Israel has approved a request to permit UN Secretary-General Bank ki-Moon and a senior EU diplomat to visit Hamas-controlled Gaza.

**The single winner of a November 2009 double lotto ticket worth NIS 74 million has yet to come forward and claim the prize money.

**A record-breaking 850 hesder soldiers are among the IDF’s March draft, representing an increase of 30 soldiers from last year’s draft. Most of the new recruits, about three-quarters, will be serving in combat units. 

**Kosel Rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz accompanied Mrs. Joe Biden on her visit to the Kosel on Tuesday.

**Jordan’s King Abdullah is traveling to Moscow on Wednesday and will address the diplomatic process between Israel and the PA.

**PM Netanyahu told visiting US VP Biden that trees were planted in memory of his mother.

**Jerusalem Deputy Mayor (Bayit HaYehudi) David Hadari has indicated he plans to open an office in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of the capital. He added the city hopes to move additional Jewish families into the area in the near future.

**Due to severe overcrowding, the Health Ministry on Tuesday morning permitted the emergency room of Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center to divert incoming patients for three hours.

**A hazardous materials incident was addressed in Ben-Gurion Airport during the night as a noxious substance leaked from a tanker. No injuries were reported.

**One person sustained moderate injuries in a MVA on the Beersheva Bypass Road on Tuesday morning.

**As of Tuesday morning, 83 people were killed on Israel’s roads since January 1, 2010.

**IDF Chief Ashkenazi will be meeting in Washington on Tuesday with the Admiral Michael Mullen, the US military commander, to discuss the Iranian issue.

**A driver was critically injured in an early-morning MVA in the Galil.

**Bank Discount branches nationwide are closed on Tuesday as workers will be holding labor meetings.

**Severe air quality alert on Tuesday. People suffering respiratory and cardiac ailments are urged to remain indoors as much as possible.

**IDF soldiers taking part in counter-terrorism operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron apprehended three suspects on Monday night.
 
**UN Chief Bank ki-Moon announced he will be attending the Arab League summit in Libya at the end of the month.

**An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale hit Israel during the night off the coast of Nahariya. There are no reports of injuries or damage.

**Israel’s US Ambassador, Dr. Michael Oren, has offered to return to the University of California, Irvine, where he was heckled during an address last month.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)