IDF to deploy 98th division to Bnei Brak to provide aid during virus lockdown

The Israel Defense Forces says it is preparing to deploy its 98th Division to the coronavirus hotspot of Bnei Brak to assist residents amid a lockdown of the area.

The military says the troops will not be used to enforce restrictions on the area, but will instead serve under the Home Front Command to provide food, medicine and other services to those inside the Tel Aviv suburb, which has seen a large and growing outbreak of the disease in recent days.

IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman says these soldiers — two battalions’ worth, meaning several hundred soldiers — are currently undergoing specialty training to prepare for this assignment.

Zilberman says in total the military has 12,000 soldiers who “get up each morning to fight the coronavirus” — responding to questions on hotlines, bringing food and medicine to the elderly and disabled, driving medics to perform tests, and operating quarantine facilities across the country.

“Next week there will be much, much more,” he says.

The IDF spokesman says there are nearly 100 diagnosed coronavirus cases within the military, while thousands more soldiers are in quarantine, including IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi and two other major generals, who came into contact with a confirmed carrier but tested negative.

Zilberman says Kohavi and the other generals are able to work from their offices as normal.

— Judah Ari Gross