Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that peace will eventually come as he took part Thursday in the official ceremony in Jerusalem marking Israel’s 68th Independence Day.

Each year, Israel stops for one day to remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and to tell the stories of the survivors.

Twenty-one people were wounded, including two seriously, when an explosive device blew up aboard a bus in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, causing it to catch on fire while it was driving, in what the defense establishment suspects to be a terror bombing.

Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency reported to the country’s cabinet that there has been a marked fall in Palestinian attacks on Israelis during the past month. It put this trend down to effective yet discreet counter-terrorism measures.

During a meeting with visiting Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu challenged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to pay him a visit.

‘’We understand Israel's security is essential and not up for compromise. The fight against terror demands our determination,'' said Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis, who started Monday a visit to Israel.

For the first time in nearly seven years, five women from the ancient Chinese Jewish community of Kaifeng arrived in Israel to fulfill their dreams of making Aliyah or immigration.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, who was on a visit to Israel this week, held talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on various issues including potential cooperation in the energy sector, especially on gas transport, as Borissov said hat he saw great potential in gas fields in Israel.

Branded as the Agency's “Global Tikkun Olam initiative,” project Ten sends Jewish youth to work in vulnerable communities around the world and in Israel.