776 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount on Chanukah, a 66% increase since last year, despite limitations set by the police, prohibiting prayer and worship at the site.

A total of 1990 Jews visited the holy site during the Jewish month of Kislev, constituting a 44% increase compared to the previous year.

Three Jewish visitors were detained for violating the prohibition on prayer throughout the month.

IDF aircraft attacked Hamas targets in Gaza early Thursday, after a rocket was fired from Gaza toward the southern city of Ashkelon.

According to the IDF, one rocket launch was identified and intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

“The Hamas terror organization is responsible for what is happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will suffer consequences for actions against Israeli citizens,” the IDF said in a statement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a campaign rally at Ashkelon during the attack and was forced to stop the event and evacuate to a bomb shelter.

A similar incident happened to Netanyahu in September, when a campaign event he held in the southern city of Ashdod was cut short due to rocket fire from Gaza.

Netanyahu returned to the stage on Wednesday night 15 minutes after he was evacuated and threatened the terrorists who fired the rocket.

“The person who fired the rocket last time is no longer with us. The person who fired this time should start packing his things,” he said.

Netanyahu referred to the assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior Islamic Jihad commander who was believed to be behind the rocket attack in September.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its “double standard” in regard to its decision to launch an investigation against Israel over alleged war crimes it committed while ignoring those evidently committed by the Iran regime.

“Iranian Supreme [Ali] Leader Khamenei is a war criminal. He ordered the murder of 1,500 civilian protestors and the ICC doesn’t even open an investigation. They hold Israel to a double standard – we are defending ourselves against terrorists. No one can deny us our right to self-defense,” he stated Tuesday.

He was relating to a report by Reuters that about 1,500 people died during the recent unrest in Iran in the country’s deadliest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The report says that Khamenei was personally responsible for the decision to violently repress the protests.

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hooks stated that the report “on the massacre ordered by Khamenei underscores the urgency for the international community to punish the perpetrators and isolate the regime for the murder of 1,500 Iranian citizens.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday by telephone with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and thanked him “for standing alongside Israel, the truth and justice” after he condemned the announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that is was launching a probe into alleged war crimes committed by Israel.

Pompeo stated that the US “firmly opposes this unjustified inquiry that unfairly targets Israel. The path to lasting peace is through direct negotiations.”

Netanyahu on Monday evening again stated that “the claim by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that Jews do not have a right to live in the Jewish homeland is pure anti-Semitism. So is the claim that Jews have no right to defend themselves against those who seek their annihilation.”

“As we celebrate Hanukkah, the ICC issues decrees that are just as anti-Semitic as those of the ancient Seleucid Empire against the Maccabees. We triumphed then, we will triumph now,” he added.

Three women and a man were killed and several others were injured in a bus accident on Sunday at an intersection near Ben Gurion Airport in the center of the country.

Emergency services evacuated 14 injured to the hospitals, including two in serious condition.

An initial inquiry indicates that the driver, who survived the accident with light injuries, lost control of the bus and crashed into a cement bus stop. He was questioned by police and is suspected of being the cause of the accident.

Five of those who sustained light injuries were released home Monday morning.

The names of the victims have yet to be released.