Knesset committee approves IDF plan to collect, refurbish, redistribute masks.
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKELsteinitz speaking 298 88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, announced on Tuesday that the committee had approved a law proposed by the IDF in which it would collect, refurbish and redistribute gas masks to the population.
The law is intended to bring the masks held by the public up to par with new technological standards.
Similar bills had come before the committee three times in the past, but the MKs had declined to pass it on because the procedure proposed in the bills would leave too much time between collection and redistribution, leaving the population exposed to a potential non-conventional strike.
According to the new bill, however, the IDF would stock up on new masks before beginning the collection process, thus significantly cutting the time during which citizens would be without their masks.
The IDF estimated that the actual collection and redistribution would take between 4 to 6 days.
The army has promised to initiate the program within two years.
![steinitz speaking 298 88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/3159 "steinitz speaking 298 88")