Deputy health minister: Netanyahu seeking lockdown, Gantz blocking it

Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch, a member of the Likud party, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to impose a nationwide lockdown but Defense Minister Benny Gantz is against it.

Kisch tells Army Radio: “The prime minister wanted to make a decision in the coronavirus cabinet on a lockdown. Gantz claimed this isn’t the right time and is blocking the decision.”

The comments come as the number of daily coronavirus infections has swelled to over 2,800 since last week. Israel has had two lockdowns since the start of the pandemic.

MK Yoav Kisch, then chairman of the Interior Affairs Committee at the Knesset, on July 12, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“The coronavirus cabinet must act. The price of any delay is human lives. I hope Blue and White comes to its senses,” says Kisch.

Kisch also expresses support for mandatory coronavirus testing for Israelis returning from abroad.

“We must change the law to allow for coerced medical procedures,” he says.

 

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