MK Yuli Edelstein
MK Yuli EdelsteinPhoto: Flash90

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has said that Israel's school system will reopen completely on March 7.

Although more schools, including preschools and kindergartens, are scheduled to reopen Sunday, grades 7-10 will continue to do their lessons from home.

"In this situation, we need to be happy that a large part of the educational system is open, and that at the same time we are reopening large parts of the economy," he told Kan News.

"It's very easy to be a hero and reopen all schools when you don't need to prioritize anything - but there's no choice, we need to prioritize according to infection rates, and this is always something that comes at the expense of something else," he explained.

"We in the Health Ministry assess the risks of reopening one thing or another thing. If we would reopen only the school system, people will ask me how I'm not embarrassed that the economy remains shut down for such a long time."

Regarding Purim, Edelstein said that there is no plan to implement a curfew, but emphasized that gatherings are illegal..