The IDF’s Home Front Command has been carrying out an operation in recent weeks to arrange protection for thousands of Israelis in the north who lack shelters or safe rooms, Yediot Achranot reported.

The operation was launched to establish shelters for Israelis who live in old buildings that lack protected spaces and are unable to reach shelters within the warning time before an attack. Transferring residents to hotels in the north is not an option since they are already full of Israelis evacuated from areas close to the northern border.

Numerous locations were identified to serve as communal shelters, mainly underground parking lots. In the case of a war, residents without safe rooms will be evacuated to the shelters for short periods, from hours to days.

The Defense Ministry arranged for the acquisition of the shelters and they are currently being cleaned and equipped with non-perishable food and water.

The Home Front Command will be responsible for transporting civilians to the shelters.

Ynet quoted a military official familiar with the operation as saying: “We have now purchased about 80,000 food packages for the shelters. Transfer to hotels is not relevant because there are perhaps 10,000 available rooms left in Israel, which would barely be enough for a quarter of the population of Tzfat. We have strengthened protection solutions in cities near the border such as Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona but we’re not going to provide thousands of mobile shelters on the streets of the Krayot [suburbs of Haifa] or Akko – it’s expensive and impractical.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)