Gila Gamliel
Gila Gamlielצילום: אסתי דזיובוב/TPS

Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) is under fire Monday, amid claims she violated the ongoing lockdown – then tried to conceal the violation from health officials.

According to a report by Haaretz Monday, Gamliel violated the lockdown restrictions last week when she and her husband allegedly travelled to Tiberias, where they stayed during the Yom Kippur holiday.

Gamliel and her husband live in Tel Aviv, 157 kilometers (95 miles) southwest of Tiberias.

Under the current lockdown, Israelis are barred from travelling farther than one kilometer from their homes, except for ‘essential needs’.

The report claimed that Gamliel prayed in a synagogue in Tiberias and visited her husband’s family during Yom Kippur – also a violation of the lockdown.

After Gamliel tested positive for the coronavirus this Saturday, she reportedly told Health Ministry officials she had been infected by her driver, which, according to the report, she knew to be untrue. Several close relatives who never came into contact with the driver have also tested positive for the virus.

Later, Gamliel admitted that she had indeed visited a synagogue in Tiberias,

Sources close to Prime Minsiter Binyamin Netanyahu told Channel 12 that Gamliel insists that she did not lie, and that the Haaretz report is not entirely accurate.

The Channel 12 report also cited officials close to Minister Gamliel who claimed that while the minister’s legal address is in north Tel Aviv, she and her husband have resided at their Tiberias property since the imposition of the lockdown.