TEL AVIV: Organisers of the state funeral for former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon - who passed away earlier today - have revealed that they have been "overwhelmed" by the number of applicants for the position of sign language interpreter.

"Honestly, when we put out the call this afternoon, we thought we'd get a couple of people interested, but the response has been truly remarkable and we've been inundated with applications," said a source from the Israeli Prime Minister's office. "To be honest, I didn't even think there were that many sign language speakers in the region."