Former Labor MK Nadia Hilou, the first Arab Christian woman to serve in the Knesset, died Thursday night at 61.

Hiilou, a social worker, served in the 17th Knesset as a member of the Labor-Meimad faction. During her tenure, she served as chairwoman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Labor Party chairman Isaac Herzog remembered Hilou as "a strong, courageous, optimistic woman who shattered glass ceilings and barriers," and called her "a champion of Israel's non-Jewish sectors."

Meretz chairwoman Zahava Galon called Hilou "groundbreaking" and "a symbol of the struggle for the national and social struggle for gender equality."

Her funeral will be held Friday at 3:00 P.M. at St. Anthony's Church in Jaffa.