The Kinneret has risen an additional 6 centimeters over the weekend.

** A sharav heat wave is expected today, with temperatures in Jerusalem expected to climb to 76F.

09:50: IDF has decided Kerem Shalom Crossing to Gaza to remain open to permit transport of humanitarian supplies into Hamas controlled area.

10:00: Nurses in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital emergency room launched a two hour strike in protest and a nurse being assaulted last week. A nurse sustained a broken nose as a result of the attack.

10:10: 3 Grad katyusha rockets downed by Iron Dome. They were heading towards Ashdod.

** Arabs on Shabbos set a garbage bin ablaze near HarHaZeisim and attacked the responding fire truck with rocks. The truck�windshield was smashed. No injuries.

** DM Barak calls for deploying rocket defense systems in northern Israel too.

12:34: Grad katyusha rockets fired at W. Negev, including Ofakim. Baruch Hashem, landed in open areas. No injuries or property damage reported.

** Outgoing IDF Central Commander Major-General Avi Mizrahi called on settlers to distance themselves from the �extremist few who call themselves the hilltop youth�. He called upon residents of yishuvim topublically denounce this small group of extremists that tarnishes their name.

13:03: A katyusha rocket fired at Ashkelon downed by Iron Dome.

13:17: Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich; �We live in a jungle and if there is no deterrence, you don�t have a right to exist as far as these terrorists are concerned. The actions of the IDF prevent rockets from hitting Holon, Tel Aviv, Herzliya and other areas�.

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)