260 Israelis returning from Italy to be quarantined at IDF-run hotel

Some 260 Israelis who returned from Italy tonight will be isolated at a hospital in Tiberias that the military converted into a quarantine facility, the Defense Ministry says.

“Defense Ministry officials will receive the travelers as they get off the plane at Ben Gurion Airport and will escort them — in accordance with medical protocol — to the Kinar Hotel, which is in Tiberias,” the ministry says.

The hotel is one of three to be opened by the military and Defense Ministry to house those requiring quarantine and carriers of the coronavirus who have light symptoms.

The Defense Ministry says the decision to use the hotel to house the Israelis returning from Italy, which has seen one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, was made in coordination with the Health Ministry.

— Judah Ari Gross