Gas mask. Now through messenger service
Photo: AP
IDF expands distribution of gas masks
Following successful trial period, Home Front Command expects 60% to respond to new campaign
The Home Front Command is expanding its gas mask distribution campaign, following a successful pilot
in the Kiryat Ono area in the past few weeks. A new Postal Company campaign will be launched Tuesday evening, officially opening the process of distributing atomic, biological, and chemical kits to citizens' homes across Israel.
Some 70,000 A.B.C. kits have been distributed in the Kiryat Ono, Yahud and Or Yehuda area over the past few weeks, and as of Tuesday all of Israel's residents will be able to order the masks home through Postal Company messengers.
Colonel (Res.) Yossi Sagiv, head of the Home Front Command's Gas Mask and Protection Kits Department, says that the pilot generated a high response among many citizens, who arrived at the distribution stations to receive the gas masks, and that many used the Postal Company's services and ordered the kits home.
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Additional distribution stations will open in the cities of Ashdod and Rishon Lezion, and another four will open in eight additional locations across the country. "Citizens will be able to arrive at the stations independently and received the gas masks for free, or order the service home for a fee of NIS 25 (about $6.5) per household," said Sagiv.
The Postal Company will launch TV and newspaper ads in order to raise public awareness. The Home Front Command has expressed its satisfaction with the citizens' attitude and has estimated that it would be able to meet its target of distributing 1.5 million masks per year.
According to Sagiv, about 60% of the population will devote its time and energy to the matter and arrive at the distribution stations or order the kits through the messenger service.
Meanwhile, the masks' production process continues and the defense establishment is in the midst of negotiations with the Finance Ministry in order to agree on a budget which would allow the production of 100% of A.B.C. kits required for the entire Israeli public.
