Israel’s Red Alert incoming rocket alert siren will now be activating only in the specific communities where the actual threat has been identified, the IDF announced Wednesday.
“We have understood from our past experience that with the single warning system Israel has had, it is not something that we can live with,” said Home Front Command Early Warning Unit director Lt.Col. Shlomi Maman.
“Under the new system, there will be 1,700 different alert areas, instead of the current system under which the country has been divided into just 255 general areas.”
For example: there are 13 communities, comprised of some 5,000 residents in the Gaza Belt region – but they are covered by two general areas under the current Red Alert system, Areas 236 and 238 – and all of them would hear the siren when a rocket was headed in their general direction.
“Citizens will be able to take defensive actions in a focused manner with the implementation of the new warning zones,” said the IDF.
“This move is intended to enable the realization of a balanced lifestyle in times of emergency.”
It will be possible to go to the Home Front Command website, enter one’s address, and find your specific warning zone, as well as the amount of time you have to find a safe space.
Under the new system, only the siren assigned to the specifically threatened community would activate in an attack. If three communities are threatened, then three sirens would activate, each with its own name, and so forth. Large cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva and others will each be split up into four areas. Smaller cities such as Netanya, Rishon Lezion and Herzliya will be split up into two areas.
Likewise, hospitals and other national infrastructures will each receive their own alert area name.