Gov't approves Gaza border town fortification plan

"Plan will bring security to southern residents," PM says after Palestinians fire 3 Grads at Beersheba, 2 Kassams at Eshkol.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Bomb shelter 390 (photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Bomb shelter 390
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
The cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved providing full anti-missile protection to all communities within 4.5-7 kilometers of the Gaza Strip.
The move comes after last week’s barrage of rocket fire on the South from Gaza, and some three months before the elections.
Community leaders have been calling for this upgraded security protection for years.
Sderot Mayor David Buskila
Sderot Mayor David Buskila
“This will provide security for residents of the South,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. “We are doing this because attacks by rockets and missiles at shorter distances are much greater in the area around the Gaza Strip than at other distances.
I think that this is what residents of the South have been hoping for, they have been calling for it for a long time.”
Fortifying the schools and public buildings in communities at this distance from Gaza, as well as providing the necessary shelters for the private homes in the area, will cost some NIS 270 million. Communities within 4.5 km. of Gaza already have this “full protection.”No decision was made on where the money will come from, and the cabinet authorized the prime minister to decide within 30 days on the sources of financing without having to re-submit the issue for cabinet approval.