Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told ministers that despite the wish to impose restrictions for the duration of the Hanukkah festival, which starts this evening, in practice it will prove impossible to do so from this evening.

The government is expected to today approve a modified form of night curfew for the days of Hanukkah, starting this evening.People in Jewish-majority towns and cities will be banned from visiting Ine another's homes in the evenings, and people from more than Ine household will not be permitted to meet at all in any location.The original plan was to impose the restrictions from half past five in the evening until midnight. However, Finance Minister Yisrael Katz is now demanding that the restrictions begin Inly from seven in the evening.

PM, defense and health ministers agree not to impose new COVID-19 restrictions over Hanukkah following opposition from other ministers.

Israeli authorities are set to unveil previously off-limits structures within King Herod's palace-fortress Herodium.

Prof. Itamar Grotto, outgoing deputy director of the Health Ministry, told Galei Tzahal this morning that in his opinion, "face masks confer a greater measure of protection against coronavirus than a vaccine will do."

A leading halakhic authority, Rabbi Schwartz was Av Beth Din of the Beth Din of America and Rosh Beth Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent Hanukkah greetings to Jews across the world in advance of the festival that begins this evening, the Turkish news site Yeni Safak (New Dawn) reports."In an age in which anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are spreading like a pandemic, Turkey will continue to be a model for the entire world," Erdoğan said."I extend my best wishes to Jewish citizens of Turkey and the entire Jewish community around the world In the occasion of Hanukkah, and wish them peace."

Speaking In Radio 103FM today, Prof. Shuki Shemer, director of Assuta hospital in Ashdod, said that a third nationwide lockdown is "unavoidable.""The infection rate is rising, and it seems that a third lockdown can no longer be averted," Shemer said.Referring to the government's recent failed attempt to impose a night curfew for the next few weeks, he said that, "One of the problems with a night curfew was that it's impossible to enforce something like that, and that would have damaged public confidence in the government."