Municipality heads in the Gaza vicinity received a letter from Raanan Dinur, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday, in which they were told that the fortification of residents' homes located over 4.5 km from the border with the Strip has been delayed due to a lack of funds.
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"At your request the Home Front Command is re-examining its priorities, but as of now it has not yet received any formal recommendations," wrote Dinur. "In light of this I don't see any reason to discuss additional funds for the project at this time."
On Sunday council heads and Gaza vicinity community leaders met with senior officials of the IDF's Southern Command. According to the council heads, the officials displayed threatening scenarios before them, by which the fire on their region will increase significantly when the ceasefire ends. The council heads were asked to speed up fortification in light of these scenarios.
"We hear these things from army men and command officials, and whoever does not understand the significance of these assessments of the Southern Command and estranges himself from the fears of mothers living in Kfar Aza doesn't deserve to stand at a major decision-making junction at this time," said Shaar HaNegev Regional Council head Alon Shuster.
Shuster finds the protection of the towns relatively far from the fence extremely important. "During the past few months there have been very serious incidents in Kfar Aza and
Nir Oz,
and people have died from 120 mm mortar shells there. These towns are supposed to be fortified only during the next stage and that's why we believe the government must act urgently in order to fund all of the towns," he said.
Anna Kdoshim, whose husband Jimmy was killed
by a mortar shell, was surprised to hear of the government's decision. "I think our government is not strong enough to make such an important decision," she claimed.
"I feel as though we are being led like lambs to slaughter, we are simply being led by Hamas and the government. I lost my husband and I don't want to lose my children because I lack the ability to protect my family."
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