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What happened: Today Israel marks its Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims.

• In total, there have been 24,068 deaths, including 19,852 IDF soldiers and 4,216 civilians killed in terror attacks.
• In the past year, an additional 56 IDF soldiers and 33 civilians were killed.
• Last night President Isaac Herzog spoke at the State Opening Ceremony at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem. President Herzog said: “Our sons and daughters, who fell in defence of our state, fought together and fell together. They did not ask, nor did anyone ask them, who was right-wing and who was left-wing. Who was religious. Who was secular. Who was Jewish and who was not Jewish. Nor did grief pose these questions, to them or to you. They fell as Israelis, defending Israel.”
• He continued: “In cemeteries, arguments fall silent. Between the headstones, not a sound. A silence that demands that we fulfill, together, their single dying wish: the resurrection of Israel. The building of Israel. United, consolidated, responsible for each other. For we are all sisters and brothers.”
• He also warned that “even today, our enemies rise up against us to destroy us with hateful terror, and as always they find us ready and determined, with one hand holding a weapon and the other extended in dialogue and peace”.
• Across the country there were hundreds of local ceremonies. Two events that marked both Israeli and Palestinian victims were held in Tel Aviv and Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, attended by MKs from Meretz and the Joint List.
• For the first time there was also a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi. Israel’s Ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek said that cooperation with the UAE would continue “with the path forward leading to a better future, one in which nations would not raise swords against one another and would no longer practice warfare”.
• The UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan tweeted in Hebrew: “On Memorial Day we honour those who sacrificed their lives to serve their country or who fell due to the violence of terrorism. We stand by Israel and remember the courage, dedication and love of those who have been lost. My heart goes out to the families of the fallen. may them rest in peace.”

Security context: Israeli security remains on high alert. Prior to the start of Memorial Day and Independence Day, a closure was imposed on the West Bank and the crossings into the Gaza Strip. The closure will end on Thursday midnight, pending a situation assessment.

• Yesterday Hamas claimed responsibility for the terror attack at the entrance to Ariel on Friday night in which Vyacheslav Golev, a 23-year-old security guard, was killed.
• This was the 13^th terror attack in the last two months that has seen 15 Israelis killed in 5 lethal attacks.
• Israel has continued its counter-terror operations in the West Bank, apprehending around 35 suspects in the last few days including the two gunmen responsible for the shooting in Ariel. However, the IDF has kept the intensity of their activity low so as not to exacerbate the situation on the ground.
• In parallel, the IDF has maintained a heavy deployment across the seam line, particularly where there are breaches in the security barrier.
• Hamas has threatened further attacks. In a speech at the weekend Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar related to internal Israeli politics and criticised United Arab List Party leader MK Mansour Abbas, calling on him to quit the coalition. Sinwar accused him of, “taking part in the division of al-Aqsa. An Arab who says Israel is not a racist state is absolutely debased”. He further warned: “All the factions of resistance in the Gaza Strip need to be ready and prepared. The war will not end when Ramadan is over. It is only just beginning. We’ve prepared a barrage of 1,111 rockets.”
• Mansour Abbas responded to Sinwar in an interview on Channel 12, Meet the Press, saying: “We don’t owe Sinwar or anyone else anything. We do what is good for Arab society and the Palestinian people. We will consult with whomever we need to, and we will also bear in mind public opinion within the State of Israel, the Arab citizens, but also no one is going to tell us what to do.”
• Abbas said that his party is working with the Israeli government and with the Jordanian Waqf on Temple Mount issues.

Looking forward: Memorial services are being held at 52 military cemeteries across the country today. This afternoon leaders will attend the official ceremony memorialising terror victims at Mount Herzl.

• Memorial Day events will conclude this evening, when the country’s mood shifts dramatically to begin celebrating Israel’s 74^th  Independence Day.
• Tomorrow the Temple Mount will be reopened for non-Muslim visitors for the first time since 22^nd April.