The Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Declaring Restricted Zones approved a list of 40 “red cities” that will be subject to a nightly curfew and other restrictions beginning on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.

The schools in red cities will also be closed as part of the partial lockdown, except for special education schools, and gatherings of over 10 people in closed spaces and over 20 in open spaces are forbidden. Only essential businesses can be open past 7 p.m. and residents must stay within 500 meters of their homes.

The curfew will extend from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. in the designated cities, which include Bnei Brak, Elad, Beitar Illit, Emmanuel, Netivot, Rechasim and neighborhoods in Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Sderot.

Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph and Gimmel and the Menuch V’Nachala neighborhoods of Beit Shemesh are also included on the list as well as neighborhoods in Jerusalem, including Ramat Shlomo, Ramot, and Sanhedria Murchevet, and a number of Arab neighborhoods. The rest of the cities and towns on the list are Arab communities.

Modiin Illit and Telzstone were removed from the list at the last moment after managing to decrease the infection rate in their cities.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)