Minister of Pensioner Affairs Rafi Eitan told Israel Radio Tuesday that Israel faced the possibility of "an Iranian missile attack," and called on the home front to prepare bomb shelters and protected rooms in case of an Iranian attack.
"The Iranians have said very clearly that if they come under attack, their primary target would be Israel," Eitan said.
Iran is due to give its reply on Tuesday to a package backed by six world powers that aims to end a nuclear standoff with the West, but Iranian officials say Iran does not accept the key demand to suspend uranium enrichment.
Western diplomats said refusing to suspend the work that has both military and civilian uses would be tantamount to rejecting the package of incentives offered in return.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office, Raanan Dinur, told journalists he was planning to submit recommendations to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
onpreparations for the home front for the next war.
Iran's President Ahmadinejad has repeatedly threatned Israel (Photo: Reuters)
His comments suggested the recommendations would be obligatory since the level of surprise in which the home front was caught in the last war "was similar to the level of surprise of the Yom Kippur war."
With that, Dinur refused to define the geography of what will form the next home front.
Dinur sees a possibility of a fusion of the Home Front Command and the Ministry of Defense in the next war, and said that local authorities would have to strengthen their emergency systems.
Shimon Shiffer and Reuters contributed to this report