The IDF announced the military closure of the Mount Meron area effective immediately until Monday, May 27 at noon. This comes under the law regulating the annual Lag B'Omer event in Meron near the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and due to the IDF's decision to cancel the events this year "according to the assessment of the situation."
As first reported on Ynet, the Home Front Command clarified that "entering the Meron area is strictly prohibited, and the public is asked to be vigilant. Arriving in the closed military area without prior coordination and approval endangers public safety and human life."
Hezbollah has attacked Mount Meron, which is located some eight kilometers (5 miles) from the Lebanese border, repeatedly amid the ongoing war, launching large barrages of rockets at the mountain, as well as guided missiles at the Israeli air traffic control base that sits atop it.
Normally, tens of thousands of observant Jews visit the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on the mountain during Lag B’Omer.
Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, chief of the Home Front Command, signed the order to close off Mount Meron in coordination with relevant authorities at the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry, as well as security officials.
The Home Front Command says that it “stresses that entering the Meron area is strictly prohibited” during this time.
Last week, the chief rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Rabbi David Lau, issued a joint call to listen to the instructions of the security forces and not visit Mount Meron on Lag B'Omer this year.
"These days, a difficult military campaign is being waged in the north of the country and in the south, which, unfortunately, is exacting a very heavy price, and we continue to plead with prayer and supplication for the protection of all the people of Israel. In light of the security situation and the danger involved, it was decided by the security officials not to hold the revelry in Meron this year," the rabbis wrote.
"We hereby call upon our brothers, the House of Israel, wherever they are," they wrote, "to fulfill the commandment of the Torah, 'and be very careful for your souls.' It is absolutely obligatory to listen to the instructions of the security forces and not to go up to Mount Meron this year on Lag B'Omer."