The Israel Police and the IDF are reportedly gearing up to enforce closures on more ultra-Orthodox cities and neighborhoods at the request of the Health Ministry. A similar lockdown has been placed on Bnei Brak, a haredi suburb of Tel Aviv which is home to 200,000, following its residents flouting of the ministry's public health directives, which cause coronavirus cases there to surge.
As of Sunday, the Health Ministry said that 45 Israelis have died from COVID-19, and that 7,851 have been infected by the virus. Of those, 126 are in serious condition, 108 have been intubated, and 458 Israelis have recovered.
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Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Saturday that the management of the coronavirus crisis constituted "war" and should, therefore, be transferred immediately to his office.
"If we want to cope with this [pandemic], if we want to reopen the Israeli economy, then all responsibility for managing the coronavirus crisis – from A to Z – must be transferred to the IDF and the Defense Ministry as quickly as possible," Bennett told Channel 12 News. "We're at war. We're fighting a tough biological war, against nature, but it's a war with colossal logistical issues."
A senior Health Ministry official on Saturday called for additional haredi cities in Israel where a high number of coronavirus cases have been detected to be declared restricted areas as well.
The IDF's involvement in the policing of civilian areas during the pandemic has been named "Operation Laser Beam." As part of it, a crisis management headquarters has been set up, including officers from IDF Home Front Command and Israel Police, and officials from Magen David Adom emergency services and Israel's health maintenance organization, city officials, and community leaders.
As part of the IDF's effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the ultra-Orthodox sector, former GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa will oversee crisis management in Bnei Brak, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch is heading operations in Elad, in central Israel, and former Gaza Division Commander Maj, Gen. (res.) Yossi Bachar will do the same in Beitar Illit, a community in Gush Etzion in Samaria.
Several haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem and neighboring Beit Shemesh, have also been placed under police lockdown, although the military has yet to step in.
According to Channel 12 News, Migdal Haemek and Tiberias, both in northern Israel and Ashkelon in its south may also be placed under the IDF's control as well. The government is slated to debate the issue later on Sunday.
More than 1,000 police began enforcing a lockdown on Bnei Brak on Friday, setting up roadblocks at all entrances and exits to the city to contain the spread of the COVID-19. Residents were banned from leaving except under special circumstances and entry to the city by non-residents was barred completely.
Maccabi Health Services CEO Prof. Ran Saar, whose HMO handles the healthcare of half of the city's residents, said Friday that "according to various indications, about 38% of the residents of Bnei Brak are ill, which is 75,000 people."
