Israel News for 8-24-2020
News Update
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The Health Ministry reported 962 new coronavirus cases yesterday. There are currently 21,914 active cases of which 411 people are hospitalized in serious condition and 116 on ventilators. There have been 839 coronavirus related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Minister of Immigrant Absorption Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White) has tested positive for Covid and will be quarantined. The Knesset is investigating to determine who else the minister came into contact with. Tamano-Shata, 39, is Israel’s first Ethiopian-born minister.
The Knesset Finance Committee today approved the bill to postpone the deadline for a budget to be presented, after Likud and Blue & White reached agreements to avoid elections. The bill will now be sent to the Knesset for a vote later today. If it doesn’t pass, the Knesset will be dissolved and new elections will be called for.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with PM Netanyahu in Jerusalem today. Pompeo will also meet with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. After Israel, Pompeo is scheduled to visit Sudan, the UAE and Bahrain, with additional stops in the Gulf possible.
Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani told his party yesterday that he rejected any normalization of relations with Israel. Jared Kushner is expected to visit Morocco in the coming days. Kushner will also visit Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
IDF aircraft and tanks attacked Hamas military positions and underground infrastructure in southern Gaza late Sunday in response to the launching of incendiary devices across the border, which caused 28 fires.
