Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the vaccine distribution center in Sderot Wednesday and announced his intention to extend the current lockdown in light of the continued high morbidity rates.
In his opening remarks, Netanyahu noted that today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and said: "We will not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons. I say this to enemies and friends alike, it is our top mission to preserve life here, to preserve the life of our country."
"We are defending ourselves against the mutation," the prime minister continued. "The British mutation is raging across the world and it has also entered Israel. We managed to stop it, we need to take it down and ensure that no new mutations that we are not even aware of enter."
''To that end, we set two things: one - lockdown. I will enter the government tomorrow and I will submit the proposal of the Ministry of Health to the government to extend the lockdown, we will decide according to the level of morbidity how long to do so.
Netanyahu said he would work to close the country's borders to prevent recent mutations of the coronavirus from entering. "We are the first in the world to close the borders and not allow any commercial flights to enter the State of Israel. I will add to this now the closure of land accesses including roads to Jordan."
"We have brought an economic plan to help both businesses and citizens. I expect everyone to put politics aside and mobilize as one, both for the health measures we need to take and for the economic measures," the prime minister added.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced the closure of land border crossings for the entry of Israelis and foreigners until the end of January.
Following the government's decision to close Ben Gurion Airport for takeoffs and landings, and in order to complete the joint efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, Deri announced that the land border crossings (Jordan River, Taba, Arava) would be closed to Israelis and foreigners. The Allenby Crossing will remain open to the residents of Judea and Samaria.
Minister Deri said: "In view of the lack of clarity and as part of the joint effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, I must close the land crossings until the issue is clarified."