Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced Tuesday that the mandate obliging travelers to wear a mask on international flights will not be extended beyond May 23, effectively ending the order.
According to Horowitz, the mandate will be removed May 23 at midnight - pending Knesset approval - a little over a month after Israel abolished the year-long mandate necessitating a mask in enclosed spaces.
The Health Ministry added that starting May 24, both Israeli and international arrivals traveling to Israel will not be required to undergo a PCR or antigen test before boarding a plane to Ben Gurion Airport.
The ministry added that those booking cruises from Israel will also no longer be required to undergo any sort of COVID testing, but travelers will still have to fill out a passenger statement before boarding a flight or a cruise.
The scrapping of the mask mandate on international flights is yet another COVID restriction to be lifted due to the apparent decline in coronavirus in Israel.
This decline has reportedly prompted a series of discussions at the Health Ministry on whether to end the quarantine requirement for confirmed coronavirus patients altogether.
According to current Health Ministry guidelines, individuals who test positive for coronavirus must be quarantined for at least five days regardless of vaccination status, and even if not displaying any symptoms.
Ministry officials estimate that Israel's last pandemic-induced restriction will be canceled after the number of daily cases stabilizes at a few hundred.