JERUSALEM: Israel decided on Thursday night to extend its tough travel restrictions including its entry ban on all foreign nationals for a further ten days, in a bid to stop further cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus entering the country.
In a statement issued by Israel’s Prime Minister, Neftali Bennett, and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, the restrictions on passengers arriving at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport will run until at least the 22 of December.
Under the current requirements, all Israelis returning from abroad must self-quarantine until they receive confirmation of a negative coronavirus PCR test result, while those arriving from high-risk countries are required to isolate at a state-governed quarantine hotel until they receive a negative PCR test result.
The statement also said additional restrictions and incentives for vaccination may be imposed in the coming days.
Israel has identified at least 21 cases of the highly mutated omicron coronavirus variant first detected in southern Africa. Israel, a country of 9.3 million people, has reported 8,210 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. Most of its population — over 6.3 million people — has received at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and more than 4 million Israelis have received a booster.
Israel extends travel restrictions for a further 10 days
https://arab.news/28f2y
Israel extends travel restrictions for a further 10 days
- Under the current requirements, all Israelis returning from abroad must self-quarantine until they receive confirmation of a negative coronavirus PCR test result
US resumes food aid to Somalia
- The United States on Thursday announced the resumption of food distribution in Somalia, weeks after the destruction of a US-funded World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse at Mogadishu’s port
NAIROBI: The United States on Thursday announced the resumption of food distribution in Somalia, weeks after the destruction of a US-funded World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse at Mogadishu’s port.
In early January, Washington suspended aid to Somalia over reports of theft and government interference, saying Somali officials had “illegally seized 76 metric tons of donor-funded food aid meant for vulnerable Somalis.”
US officials then warned any future aid would depend on the Somali government taking accountability, a stance Mogadishu countered by saying the warehouse demolition was part of the port’s “expansion and repurposing works.”
On Wednesday, however, the Somali government said “all WFP commodities affected by port expansion have been returned.”
In a statement Somalia said it “takes full responsibility” and has “provided the World Food Program with a larger and more suitable warehouse within the Mogadishu port area.”
The US State Department said in a post on X that: “We will resume WFP food distribution while continuing to review our broader assistance posture in Somalia.”
“The Trump Administration maintains a firm zero tolerance policy for waste, theft, or diversion of US resources,” it said.
US president Donald Trump has slashed aid over the past year globally.
Somalis in the United States have also become a particular target for the administration in recent weeks, targeted in immigration raids.
They have also been accused of large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota, which has the largest Somali community in the country with around 80,000 members.
