A curfew to prevent a spike in coronavirus infections over the Purim holiday went into effect Thursday night. The restrictions will remain in place until Sunday morning.

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"Last Purim, there was a dangerous outbreak that infected many people. We were forced to lock down the country," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters at a press conference, Thursday. "This cannot be repeated. This Purim, we'll do the opposite. We'll all listen to the rules. We can put on costumes, but we must obey the rules. It's even more important because we are really, truly about to exit the pandemic."

Curfew restrictions will keep Israelis from going farther than one kilometer (1.6 miles) from their place of residence. Staying at another person's home is also forbidden. Gatherings of up to 10 people inside and 20 people outside are allowed according to the guidelines.

Intercity public transportation between cities stopped operating at 8:00 p.m., Thursday. Public transportation inside cities, however, continued to operate at 75% capacity.

On Friday, all public transportation was set to operate at 75% capacity. On Saturday night, public transportation inside cities is set to operate at full capacity. Public transportation between cities, however, will operate at 75% capacity.

Trains stopped operating Thursday night, but were set to start running again Sunday morning.

As a walled city, Jerusalem celebrates the Purim holiday one day after the rest of the country. To deal with this challenge, the Transportation and Health Ministries decided to halt public transportation inside the city and keep private buses from entering Israel's capital from Saturday night until Sunday night.

To enforce the national curfew, the Israel Police set up 24 road blocks at major intercity intersections across the country.

Speaking to reporters, Police Commissioner Yaacov (Kobi) Shabtai said he had ordered the Israel Police Intelligence and Investigations Division to open criminal cases against anyone organizing gatherings forbidden under coronavirus curfew guidelines.

The police called on the public to adhere to the guidelines and avoid unnecessary encounters with officers.

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In an attempt to avoid a surge in new COVID cases due to close contact at Purim parties and Adloyada celebrations, the cabinet has approved a nationwide curfew for this coming weekend. Starting Thursday night, the eve of Purim, the curfew will be in effect from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

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During the hours of curfew, the public is banned from visiting other people's homes and may not go farther than 1,000 meters from their own homes.

Intercity transportation will be stopped entirely for the hours of curfew, starting at 8 p.m. Thursday. Intracity public transportation will be cut down, and occupancy limited to 50%. Police will also be setting up roadblocks on intercity arteries and at entrances and exits to cities and towns.

The cabinet also stressed that no Purim gatherings would be allowed during daytime that exceed 10 participants in closed spaces or 20 people in the open air. This includes Adloyada parades, shows, performances, and parties.

With the decision to instate a curfew in effect, the Israel Police were gearing up to enforce it, with an eye on planned underground parties.

One high-ranking police official told Israel Hayom that because Purim would be the first holiday after Israel lifted its third nationwide lockdown, the public was feeling "a sense of freedom," especially in light of the vaccination campaign, and warned that "It will be hard to enforce the curfew hermetically."

Other police officials repeated that the public should be concerned at the prospect of another outbreak rather than the prospect of facing off against police for breaking regulations.

Most of the police's efforts will be focused on preventing large gatherings in closed spaces.

"We are aware of the difficulties of enforcement, so we will exercise our best judgment for the public's sake. We and the public are already experienced in enforcement. The police alone cannot stop or reduce the spread [of the virus]. So we expect the public to look out for each other," officials said.

Police officials stressed that police do not have the authority to enter privately-owned premises, except in cases of noise complaints, and would be using intelligence work to locate illicit parties at homes and outdoors.

One police official said that local authorities and the Health Ministry also had the authority to enforce the curfew.

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Most residents under curfew expressed anger, confusion, hurt, and dissatisfaction with what they called the lack of transparency and reason in the government's decision-making process.

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As of Wednesday morning, it was still unclear how "red" Haredi communities will approach school cancellations. While daytime movement in the local authorities under curfew has not been restricted, schools (with the exception of special education) are not supposed to operate.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Haredi news site Kikar Hashabbat reported that Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, a leading Haredi religious authority, has ordered schools to stay open despite government orders. When contacted, representatives of Edelstein declined to comment on the report.

In the Jerusalem neighborhoods under curfew, residents were furious, and said there was "no justification" for the stringent step. Residents rushed to buy food. In Ramot, which is home to members of various sectors of the population as well as a sizeable Haredi community, many said they felt the curfew was "unnecessary."

Hagit Hacohen Wolf, chairwoman of the Ramot Community Council, said, "Back in the first wave, we petitioned the high Court about the scandalous decision that was not transparent and not based on data. The High Court supported our arguments, and a week later it turned out that the numbers were, in fact, incorrect. Even today, there is no reason to instate a total closure on a neighborhood the size of a town, with 60,000 residents, without distinguishing between the different parts of it. It seems as if there are irrelevant considerations of politics and convenience that led to these decisions."

In Bnei Brak, traffic jams on Tuesday evening were worse than usual. The entrances to the city were gridlocked as residents tried to rush home before the curfew started. Many drivers were uncertain what would befall them should they be caught out after curfew.

"It's like a zoo," one resident said.

Bnei Brak Mayor Meir Rubenstein said, "We are working intensively to have several needless restrictions on the city lifted, but at the same time, we are working in full cooperation with and respect for the police, who are operating sensitively and with unusual understanding to prevent unnecessary scenes of barricades and suffocation."

Many in Beit Shemesh were also outraged at the decision to place some of the city's neighborhoods under curfew. Some 18,000 school children in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph and Gimmel, as well as the Menucha VeNachala neighborhood, will not be in school for a week. Students in these neighborhoods make up nearly 50% of all students in Beit Shemesh.

Goel Vaaknin, a father of five from Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel, was furious.

"Without clear information about the sources of infection, the closure won't help. It will only make life difficult, ruin people's livelihoods and the school system," Vaaknin told Israel Hayom.

"In Haredi schools, we don't have distance learning. The kids can't learn on Zoom. Distance learning is distance form learning," Vaaknin said.

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Ashkelon, designated a "red" city, has avoided a city-wide curfew, and the restriction has been applied only to certain neighborhoods. Mayor Tomer Galam said Tuesday, "We have managed to avoid an overnight curfew throughout Ashkelon, even though it has been designated a red city. I made it clear to the Health Ministry people that we are making efforts to reduce the number of coronavirus cases and I presented them with our work plan to drop the attack rate [the number of people one confirmed carrier is expected to infect]."

In Eilat, even though the city as a whole carries a "green" rank under the traffic light system, the Shachmon neighborhood is under the overnight curfew. However, Shachmon is home to over 7,000 homes and 30,000 residents, who make up over half of Eilat's total population.

The head of the Eilat Parent-Teacher Association said that if schools in Shachmon did not re-open, he would urge all parents in the city not to send their children to school or nursery school.

"Almost everyone was infected outside the [Shachmon] neighborhood, some in hotels, from guests, and some in restaurants," said one worried resident.

One resident of Elad called the curfew "the result of a stigma about Haredim."

However, some communities in which the curfew was instated welcomed it.

Kafr Qasim Mayor Edal Badir said, "We asked for this overnight curfew to reduce gatherings and weddings. The residents are taking the curfew well. There is no anger, because the public understands that it is intended to stop the spread of the virus. We are working according to a plan from [coronavirus czar] Professor Gamzu's team. In the past five days, we've seen a major drop in cases."

Kafr Qasim resident Abed said, "The main problem here is weddings. People celebrate without following [public health] regulations. Maybe they should have just shut down wedding venues and not instate a curfew for all the residents. We hope it will help and we'll soon be able to get back to normal life."

Daniel Siryoti, Ronit Zilberstein, Gadi Golan, Yaron Doron, Yori Yalon, Hanan Greenwood, Avi Cohen, and Danielle Roth-Avneri contributed to this report.

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