SECURITY/DEFENSE:

*Sunday, day 40 of the virtual Gaza ceasefire.

*Today is Gilad Shalit’s 764th day in Hamas captivity.

*5 terrorists were killed and some 15 people injured when a car exploded in Gaza on Saturday in an apparent mishap while preparing a bomb.

*Two infiltrators were apprehended at Karnei Crossing in Gaza on Shabbos. No injuries were reported.

*150 Arabs and local and foreign left-wing activists held a stormy anti security fence protest at Na’alin attacking soldiers with rocks and other objects. The area was declared a closed military zone. No injuries were reported.

*IDF troops on Shabbos arrested a number of Arabs involved in rock-throwing attacks in the Beit Omar area north of Chevron.

POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:

*The air force’s 669 elite rescue unit on Saturday night rescued a Ukrainian sailor from a ship 150km off of Israel’s northern shore. He was seriously injured in a fire. He was treated on the scene by a physician and transferred to Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer Hospital.

*There were five fatal drowning incidents over the weekend. People decided to enter the stormy waters despite the presence of a black flag, signaling conditions are too dangerous to swim. 15 others incidents were not fatal but 5 swimmers are hospitalized in serious condition.

*5 dead in rival fighting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza.

*DM Barak announced in the next government Justice Minister Friedman must be replaced.

*Dina Hoshea, in her 40s, traveled to N.E. India with her husband and a son to visit their daughter/sister. She was killed in a car accident on Friday along with the other driver. Her other family members were lightly injured.

*DM Barak leaves for Washington on Sunday for a series of high-level meetings including VP Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Rice. The Iranian nuclear threat remains high on the senior minister’s agenda.

*Galei Tzahal (Army Radio): IDF raising operational status in the south on Sunday, fearing rocket attacks in Gaza periphery areas.

*An officer of the elite Air Force 669 Search & Rescue Unit is missing following a boat accident in Laos. Avner Bardougo, 25, disappeared after the vessel capsized. Another passenger did extricate himself from the waters. Israel’s consul in Vietnam is assisting the family in the search.

*Yisrael Lieberman plans to turn to Supreme Court on Sunday against the attorney general because of prolonged investigations against him, some dating back 12 years. He demands the cases move ahead or be closed.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)