Events in the year 2020 in Israel.
Incumbents President of Israel – Reuven Rivlin Prime Minister of Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu President of the Supreme Court – Esther Hayut Chief of General Staff – Aviv Kochavi Government of Israel – Thirty-fourth government of Israel and Thirty-fifth government of Israel
Events
January 1 January Prime Minister Netanyahu requests parliamentary immunity from the corruption charges against him. Jordan receives its first shipment of natural gas from Israel. 5 January – Greece and Israel sign an agreement to build the longest underwater gas pipeline in the world. 6 January – The Leviathan gas field begins full operations. 7 January – Israeli firm Armis is bought for over US$1 billion by Insight Partners. 23 January – The Fifth World Holocaust Forum is held in Jerusalem; President Reuven Rivlin is among world leaders who deliver a speech at this occasion. 27 January The 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp is commemorated around the world; Israeli president Reuven Rivlin attends the ceremony at the site of Auschwitz, along with the president of Poland and both leaders condemn the current resurgence of antisemitism. President Rivlin meets with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, and discusses the role of individual Poles in the Holocaust.
28 January At the White House, US President Donald Trump unveils his Israeli–Palestinian peace plan, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Rivlin visits Germany and meets with schoolchildren and German officials, including Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. 29 January – The Naama Issachar affair ends with a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin and her release from a Russian prison.
February 1 February – The Palestinian National Authority cuts all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump. 2 February – Islamist militants bomb a gas pipeline between Egypt and Israel in the northern Sinai Peninsula. 3 February – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says he is "studying" the possibility of opening an embassy in Jerusalem as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises to open an embassy in Uganda if such a move takes place. 6 February – Two Palestinians are killed and seven others are wounded by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. In a separate incident, twelve Israeli soldiers are injured in a car-ramming attack by a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem in Jerusalem who then fled to and abandoned the vehicle in Beit Jala, a Bethlehem suburb. The driver was then arrested at the Gush Etzion Junction, south of Bethlehem, and handed over to the Shin Bet security service for questioning. An Israeli police officer was shot injured in a gunman attack at the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City and then shot dead. Israeli airstrikes were launched at the Gaza Strip. 12 militants killed in Israeli missile strikes near Damascus, Syria. 9 February – Israel blocks all Palestinian agricultural exports from the West Bank following Palestinian limitations on imports of Israeli cattle. 10 February – A court in Israel sentences Sheikh Raed Salah to 28 months in prison for "inciting to terror". 11 February – Israel announces it will install a new water system for use in maximum-security prisons, after discovering that some prisoners are wasting water on purpose. 12 February – The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) publishes a database of 112 business entities involved in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. 13 February – The Israeli Air Force launches an air raid on Iranian targets in Damascus, Syria with the Syrian Air Defense Force claiming the interception of several missiles. 21 February – The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel is confirmed when a female citizen tests positive for COVID-19 after returning from quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. 23 February – Six people with two IJMP militants killed in an Israeli airstrike Damascus, Syria. 24 February – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens the Gaza Strip leadership with full-blown airstrikes if the rocket attacks continue.
March 2 March – The 2020 Israeli legislative election takes place; incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties again win 58 seats, three short of the majority in the next Knesset required to form a government. 4 March – Syrian state media claims that the "hostile objects" that the Syrian Air Defense Force engaged over central Homs Governorate and southern Quneitra Governorate was Israel behind the attacks. 9 March – In order to combat the spread of coronavirus, Israel orders all arrivals from abroad, regardless of country, to self-quarantine. 12 March – The Israel Institute for Biological Research announces it is making breakthroughs on a vaccine. A 66-year-old Greek man who made a pilgrimage to Israel dies of COVID-19. 15 March – The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf announces the closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock to upend contamination of the holy sites from COVID-19. 16 March – Israel's Health Ministry approves experimental treatment for COVID-19. 20 March – An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Jerusalem is the country's first fatality of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. 22 March – Eden Alene is chosen to represent Israel in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. 30 March – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some of his cabinet members self-quarantine after an aide tests positive for COVID-19.
April 1 April – Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tests positive for COVID-19 and goes into quarantine, with the total number of cases in Israel rising to 6,092. 8 April – The first nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel begins on the first night of Passover. 12 April – Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron dies from COVID-19 at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. 19 April – Over 2,000 Israelis protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of endangering democracy in the country and using the coronavirus crisis to escape prosecution on corruption charges.
20 April – The leaders of the two largest parties in the Knesset, Benny Gantz (Blue and White) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), announce that they have reached a coalition agreement to form the next government of Israel, with an alternating premiership arrangement between the two men. Israel commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony without public gatherings.
May 12 May – An IDF soldier dies after being struck on the head by a thrown stone in Ya'bad, West Bank with the suspect at large. In a separate incident, Israeli police injure a Palestinian man in Kalandia for an attempting stabbing attack. 13 May – Israeli troops kill a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and wound four others at the Al-Fawar refugee camp near Hebron, where they are looking for the rock thrower who killed a soldier yesterday. 16 May – Jordanian King Abdullah II warns Israel of a "massive conflict" if it annexes parts of the West Bank. 17 May – The 35th government of Israel is sworn in. Chinese ambassador to Israel Du Wei is found dead in his home in Tel Aviv, aged 57. 19 May – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces the termination of all agreements, including security ones, with Israel and the United States in response to Israel's plans to annex the Jordan Valley. 30 May – Unarmed autistic Palestinian man, Iyad Halaq, 32 is killed by Israeli police officers in Jerusalem.
June 12 June – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses his condolences for the shooting death of Iyad Halaq and says he "expects a full investigation into the matter" from Interior Security Minister Amir Ohana. 19 June – Iran condemns IAEA resolution of calling for the opening of two of its nuclear sites to international inspectors, claiming the country is in full compliance with inspections as part of 2015 nuclear deal and that it is "based on false allegations" from Israel. 22 June – Thousands of Palestinians and dozens of foreign diplomats attend a rally in Jericho to oppose Israel's plan to unilaterally annex the Jordan Valley and the settlements in the occupied West Bank.
July 3 July – Michael Ben Zikri drowns after rescuing a Bedouin Arab family from a sinkhole near a manmade lake south of Ashkelon; Israeli Bedouin and Arabs as well as people in Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Oman and Syria are among those who praise his heroic self-sacrifice. 6 July – Israel Aerospace Industries successfully launches the Ofeq-16 reconnaissance satellite via a Shavit rocket. The Israeli Defense Ministry describes the satellite as an "optoelectronic reconnaissance satellite with advanced capabilities". 13 July – Hapoel Be'er Sheva defeats Maccabi Petah Tikva 2–0 to win the 2019–20 Israel State Cup in association football at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv. 18 July – Thousands of Israelis protest in front of the Prime Ministers residence demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over his indictment on corruption charges as well as mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis that results in severe clashes with police using water cannons and 34 arrested. 19 July – The Israeli government approves the subsea EastMed pipeline which will supply Europe with natural gas. The construction of the pipeline is expected to be completed by 2025, and will provide an estimated 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. 20 July – Syrian air defenses intercept an unconfirmed Israeli airstrike over Damascus believed to be Israeli airstrikes on a major Iranian-backed ammunition depot with at least seven soldiers injured. Iranian Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, convicted of spying for the CIA and Mossad and on the Revolutionary Guards commander, Qasem Soleimani, is executed by hanging in Iran. 22 July – A Hezbollah militant is killed by an Israeli airstrike near Damascus International Airport, Syria, it is the first casualty of Hezbollah by Israel in Syria, with Hezbollah warning of severe consequences. About 2,000 Israelis protest outside the residence of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the COVID-19 crisis and alleged corruption. 23 July – Israeli MPs pass a bill to begin the process to outlaw conversion therapy, being the first Middle Eastern country to do so. The bill was passed as two of the main coalition parties joined the opposition in supporting it. It must pass two more approvals to become a new law. 27 July – Explosions and exchanges of fire are heard during an armed incident involving Israeli troops and Hezbollah at the border between Israel and Lebanon. Four Hezbollah militants crossed the border and fled back to Lebanon after being shot at, while IDF reported no Israeli casualties. An Israeli shell smashed in a Lebanese civilian home, narrowly missing a family in the house at the time, but nobody was hurt. 29 July – Moroccan journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi is arrested and charged with rape and aiding foreign spies. The charges come after Amnesty International reported that the Moroccan government was using Israeli spyware to spy on dissidents like him.
August 2 August – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses the media of instigating anti-corruption protests against him and downplaying incidents of violence by the protesters. Earlier in the day, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered his son Yair to take down a Tweet doxing the leaders of the protests. 13 August – The Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement is announced. 30 August – Israel sends 10 elite firefighters to California to assist local firefighters battling some of the largest fires in the state's recent history.
September