There are 16,539 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Israel as of Wednesday, an increase of only 13 cases in 24 hours. A total of 61 patients are in serious condition of whom 51 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 262. A total of 12,173 patients have recovered from the virus, leaving only 4,104 active cases. Authorities are preparing a plan for a full reopening of Ben-Gurion Airport by June 1, Channel 12 News reported. Passengers will be allowed to travel to countries with low rates of infection and will be required to be tested for the coronavirus before departure and upon return. The first two countries that will reopen their borders to Israel and vice versa will reportedly be Greece and Cyprus. Magen David Adom closed their drive-through testing stations for the coronavirus this week. The stations were established at the height of the coronavirus pandemic to enable Israelis to be tested for the coronavirus in a quick and efficient way and with minimal exposure of healthcare workers to potential coronavirus carriers. MDA staff tested a total of 272,016 people for the coronavirus, 97,526 in drive-through stations, 93,220 in homes, and 81,540 in nursing homes and other facilities. נסגרו עמדות 'היבדק וסע' של מד"א:השבוע נסגרו מתחמי 'היבדק וסע' של מד"א ולהלן סיכום פעילותם:95 מתחמי היבדק וסע הוקמו.4 מתחמים קבועים הוקמו בירושלים, ת"א, חיפה וב"ש, בהם נבדקו 45,997 בני אדם.91 מתחמים ניידים שהוקמו על פי הצורך ברחבי הארץ.סה"כ דגמו צוותי מדא 272,016 בני אדם. pic.twitter.com/ONOCD9Nq1b — מגן דוד אדום (@mda_israel) May 13, 2020 (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Among the dead in the horrific bus crash involving a number 947 bus traveling from Jerusalem to Haifa on Sunday night, the first night of Chanukah, were chareidim; a resident of Elad and a woman apparently from the north. The process of identifying the victims continued throughout the night and Monday. The scene at the crash site, near Bedek Interchange in the area of Ben-Gurion Airport was a difficult one, and ZAKA volunteers operated on the scene ensuring kovod hameis for about four hours. Initial reports on Sunday night were of four dead and 18 injured in the crash, and it is now known that some of the dead were chareidim who began their trip from Jerusalem. One of the dead is an Elad resident who in the past lived in Petach Tikvah. A woman, apparently a chareidi living in the north, was also on the bus along with two young women. The 947 bus from Jerusalem to Haifa was traveling its regular route and a short while after El Al Junction, the driver lost control and slammed into a concrete hitching station and the roof of the bus was torn away by the concrete pillars, leading to the deaths R”L. All the bodies were taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute where efforts continue to make positive identifications, after which families will be notified. The driver, a 44-year-old Haifa resident, was arrested and he was questioned while hospitalized in Beilinson Hospital. The driver is expected to be arraigned on Monday in a Rishon L’Tzion court and police will be asking that he be held without bail. Police are checking to determine if he was using his phone while operating the bus. Three women and a man in their 30s and 50s were killed in the crash as the bus slammed into concrete pillars. 14 persons were injured according to police, including a 67-year-old woman and a 19-year-old girl, both listed in serious condition. The victims were transported to Sheba, Assaf HaRofeh, Beilinson and Sharon Hospitals. Five of the victims were released during the night from Assaf HaRofeh Hospital. Since the beginning of the year, 34 people were killed in accidents involving buses. In 2018, the number of deaths in accidents involving buses stood at 33. There have been 27 accidents involving buses since the beginning of 2019 and 2018 ended with 29 bus-involved accidents. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

On his way to a dinner in London, the president of United Hatzalah, Eli Beer, performed CPR on a cardiac arrest victim in Ben-Gurion International Airport. Beer, who was on his way to London for a fundraising event, was present in the airport when a woman collapsed and was in cardiac arrest. Beer began CPR until additional emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. Beer told the press, “Just after I passed through the security checkpoint at Ben-Gurion I heard people screaming for help. I rushed over to the crowd which was just in front of me and found an 80-year-old Arab woman who was surrounded by her children and had collapsed and was unconscious. She had no pulse and was not breathing. I immediately began CPR and called our dispatch center and asked them to send an intensive care ambulance and other first responders to my location. A volunteer paramedic from United Hatzalah who works as part of the medical team in Ben-Gurion also joined and together, we continued the resuscitation. The woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital and as they were the loading the woman onto the stretcher, I gave her children each a hug and tried to comfort them.” *****SIGN UP NOW —- GET YOUR NEWS IN RECORD TIME***** Make sure you are one of the more than 22,000 that signed up to YWN WhatsApp Status to receive news in live time. Click this link – or send a message to 1-888-4-YW-NEWS (888-499-6397) – to see our status posts***** (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Fifteen outgoing flights were delayed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday morning, August 12, 2019. According to officials at the airport, the cause for the delay was a malfunction of the luggage sorting system. This preventing loading luggage onto outgoing flights. Ynet reported that airlines were contemplating taking off on schedule without passengers’ suitcases. The airport recently reported delays due to interference with Israel’s GPS airspace navigation system, which led to delays in both takeoffs and landings. It has since been learned that that was caused by Russia, as reported by YWN-Israel. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A 60-year-old man was killed and another man, also 60, was seriously injured in a vehicle lift accident in a facilty near Ben-Gurion Airport run by the Mitanim Company. It appears a vehicle lift collapsed in a facility located next to the airport. One man was pronounced dead on the scene. The injured man was transported to Tel Hashomer Hospital in serious condition. Police are involved and an investigation has begun towards determining the cause of the fatal accident. The initial probe reveals that while taking care of a vehicle that pulls carriages in the airport, the vehicle was placed on a lift and the two victims were working on it from the pit underneath that vehicle. The lift collapsed for reasons that are being probed and as a result, the vehicle fell on the two men below. An airport spokesman told the media, “Inside a warehouse of the Shiloach International Company, a tractor that pulls carriages was on a lift and it appears that fell onto the workers. The area of the accident is not in the operational area of the airport.” MDA paramedic Moshe Gelbstein and EMT Moshe Gabbai were among the EMS personnel operating on the scene. They explained, “When we arrived on the scene, we saw two 60-year-old men unconscious after being struck by a heavy object that fell onto them. We immediately began life-saving medical care. One of them was trapped under the heavy object, and we tried resuscitation efforts. He was in critical condition and we eventually were compelled to pronounce him dead on the scene. The second victim sustained multi-system trauma and after being treated, he was transported to a hospital in serious condition, intubated and sedated”. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A postcard written and signed by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion the very day after he officially declared the state of Israel’s independence was just recently discovered. The postcard, dated 6 Iyar 5748 (May 15, 1948), was sent to the founding father of the kibbutz movement, Shlomo Lavi. In a letter inscribed on the back of the postcard, Ben-Gurion wrote: “The people of Israel have attained the pinnacle of their existence – the State of Israel has been born.” The postcard, which was discovered right before Israel’s Independence Day, will be put up for public auction next week at the Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem. In the letter, Ben-Gurion compares the contrasting realities on the ground in Israel between the time when he immigrated and the day after the establishment of the State of Israel. “When we arrived in this Land, you as Lefkowitz and I as Grün, waving the flag of Labor, we encountered the malaria of the swamps and the corruption of the Ottoman regime. Now, despite the fact that the roar of the cannons has not ceased, and our sons are fighting on all fronts, my heart is joyous upon witnessing this great advancement.” Ben-Gurion espoused statehood and suppressed efforts from both the right and left, which he perceived as grave risks to the existence of a strong, unified military. His vision of the state led him to dismantle the underground units on the eve of the War of Independence and replace them with the Israel Defense Forces. He served as both Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in the first national government and as leader of the Labor Party in succeeding governments. He was likewise among the founders of the Histadrut (General Organization of Workers in Israel) and the first leader of the Yishuv (Jewish community in mandatory Palestine). Ben-Gurion established and led the Mapai workers’ party, after which he resigned to found the Rafi party which eventually merged with Mapai to form Israel’s Labor Party. The letter recipient, Shlomo Lavi (formerly Lefkowitz, 1882-1963) was born in Płońsk, Poland (also the birthplace of David Ben-Gurion). He was also an active member of the Ezra Zionist Youth Movement, which sought to provide free Hebrew education to poor children and was founded by Ben-Gurion and Shlomo Tzemach. Lavi immigrated to the region of Palestine under the Ottoman Empire in 1905, during the period of the Second Aliyah. He then worked in several different positions including at the orchards of Petach Tikvah and Sejera, at an oil production plant owned by the Atid company and on the Kinneret agricultural farms. He was one of the founders of the Jewish defense and paramilitary organization of Hashomer. As a member of the communal Kvutzat Kinneret community in the Galil region, he introduced the concept of the “Kvutzah Hagedolah” (the kibbutz). In 1921, Lavi and several other individuals founded Kibbutz Ein Harod. Meron Eren, co-owner of Kedem Auction House, said: “This postcard is a very special find that encompasses a supreme historic value. Above all, it carries with it nostalgia for the early days of the country, sentiments of renewal, excitement upon a state in the making as well as the exhilaration and joy of a generation that took nothing for granted.” The revelation of the postcard also overlapped with the