Roman Catholic authorities in Jerusalem have instructed their priests to give communion by hand only, rather than placing the wafers on worshippers' tongues, and to empty holy water fonts - as precautions against the spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday he was reviving Israel's most contentious settlement plan, a proposal that opponents say would split the West Bank, cut off East Jerusalem and make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

JERUSALEM: Israel is bracing for an unprecedented third election in under a year, with voters eyeing an end to the deadlock but polls indicating another tight race despite criminal charges against the prime minister. Two previous votes in April and September last year failed to produce a clear winner between right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz, who heads the centrist Blue and White party. Ballot-weary Israelis have shown limited enthusiasm ahead of the March 2 election, with some grudgingly accepting the possibility of a fourth run before the year ends. But there have been significant developments since Israelis...

Israel may quarantine some 200 visitors from South Korea in a military base south of Jerusalem over coronavirus worries, Israel's Ynet news site reported on Sunday.

Israeli police shot and killed a man who tried to carry out a stabbing attack in the old city of Jerusalem on Saturday, a spokesman said.

An extinct variety of date palm tree has been grown from ancient seeds preserved in the Judean desert for 2000 years, the oldest seeds ever germinated