Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that all incoming flights to Israel be halted after passengers arriving on a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday morning were told to go into self-isolation instead of a designated quarantine area, N12 reported.
Netanyahu ordered that all flights to Israel be stopped until a legal arrangement is reached that will allow the Home Front Command to transfer the arriving passengers to designated coronavirus quarantine facilities as soon as they get off the plane.
Airplanes that have already taken off for Israel will be allowed to land, but all other flights to Israel will be stopped.
Passengers on the flight testified that they had to sign a paper declaring they will go into self-isolation upon landing in Israel, but the papers were never collected.
"Those coming from abroad had to enter tightly observed home-isolation," a senior official from the Health Ministry told Ynet. "Because that isn't happening, it's wrong. We need to make sure these people go into isolation."The same official added that, "I get that it's what the system decided, but if this thing isn't enforced correctly, it's very bad and improper. Will we be able to seal the quarantine of those returning from abroad hermetically? The answer is no, but I hope we can catch them quickly and we can act accordingly."He added that "there are a lot of bad things happening. Nobody thinks it's good."Israeli travel agency Amsalem Tours announced on Saturday morning that it will arrange a rescue flight to carry Israeli passengers stranded in Argentina and Brazil, set to leave for Israel on April 19.