The Home Front Command will begin distributing new gas mask kits to the civilian population beginning in January. The plan is to hand out 4.5 million kits within three years. GOC Home Front Command Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, told Haaretz, "we would have liked to distribute kits in the least amount of time to the entire population of the country, but we don't have enough kits due to budgetary constraints."
The Home Front Command plans to distribute the kits to residents of the north and center, two areas thought to be at higher risk of chemical attack.
Golan also said the Home Front Command had completed a plan which would improve civil defense protection in older apartment buildings in which the individual units are not equipped with a reinforced room (mamad). The plan calls for the conversion of stairwells to civil defense areas which would accommodate residents during emergencies.
"This is an inexpensive, practical response," Golan said, "which can improve protection to thousands of households at a relatively small cost." He added that 2010 has been designated as a year in which civil defense preparedness is to be improved, noting that Israel is facing thousands of rocket warheads, some of which weigh half a ton.