The High Court of Justice decided Thursday to freeze the hearings of the committee for senior civil service appointments officials. The court said two members of the committee – Iris Stark, the head of an accountancy firm, and Jacob Nagel, a former acting National Security Adviser – may influence the choice of the next chief of police and therefore had a possible conflict of interest as they were close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who “may be interested in the identity of the head of the Israel Police. Netanyahu is facing a series of criminal investigations. The court said Netanyahu “is not allowed to be involved in the proceedings.”

Tourist entries to Israel in the period from January to August 2018 hit 2.6 million, a 16.5% increase on the same period last year, generating revenues of $3.9 billion. The number of tourists visiting Israel is on course to surpass last year’s record high of 3.6 million visitors. “Month after month we are witnessing new achievements and record highs in incoming tourism,” said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin. “This is proof of the success of the innovative, marketing activities that we are implementing, together with the incentives for airlines and investments in infrastructure.The tourism industry continues to be a significant factor in making exceptional impact and contributions to the Israeli economy and workforce.”

The IDF has closed the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel following riots on Tuesday in which hundreds of Palestinians converged on the crossing and vandalized infrastructure.

The crossing will remain closed until the damage can be repaired, an IDF Spokesperson said, adding that approval for passage through the crossing for humanitarian reasons will be granted on a case-by-case basis.

“Every day, approximately 1,000 Gazans enter Israel through Erez Crossing to work, study, or pray,” the IDF said in a statement. “Yesterday, hundreds of Gazan rioters damaged this same crossing, resulting in its closure for repairs. Passage will be permitted for individually approved humanitarian cases.”

Security forces arrested 10 Palestinians in the early hours of Wednesday morning during routine searches for terror suspects across Judea and Samaria.  During a sweep in the Hebron area, the forces seized a hand gun and ammunition.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) accused Israel of being responsible for an attack on a military facility near Hama in western Syria on Tuesday evening. According to SANA, Syrian anti-aircraft missiles shot down missiles “launched by the Israeli Air Force”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said the target of the attack was an Iranian military facility.