Israel’s ambulance service has stocked blood supplies in a fortified underground centre, factories have moved out hazardous materials and municipal authorities are checking bomb shelters and water supplies as the country waits for a threatened attack from Iran and its proxies.
Israel has been fortifying its home front for months, and many preparations have been in place since the start of the war in Gaza last October, when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen launched a devastating attack on Israeli communities around Gaza.
The military is on high alert and last weekend it augmented its nationwide system of air raid sirens and broadcast alerts to include real-time text messages to be sent to residents in targeted areas.
The Home Front Command has so far not issued any new guidelines to the public despite the open threats but many local councils have advised residents to reduce non-essential activity, stay near protected areas and avoid large gatherings.
In Haifa, public bomb shelters, which in times of routine are locked, have been equipped with digital systems so they can be opened remotely during an attack, said Yair Zilberman, director of the city’s security and emergency services department. They are also being equipped with individual generators, he said.
A number of underground parking lots have been approved as makeshift shelters with enough space for thousands of residents if needed, Zilberman said.
Israel now finds itself facing the threat of a multi-front war, confronting a clutch of militant movements – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, all backed and funded by its longstanding enemy Iran.
After months of alarm, and an attack by hundreds of Iranian missiles in April that was thwarted by Israel’s powerful air defences and the help of international allies, Israelis have become used to the crisis.
Thousands of people were evacuated from northern areas in range of Hezbollah rockets at the start of the war and many border areas now have an ghostly, abandoned air.
But a prolonged bombardment from Hezbollah’s powerful rocket arsenal could reach deeper into the country to sensitive targets like the port city of Haifa in northern Israel, which is well in range of Hezbollah’s arsenal.
