Civil defense in Israel
Threats have originated in all countries and territories bordering Israel (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt), as well as Iraq, and an Israeli civil airliner was attacked with missiles in Kenya.
On 27 December 2008, at the start of the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai signed an EE order applying to the local authorities in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip, Sderot, Netivot and Ashkelon.
On 20 May 2007 Defense Minister Amir Peretz declared an SSHF in areas of southern Israel struck by rocket attacks from Gaza.
The full name is ZAKA - Identification and Rescue - True Kindness (Hebrew: זק"א - איתור חילוץ והצלה - חסד של אמת).
[11] The "protected space" is a similar concept to the shelter but serves individual apartment units, building floors, or other public areas.
The idea of the protected space followed the First Gulf War, when the warning time for incoming missiles was shortened and there was a need for fast access to shelter.
[12] The move from subterranean bomb shelters to more elevated protected spaces was motivated by the possibility of the use of chemical weapons by neighbouring countries.
In March 2008 the government placed 120 fortified bus stops in Sderot, following a Defense Ministry assessment that most rocket-related injuries and fatalities were caused by shrapnel wounds in victims on the street.
[citation needed] In March 2009, Sderot inaugurated a reinforced children's recreation center built by the Jewish National Fund.
The Air Raid Sirens are called אזעקה ("Az'aka", literally "alarm"), and consist of a continuous, ascending and descending tone.
[25] During the 1991 Gulf War, Israel feared that Iraq would attack the country with missiles carrying chemical weapons and prepared accordingly.
Four million gas masks were distributed to citizens across the country, as well as to residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and chemical-proof sealed rooms were prepared in homes.
Upon missile attacks, air-raid sirens sounded nationwide and civil defense authorities instructed the public, via radio, to don gas masks and close themselves in sealed rooms.
[26] In early 1998, during an escalation in the Iraq disarmament crisis, a media-stirred panic of Iraqi chemical attack ensued in Israel, with thousands lining up at gas mask distribution centers.
[28] Prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, Israel instructed its citizens to ready their sealed rooms again and to carry gas masks at all times, though it assessed the likelihood of chemical attack as low.
On July 29, 2004, Israel and the United States carried out a joint test flight in the USA in which the Arrow was launched against a real Scud missile.
