Israel’s Health Ministry published the daily statistics for new COVID-19 cases in Israel that listed 1,027 people testing positive for the disease on Friday, slightly down from Thursday’s total of 1,033. On Shabbos, as of 5:00 pm, 315 people tested positive for the disease. The number of actively ill people in the country also rose and now sits at 9,422, among them are 276 who are in serious condition, down 7 from yesterday, and 107 on respirators. Thus far, 2,845 people have died from the disease in Israel.

Among those who tested positive recently are 10 staff members of the Isrotel Hotel at the Dead Sea during a routine test of the staff of the hotel. All services in the hotel have been suspended until full testing can be done of everyone on the premises. The hotel stated that the staff members who tested positive were all asymptomatic and were only discovered as having the disease due to the routine testing of the staff under the “Tourist Island” guidelines. The Health Ministry stated that they were conducting an intensive epidemiological investigation with the staff in order to identify other possible infected people inside the “green” zone. Any guests who have been staying at the hotel since the 22nd of November are required to take a corona test.

A large explosion took place on Tzahal Street in Nes Ziona that seemingly came from a car bomb. No injuries were reported as a result of the explosion. Police closed off the area and opened an investigation. From reports in the Israeli media, it appears that a wealthy businessman was the target murder attempt.

Unidentified gunmen opened fire near two banks in the Arab towns of Bi’ina and Dier al-Assad in the Galilee. No injuries were reported in the shootings but damage was caused. Police are investigating both incidents. Similar incidents took place this week with gunmen shooting near banks in Dier Hana, Ra’ama, Nahaf, and Araba. Thus far seven people have been arrested in relation to the shootings.

A young woman in her early 20s and a boy aged 10, were moderately injured due to smoke inhalation when a fire broke out in a residential building on HaHalutz Street in Nahariya. Volunteers from United Hatzalah and ambulance teams from Magen David Adom treated the injured and transported them to the Galilee medical center in Nahariya for further care.

A large amount of agricultural equipment went up in flames in Moshav Yakhini, a religious farming town south of Sderot near the Gaza border. Among the items torched was a combine and a plant sprayer. The damage will cost the town millions of shekels to replace. It is suspected that the fire was caused by arsonists who were seeking protection money from the town. According to one of the farmers, the remains of two Molotov cocktails were found at the scene and everything went up in flames in seconds, leading residents to suspect that other accelerants were used.

A motorcyclist in his 50s was killed in a motor vehicle accident that took place south of the Ma’akhaz interchange of Highways 40 and 6 near Kiryat Gat. United Hatzalah volunteers and Magen David Adom ambulance teams performed CPR on the motorcyclist but were forced to pronounce his death at the scene. due to the accident, Highway 6 southbound was closed between Kiryat Gat and Ma’akhaz was closed for a short time.

A man in his 30s was found lying on the ground unconscious near a bicycle on Levi Eshkol Street in Kiryat Ono. United Hatzalah volunteers and Magen David Adom ambulance teams who arrived at the scene treated him at the scene before transporting him to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah in serious condition.

A 34-year-old construction worker fell while working at a construction site on Yaffe Yarkoni Street in Akko. He wast treated at the scene by United Hatzalah volunteer and Magen David Adom ambulance teams and was transported to Rambam Hospital in Haifa in serious condition.

2,000 protesters gathered at Paris Square in Jerusalem for the weekly protest against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s leadership. This is the 24th consecutive week that these protests have continued.

Israel’s Maritime Police together with the Navy rescued two kayakers in their 30s who were pulled out to sea near Haifa. Rescue teams began searching for the kayakers after people on the shore noticed that they had been missing for a long time. One kayaker was found more than 4 kilometers out to sea, and the second kayaker was more than 7 kilometers out to sea. They were both in good condition and neither one required medical treatment.

In a separate incident, maritime police rescued four fishermen in their 40s who were pulled out to sea after the engine on their boat died. Rescue teams found them several kilometers west of Rishpon beach. Their boat was hauled to the marina in Herzliya. No injuries were reported.

According to Israeli credit card company Cal, Israelis spent 67 million shekels on Black Friday deals from online websites abroad. The level of purchasing rose by 20 percent over the total purchase amount from 2019. Over the course of November, a month that sees sales both from Black Friday as well as the Chinese holiday of November 11th, Israelis spent more than 1 billion shekels on internet purchases. The month of sales and online purchasing continues on many international websites on cyber-Monday.

Israeli windsurfer Yoav Cohen, captured the gold medal at the European Championships of windsurfing that took place in Portugal over the weekend. Another Israeli, Olympic bronze medalist Shachar Tzubari, who won his medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, placed second in the championship competition. Other Israeli competitors, Yoav Omer and Tom Reuveni placed 6th and 8th in the competition respectively.

Israeli women were also represented in the sport as Katy Spychakov won a silver medal and will represent Israel in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo. Other women from the Israeli team Maya Morris, Noy Drihan, and Noga Geller placed 6th, 11th, and 14th respectively.

In the under 18 youth competition Israelis took 1st and 4th place in the men’s competition and 2nd and 3rd in the women’s competition.

The victories came just a day after the Israeli rhythmic gymnastics team took the gold in the group all-around category at the European Championships in Kyiv on Friday, and a week after Israel’s Peter Paltchik won the gold medal at the 2020 European Judo Championships in Prague.