Former kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit met 50 lone soldiers in Jerusalem on Thursday and told them they were “courageous and admirable”.

Lone soldiers are young men and women who have made aliyah from countries all over the world without their families and joined the army.

Likud – Yisrael Beiteinu
42 seats in the current Knesset
Latest polls: 34-36 seats

From today Palestine will be considered a state - by cult online quiz site Sporcle.

The website, which has 10 million monthly individual users, has announced in a blog post that following the Palestinian Authority’s upgrade in the UN, Palestine will now be considered a ‘Country of the World’.

A week and a half before Israelis go to the polls, the main opposition parties are still squabbling between themselves.

Labour, Kadima and Yesh Atid are proving themselves incapable of capitalising on the travails of Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu which, while remaining on track to form the next government, continues to lose seats to its right-wing rival.

Israel’s ambassador to the UK was among the first of its citizens to cast a vote in the presidential elections.

Ambassador Daniel Taub cast his vote at the embassy this morning as part of the overseas voting process. New Zealand was the first country in the world to open the polls at 4 am GMT today. Overseas voting will conclude early Friday morning in Los Angeles.

Emergency workers have been called to central Tel Aviv following an explosion.

It is believed that the blast was near the Israeli military headquarters at Shaul HaMelech Street.

Reports suggest up to 10 people were injured and that the bomb - which was placed in a car - was an attempt to kill a crime family leader and not a terrorist attack.

An estimated 15-20cm of snow has fallen in Jerusalem, shutting down roads into the city in the biggest winter storm in 20 years.

Schools and nurseries are to be closed on Thursday across northern Israel and the West Bank, courts have been shut, buses are not running and the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway is closed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ‘barmitzvah party’ of Taglit-Birthright on Monday night in Jerusalem.

Three thousand young Jews taking part in this year’s Birthright programme filled Jerusalem’s International Convention Centre to celebrate the end of their ten-day trip, which coincided with the programme’s 13th year.