JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will self-isolate on Monday after having come into contact with a coronavirus patient, his office said calling it a precautionary step.
Netanyahu tested negative for the virus on Sunday and on Monday, but he will still “enter isolation until Friday following contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient,” the statement said.
Several Israeli media outlets have reported that Netanyahu met last week with a member of his right-wing Likud party, Michael Kleiner, who has subsequently tested positive for the virus.
The statement from the prime minister’s office did not provide details regarding Netanyahu’s potential exposure.
Netanyahu was at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport last week to welcome a first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
He declared that the end of the pandemic was “in sight” and offered to take the first jab in a mass vaccination campaign due to start later this month.
Israel, a country of nine million people, has registered more than 358,000 coronavirus cases, including 3003 deaths.
Israel’s Netanyahu to enter precautionary virus quarantine
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Israel’s Netanyahu to enter precautionary virus quarantine
- Netanyahu tested negative for the virus on Sunday and on Monday, but he will still “enter isolation"
Palestinians from West Bank arrive at Israeli checkpoints for first Friday prayers of Ramadan
Palestinian worshippers coming from West Bank cities arrived at Israeli checkpoints on Friday hoping to cross to attend first Friday prayers of Ramadan at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Some said they were not allowed to enter and were asked to go back.
Israeli authorities said they would only allow up to 10,000 Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank to attend prayers at al-Aqsa, as security forces stepped up deployments across the city.
Police said preparations for Ramadan had been completed, with large numbers of officers and border police to be deployed in the Old City, around holy sites and along routes used by worshippers.
Israel's COGAT, a military agency that controls access to the West Bank and Gaza, said that entry to Jerusalem from the West Bank would be capped at 10,000 worshippers. Men aged 55 and over and women aged 50 and over will be eligible to enter, along with children up to age 12 accompanied by a first-degree relative, COGAT said.
Al-Aqsa lies at the heart of Jerusalem's old city. It is Islam's third holiest site and known to Jews as Temple Mount.
