestinian authority has vowed to plunge ahead with paying stipends to terrorists and their families. While Israel sees these so-called ‘martyr payments’ a san obvious incentive to carry out violence against Israeli citizens, President Abbas clearly sees this as a red line for his own administration.

1. China enters the Mideast fray

A surprising new figure has just emerged as a key player in the Middle East and namely, in trying to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. China. Chinese President Shee Jin-Ping has just cemented this mission by promising fifteen million dollars of aid money to the Palestinians as well as 23 billion dollars total in economic assistance to Arab states throughout the Mideast.

1. I.D.F. troops return war medals
   In a stunning turn, roughly 400 Israeli veterans from the 2014 Gaza war operation protective edge have just returned their commemorative pins. The gesture was conducted in the form of a protest held outside of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem. The vets say this is to mean to protest the government’s failure to return the bodies of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.
2. Israel shoots for the moon
   An Israeli nonprofit is about to go where no Israeli spacecraft has ever gone before the moon. The innovators at ‘space-il’ have just announced that their unmanned vessel will hitch a ride on a falcon nine spacecraft courtesy of Elon Musk and Space-x later this year. The module will then perform a soft lunar landing on the surface of the moon, where it plant an Israeli flag. If successful, that would make Israel the fourth country to ever do so.
3. Taking accessibility to a new level
   Avi Price, Co-Founder & COO at Uniper Care Technologies speaking at ILTV Studio about the Israeli company that has found a solution to the biggest issue of the lack of community and isolation.
   8. Checking sperm in the palm of your hand
   Israeli research delivered some very bad news to men and women last year: fertility in men in western countries has plunged by more than fifty percent over the last four decades! And worse, those rates are probably still dropping even as we speak. Well one Israeli company is trying to come up with a solution, a new way to let men check their sperm count whenever they want using their smartphone.
4. Hebrew word Of The Day: L’HARKIV | להרכיב = TO ASSEMBLE

Learn a New Hebrew word every day. Today’s word is "L'harkiv" which means "to assemble"

1. The Weather Forecast

Tonight will be partly cloudy and warm, with a low of seventy-seven, or twenty-five degrees Celsius. Tomorrow you can expect more partly cloudy and warm weather with a high of eighty-six, or thirty degrees Celsius.

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