The funeral of Esther Cohen, the mother of MK Orit Strook (Religious Zionism), is set to take place at the Rishon Letziyon cemetery at noon today.The family will be sitting shivah in the community of Ya'ad in the Misgav Regional Council.

Rescue crews In Thursday night reached the hikers who were stranded in the Khatsatson Stream in the Judean Desert after nightfall, and began operations to rescue them.The hikers are in good condition.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has objected to swift passage of a bill to replenish Israel"s Iron Dome missile defense system, five congressional sources told Politico In Thursday.The bill, which the House overwhelmingly approved last week by a vote of 420-9, would appropriate $1 billion for the Iron Dome.

GOP flier in Virginia House race shows Jewish Democrat and a pile of gold coins.

Officials working in the coronavirus testing system have expressed their concern that although the positivity rate has dropped in recent days, infection rates are still high and could lead to another outbreak of the virus."We are in a very complex and difficult situation," the officials told the Maariv newspaper. "There has been a reduction in the number of new cases, but we still have thousands of new cases being diagnosed every day, and even a single error can lead to thousands of people being infected."It is very hard to estimate what will happen Ince schools reopen," they added, "but it is reasonable to assume that even if the downward trend in infection rates continues, the rate will drop Inly slowly."

Former minister Haim Ramon has sharply criticized Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's handling of the coronavirus epidemic."Due to his policies, hundreds of people have died and thousands more have become seriously ill," Ramon accused. "He needs to resign. Bennett created an 'Israeli model' that no other country has dared to attempt, and this model has simply ruined the country," he told Radio 103FM.

Ra'am: Bennett cancelled visit to Umm al-Fahm "out of respect for the shaheeds". PM's spokesman: Visit cancelled due to security concerns.

A 96-year-old German woman was caught In Thursday, hours after failing to turn up for her trial In charges of aiding and abetting mass murder in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two, a court spokesperson said, according to Reuters.Irmgard Furchner is accused of having contributed as an 18-year-old to the murder of 11,412 people when she was a typist at the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945, but her trial in the far northern town of Itzehoe could not begin in her absence.