Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced overnight curfews on some 40 cities and towns hit hard by the coronavirus, but backed away from reported recommendations for full lockdowns after an uproar by politically powerful religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism.
The measures were announced late on Sunday night, after hours of consultations with decision-makers. The government has been forced to take new action after failing to contain the second wave of the outbreak. Israel has so far recorded 131,641 corona cases, of which 103,846 have recovered and 1,019 have died.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The curfews will go into effect Monday night at 7 p.m. and will last until 5 a.m. As of Monday morning, it remained unclear how long they will remain in place. People will not be allowed to venture more than 500 meters (yards) from their homes, and nonessential businesses will have to close.
The announcement came less than two weeks before the Jewish High Holidays. The outbreak has raised concerns that the country could be forced to declare a nationwide lockdown during the upcoming holiday period, a time of widespread travel and large family gatherings.
Under heavy public pressure, Netanyahu in July appointed Professor Ronni Gamzu, a respected hospital director and former Health Ministry director, as the head of the national campaign against the coronavirus.
Gamzu has been pushing for full lockdowns on areas that have the worst outbreaks and has introduced a "stoplight system," which divided Israeli into "red," "orange," "yellow," and "green," cities according to their morbidity rate.
Many of the cities designated "red" are in Israel's Arab and ultra-Orthodox communities, where social distancing directives have been observed poorly. But ultra-Orthodox leaders have strongly resisted calls for lockdowns and threatened not to obey new orders.
Orthodox parties are key partners in Netanyahu's governing coalition and in an apparent compromise, Netanyahu has sidelined the recommendations for a full lockdown on "red" areas, saying they would have nighttime curfews, schools would be closed and there would be restrictions on public gatherings.
"I know these measures are not easy, but in the current circumstances, there is no escaping them," he said. "We will continue to take responsible steps that are required to protect public health, lives and the economy."
Israel had earned praise last spring for its early handling of the virus crisis, moving quickly to seal the country's borders and appearing to bring an outbreak under control.
But Netanyahu has come under criticism for reopening the economy too quickly in May. Since then, new cases have spiked to record levels, the government has been blamed for mismanaging the resurgence and unemployment has soared to double-digit levels. Weekly protests against Netanyahu over his corruption trial have expanded to include demonstrations against his handling of the health crisis and the resulting economic pain.
Upon Gamzu's recommendation, the military established a task force last month to bring the outbreak under control. Its main responsibility is taking the lead in contact tracing and breaking chains of infection.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
