Updates for Monday, July 17th in Israel

6:58 PM: Arutz 7 is reporting that the Haifa Port has been closed for the time being, and all docked ships are being relocated to the sea in order to prevent the port from becoming too large of a target for Hezbollah.

We are still waiting for the Israeli Prime Minister to speak. Other politicians have been speaking for him. Channel 2 has gotten word that his speech is expected to be about 40 minutes long, since he speaks faster than Sharon, his predecessor, did. (*When Olmert does begin to speak, we will be doing a live update in a separate post of what he says.*)

More Katyushas have hit Tzfat. There are no reported injuries.

6:36: According to channel 2's economist:
Over 300 factories have been closed up north as a result of the attacks
The conflict is causing the Israeli economy over half a billion shekels a day.

US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rise, is expected to come to the region soon to discuss the situation.

The IAF is continuing its attacks on Beirut, as the IDF continues to deny that an IAF plane was shot down early today.

Chief of Staff, General Dan Halutz has stated that at least 100 fighter jets have joined in the fight in Lebanon.

(Cross posting with the Daily Tid Bit - Plus other atricles)
5:57 PM: Channel 2 is showing Tzippy Livni speaking before the Knesset. Prime Minister Olmert is expected to soon follow, in his first address to the Knesset since fighting started last Wednesday.

5:44 PM: Channel 2 is showing a live feed from Haifa, and the air raid sirens just went off again there. No information of where or if Katyushas fell.

The Foreign Minister of Iran is visiting Damascus right now and had this message for Israel: "First, a cease-fire and then we'll talk about exchaning the kidnapped soldiers."

5:23 PM: From Jameel's mouth to your eyes. Well, hopefully, you didn't eat lunch before you read this:
Concerning the IDF soldier killed this morning in Shechem:
Some body parts of the dead soldier were left behind, Palestinian witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinians later gathered at the scene to view parts of the soldier's leg, and many of them reacted with celebratory chants, the witnesses said. (JPost)
The army had threatened dire retribution if the soldier's body part was not returned -- and apparently, the leg was returned. St.-Sgt. Osher Damari's funeral will be held Monday evening at 6 p.m. in the military section of the Netanya cemetery.

Arutz 7 is reporting that Fatah terrorists contiue to claim that they have kidnapped an Israeli border police-man, Fuad Ibrahim Majan, from the West Bank. Police and IDf are doing a joint investigation in order to confirm or deny the report. At this time, they are denying that validity of Fatah's claims.

Officials of Israel Home-front Command have ordered all residents of the entire Golan Heights region to enter safe rooms and/or bomb shelters until further notice. They are expressing concern of the possibility that terrorists are now shooting Katyushas from the Syrian border, which, if true, could mark a new esclation in the conflict. This is based on the fact that a rocket hit the eastern Golan, an area that had never before been under threat of rocket attacks.

More kassams have fallen in Sderot. There are no reported injuries.

Channel 2 is showing images that the French Prime Minister has just arrived in Beirut. This comes after Presiden Chirac said that some "coercion" might be necessary in order to ensure the compliance of Resolution 1559.

Family sources are reporting that the air raid sirens just went off in Carmiel. Another Katyusha is heading in the direction of Carmiel. We'll report it when we know definitively where it hit.

There are now a reported 11 people wounded as a result of the Katyusha that hit an aprtment building in Haifa earlier.

3:50PM - on of the Katyushas that fell on Haifa hit a 3 story building. The building collapsed, 6 people were wounded lightly

2:36PM - the Arab press is reporting that Hizbullah shot down an Israeli Plane over Beirut, this report was followed, reports from the World Media as well. The AIF is denying it, and saying no plane or helicopter was hit!

Katyushas are falling now on Haifa, Carmiel and other cities in the north. This is the third attack today on some of these cities. There are also reports of injuries.

2:15PM - Katyushas are falling all over the North, from Akko and the Krayot (near haifa) to southern Goaln, Including Tzfat

1:45PM - Sirens go off in Haifa for the first time in 6 hours - the Katyushas Fall into the sea. Katyushas are also being fired at Tiberius Southern Ramat Hagolan and the Western Galilee.

IDF attacks on Hizbullah continue all day, most of the attacks are in the south in order to prevent the firing of more Katyushas.

2 more Kassams fired at the Negev, no injuries reported.

1:15PM Katyusha hits a house directly in Carmiel, a few people injured lightly.

We will start by stating that Katyushas Continued to fall through out the night - but thankfully no one was hurt by them.

An Israeli soldier was killed last night in Schem, by a Bomb thrown at the force. They went into Schem to arrest suspected terrorists.

A Palestinian was caught in Jerusalem with a suspicious bad on him, later turned out the bad had a bomb in it and he was on his way to blow himself up. The Jerusalem police has raised it’s alert level as a result.

IDF forces are working on building a fence around the town of Rajar. This is the place that the previous attempt to kidnap soldiers last November, by Hizbullah. They took advantage of the fact that the town sits on the border and there was no fence there. The attack failed and 3 Hizbullah terrorists were killed.

The French PM is on his way to Beirut, to show support and solidarity. One has to ask if he plans to do the same with Israel. But more importantly is he going to show solidarity to Hizbullah? After all they are the ones really suffering on this attack.

PM Olemrt is going to address the Knesset and the people for the first time since the events happened in the North. We will try to update when the speech comes on, this evening (Israel Time).

Britain has started an Air evacuation of all it citizens in Lebanon.

Koffee Annan had another brilliant statement this morning saying Israel should abide by International Law, and not hurt civilians. Once again one has to wonder about that when Hizbullah is aiming it’s Katyushas at civilian areas trying to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible.