Yuli Edelstein
Yuli Edelsteinצילום: Flash90

Israel’s health minister vowed Tuesday that the three-week nationwide lockdown would be extended, despite pressure for it to end on schedule.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) spoke with Kan Bet Tuesday morning, discussing the ongoing lockdown imposed on September 18th and tentatively scheduled to end on October 9th.

During the interview, Edelstein said Israel ‘would not repeat the mistakes’ made at the end of the first lockdown, insisting that the lockdown cannot be ended after the end of the three-week period approved by the government.

The health minister did say the government might ease some of the restrictions at some point, but that such changes would be announced at a later date.

Edelstein noted that Israel’s coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu is slated to leave the position at the end of October, and rejected criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis.

When asked whether Israeli courts will be closed over the coronavirus pandemic at the same time hearings are set to take place in Netanyahu’s trials, Edelstein said the decision must be made by the judicial system, not the Health Ministry.