30/03/2020
The national effort to combat the coronavirus – police guidelines & information
Israel Police is carrying out intensive activity to assist the Ministry of Health in the enforcement effort.
Observe the guidelines – save lives!
In accordance with the guidelines issued by the state leadership and the instructions of the Ministry of Health, the Israel Police is currently enforcing the restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Israel, along with an extensive public education campaign and guiding the public’s behavior. We call upon Israel’s citizens to obey the police officers’ instructions, to act responsibly and exercise restraint, and to contribute to the common effort to curb the spread of the virus.
Enforcing offenses in accordance with the emergency regulations:
Violating a quarantine requirement – NIS 5,000
Violating a reporting requirement – NIS 3,000
Disobeying a police officer’s instructions to disperse – NIS 5,000
Operating a site or business in contravention of regulations – NIS 5,000
Going out into the public space for a purpose or action that is in contravention of regulations – NIS 500
Loitering in a prohibited location – NIS 500
Prohibition of prayer outside one’s residence, unless the prayer is conducted outdoors – NIS 500
Operating public transportation – NIS 5,000
1. List of permitted purposes for leaving the house:
Traveling to and from a workplace, including performing essential maintenance work and repairs (in accordance with law).
Buying food, medicine and essential goods, and receiving essential services.
Receiving medical care.
Donating blood.
Demonstration.
Legal proceeding.
Going to the Knesset.
Administering social services.
Exiting a residence by an individual or a group of cohabiting people for a short time, and at a distance of up to 100 meters from the residence.
Attending a wedding, funeral or circumcision ceremony.
Performing a prayer near one’s residence, or for a woman to immerse herself in a women’s ritual bath (mikveh), if she has coordinated her arrival in advance and the ritual bath operates in accordance with law.
Extending medical assistance to another person or assisting a person in distress who is in need of assistance.
Special education activity in accordance with sections 4 and 5 of the People’s Health Ordinance (restricting activity in educational institutions).
Transporting a minor whose parents live separately from one parent’s home to another.
Transporting a minor whose caretaker parent was required to leave home for an essential purpose (as defined by the regulations), and there is no responsible adult in the residence in whose care the minor can be left.
2. Prohibited locations:
Public park – unless the site is located up to 100 meters from the residence, and only with people who share the same residence, and for a short time.
Beach – unless the site is located up to 100 meters from the residence, and only with people who share the same residence, and for a short time.
Playground.
A location or business that is barred from operation in accordance with the regulations – as detailed below.
3. Locations or businesses that are barred from operation:
Shopping mall.
A shop of any kind (with the exception of a list presented below).
Dance club, bar, pub, event venue, fitness facility, swimming pool, water park, zoo, safari, petting zoo, bathhouse, movie theater, amusement park, amusement facility, business for non-medical body treatments (including hairdressers, manicure salons and so forth), alternative medicine treatments, concert venues and fairgrounds, watercraft for public use, cable car, nature reserve, national park, heritage site, site offering tourist attractions.
Retail marketplace (open to the public), market stand, and food stand.
4. List of businesses and locations whose operation is permitted:
Food establishment (restaurants, cafés and more), food establishment in a hotel – to be consumed by delivery service only (without takeout service).
Grocery establishment (supermarkets, grocery stores and more) – the owner or operator will ensure a 2-meter distance, including while standing in lines, and marking places to stand near the checkout counters and lines, preventing over-crowding and regulating the flow of visitors – up to four customers per active checkout counter at all times.
Pharmacy, optician and shops that mainly sell hygiene products (either within or outside malls) – the same instructions apply as to grocery establishments.
Shops selling essential goods for home maintenance, shops for telecommunication products and telecommunication services, shops for medical accessories – by delivery service only.
Wholesale marketplace (no sales to individual customers).
The regulations do not apply to the Knesset and the courts.
Additional emphases for public attention
Please note that it is completely forbidden to disseminate false information, or "fake news", which serves to sow panic in the public. Relevant and authorized information, including official updates and guidelines, will be publicized only by the competent authorities and via the Ministry of Health’s website.
Along with performing all the tasks assigned to the police in the fields of routine security, law enforcement and maintaining public order, the Israel Police will continue to assist the Ministry of Health as needed in the enforcement effort for preventing the spread of the virus, all with the aim of protecting the public’s health and welfare, wherever and whenever necessary.
Calls by citizens to police hotlines
Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) began to spread in Israel, an increase has been recorded in the number of calls made by citizens to the police emergency hotline (100) as well as a very significant rise in the requests for information received by the police national information hotline (110). Accordingly, it was decided to reinforce the police hotlines, to provide an optimal response to calls and inquiries by citizens on all police-related issues.
The hotlines of the enforcement, emergency and rescue agencies continue to operate as usual, and with expanded capacity.
In case of an emergency that requires immediate police intervention – call 100 immediately for the police emergency hotline.
In cases in which medical treatment, examination or intervention is required – call 101 for the MDA hotline.
For relevant information on the coronavirus (COVID-19), quarantine, restrictions and the like, call *5400 for the Ministry of Health hotline.
For police-related information, call 110 for the police national information hotline.
Enforcement and investigation – updated statistics
Until now (as of March 26, 2020), 135 criminal cases have been opened for quarantine violations. In addition, the Investigations and Intelligence Directorate has been taking action to monitor and track down distributors of messages containing false information ("fake news"), and 27 investigations have been launched until now in various cases.
Additionally, 250 tickets have been issued so far for violations of quarantine requirements, violations of reporting requirements to the Ministry of Health regarding mandatory quarantine, disobeying instructions to disperse an assembly, operating a site or business in contravention of regulations, going out into the public space in contravention of regulations, loitering in a location that is prohibited by regulations and prohibition of prayer outside one’s residence in an indoor location.
To date, 38,000 inspection visits have been carried out to people who are required to be quarantined, to ensure that they are complying with guidelines. In addition to significant public education efforts being made on the ground, the police have issued closure orders for 60 business establishments to date for blatant violation of the regulations.
In this time of national emergency, the officers of the Israel Police continue to be at the front lines, acting with dedication around the clock on behalf of Israel’s citizens. The police is operating intensively and continues to perform its missions of enforcement, maintaining public order and security, while fulfilling its role and obligation in this time as well. The front-line police officers, as other first responders, are acting with a sense of calling and continuing to provide full police services to Israel’s citizens, along with enforcement tasks related to curbing the spread of the virus.
Attempts to commit fraud in context of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
Israel Police wishes to inform the public that reports have arrived from around the world, via Interpol headquarters, about various fraud activities, including a "phishing" network, which have surfaced in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This activity is designed to collect customer and bank account information of citizens, and to extract funds by fraudulent means. We wish to warn the public that the possibility exists and advise members of the public to exercise caution.
The typical fraud employs one of several patterns:
Contacting the victims through use of email addresses (containing links) and URLs posing as the websites of known companies around the world in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries. The scheme is based on exploitation of the situation in which there is limited supply of face masks and medical supplies versus huge demand. In this case, the victim is asked to transfer payment to a bank account (usually in Germany, Holland, Spain or Portugal) in exchange for shipping medical protective equipment.
Contacting the older population by phone. The speaker poses as a physician and claims that a relative is hospitalized due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and that there is an urgent need to transfer payment in order to enable a life-saving treatment to be carried out. The payment is made by money transfer or pickup of the money from the victim’s home, ostensibly in order to aid the elderly citizen in making the payment. In another version, the speaker poses as the representative of a medical institution contacting the victim, claiming that they may have been exposed to the virus, and presenting it as an attempt by state authorities to track the chain of contagion while verifying personal information including bank account details as part of the verification process.
Widespread dissemination of emails containing links, which pose as websites that provide medical advice to the public, recommendations on protection methods and additional updates, such as a global map of the virus’s spread. The email is ostensibly sent by the World Health Organization or other known and legitimate institutions. After clicking on the link and opening the site, the victim is asked to provide identification details including their email and password; this makes it possible to plant malware in the device and steal personal information for the purpose of further financial fraud and theft of funds.
Recommendations for preventing "phishing" attacks:
Israel Police recommends logging into accounts and websites only by means of the official link and through secure sites.
Pay attention to the sender’s identity.
If you receive a suspicious email or message that requests an update of payment information, verify the request with the sending company.
In any case of doubt, it is recommended to log in again to the company’s official website, by the customary way using the browser and not through the link received in the message.
Pay attention to the browser’s address bar, and check the URL closely (sometimes a fake URL can differ from the original by a single character).
Make sure that the website is secure. A secure site usually displays a green lock icon and a URL that starts with the "http" prefix.
Remember that the customer or user information remains unchanged until the customer requests of their own volition to make a change of any kind.
