Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu sharply attacked the government's conduct in the face of the Omicron wave in a media statement issued outside the Vert Hotel in Jerusalem.
"I have now visited Hadassah Hospital, I have spoken to a number of experts. The conclusion is clear: the Bennett-Lapid government has given up, it is simply abandoning the lives of the citizens of Israel. Our government had brought Israel to be the first in the world to exit from COVID. Their government has brought Israel to first place in the world in COVID [infections\. They still call it the "healing government," Netanyahu began.
"Unfortunately, the situation is only getting worse. The government has lost control of four huge failures: patients in serious condition, hospitalizations, children, and livelihoods," he said.
"First of all, the patients in serious condition failure - the number of patients in serious condition today is over 850. Understand - when there are more than 800 serious patients with COVID, it hurts the medical care of other patients. Therefore there are postponed treatments, postponed surgeries, and people die for no reason. This week alone, 126 Israelis died, some of them from unnecessary deaths, just because Bennett is not doing anything.
"The second failure, the hospitalization failure - yesterday the record for the burden on hospitals since the onset of the epidemic was broken. The number of COVID patients has reached an all-time high. There is also tremendous pressure on the medical staffs who work in short supply because many of the doctors and nurses are in isolation. I very much hope that we will not reach a collapse, but we are already in a very dangerous situation, "he added.
"The third failure - the children of Israel. Despite the evidence from the United States about sickness and severe symptoms that affect children who have had Omicron, the government has decided that in two days we will move to mass infection of all Israeli children. No isolation, no enforcement, no orderly testing - everyone will be infected. And after the kids get infected, and some of them unfortunately will need to be hospitalized and suffer from side effects for years, the kids will infect the teaching staff, and then come home and continue to infect Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma. This is a real danger. This failed government is marching in that direction with open eyes and zero decisions," Netanyahu said.
"The fourth default - livelihood. Our government gave compensation to citizens, businesses, the self-employed, and thanks to them we came out of COVID with one of the most powerful economies in the world. Unlike us, the government of Bennett and Lapid says: "There is no home that does not have at least one verified person. People are injured, businesses collapse, the self-employed crash - and the government does not provide financial compensation, does not provide financial assistance, does nothing."
"In our government, the whole world had come to learn from us what to do with COVID, now the whole world is looking at Bennett and Lapid and learning what not to do. Bennett and Lapid have simply abandoned the citizens of Israel to their fate. So I ask the public - take responsibility. Take care of our children, grandparents, those close to you. Take care of masks, hygiene and social distance. Those who have not been vaccinated - will be vaccinated. For that we brought the vaccines, which are the only good thing that happened here. Avoid unnecessary gatherings and events," Netanyahu accused.
He concluded, "Take care of yourself, because this government is not taking care of you."