Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday halted all flights to Israel until legal steps could be taken to allow the Home Front Command to transfer all travelers arriving in Israel to state-run quarantine hotels for 14 days.
Flights that are already en route to Israel will be allowed to land but no new flights will be permitted until the situation is resolved, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The move came after some 70 passengers on a United Airlines flight from the virus-stricken New York area arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday morning and were allowed to travel home in taxis without having their temperatures checked or filling in forms detailing where they would be quarantined for the requisite 14 days.
The incident came despite Netanyahu last week ordering all incoming passengers to Israel to be quarantined at specially designated hotels around the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference about the coronavirus, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on March 25, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
However, legally passengers can’t be forced to move into the quarantine hotels, with neither the police, nor the military which operates the facilities, legally able to compel travelers to go there.
A Health Ministry source told The Times of Israel on Friday that passengers who could prove they could self-isolate were allowed to leave the airport independently and return to their homes, while those who could not were sent to state-supervised hotels for a 14-day quarantine period.
