Home Front Command: New procedures apply to Tel Aviv
IDF says should the need arise residents of areas south of Haifa will be warned one minute prior to landing of rocket or rockets
Following Friday night's rocket attack on the Hadera area, Colonel Yechiel Kuperstein, head of the Home Front Command's defense department, told Ynet that the new procedures issued for residents south of Haifa apply to all residents on Israel's coastline plane, including Tel Aviv.
According to Kuperstein, an evaluation of the situation will be held on Saturday and will be followed by renewed procedures to the public for next week.
The colonel said that should the need arise residents of areas south of Haifa a warning one minute prior to the expected landing of a rocket or rockets.
The Home Front Command announced that residents of Atlit, Hadera, Zichron Yaacov, Caesarea, Binyamina, Pardes Hanna-Karkur and the surrounding areas are requested to obey the following orders:
Upon hearing a siren or a blast sound, those inside a building must immediately enter a fortified area or an internal room, far from openings, windows and external walls. Those outside a building must enter a stairwell, stand next to a wall or a nearby shelter and lie on the floor. Those inside a car must leave the car and enter a stairwell or stand next to a wall or a nearby shelter and lie on the ground. After 15 minutes residents may leave the fortified area if no other instruction has been issued.
'Our level of preparedness not coincidental'
Hospitals in central Israel have also been implementing new procedures; Hillel Jaffe Hospital in Hadera has increased its alert level from 2 to 3, which calls for tighter supervision over doctors’ vacation-time. The hospital treated eight people for shock following the rocket fire on the area.
Hospital Director Meir Oren told Ynet “our level of preparedness is not coincidental. We have been preparing since the onset of the war in accordance with Home Front Command and Health Ministry guidelines.”
Hillel Jaffe has no shelters, and in case of emergency staff will be able to transfer only the intensive care unit to a secure basement. However, some hospital rooms are considered protected spaces due to the fact that they have no windows in them; some of these rooms were used during Friday’s rocket attack.
