The Israeli Public Security Ministry has announced new regulations to limit the number of guns in the country.

Israeli military’s chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz has warned Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad that he will “bear the consequences” if Syria continues to attack Israel.

Lt Gen Gantz told an audience at Haifa University on Tuesday: “We will not allow the area of the Golan Heights to become a comfortable place for Mr Assad.”

Israeli and Syrian forces have exchanged fire in the Golan Heights in the latest in a series of incidents on the border.

The Syrian army claimed it had destroyed an IDF jeep that it said had infiltrated into Syrian territory in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Israeli police have identified the man responsible for the bank raid shootings that led to the death of four civilians in Be'er Sheva on Monday.

Itamar Alon, a reservist captain for the Israeli Defence Force, took a number of hostages during the attack at the Hapoalim Bank on Jabotinsky Street.

Alon, 40, had been refused an overdraft loan by the bank for around £1,000 (NIS 6,000).

At least five Israelis have been killed in what appears to be a bank robbery in Israel this morning.

Another person is in critical condition after the attack, in which hostages were held, at the Hapoalim Bank on Jabotinsky street in Be’er Sheva.

Holidaymakers received a double dose of good news this week with a prediction that the cost of flights to Israel are set to be slashed, and a U-turn by the Israeli government over its proposal to levy 18 per cent VAT on tourism.