Project Northern Shield: Defense industry to fortify the north

The Defense Ministry is building hundreds of safe rooms and shelters in the north as part of the effort to fortify the region after the war, according to a ministry statement today (Tuesday).

The Engineering and Construction Division of the Ministry of Defense, in collaboration with IDF Northern Command and the Home Front Command, announced a significant expansion in the implementation of the national plan for private protection along the northern border.

The 'Northern Shield' administration has begun working simultaneously in 17 settlements located within 0-1 km from the Lebanese border. 8 contracting companies are operating in the area and are constructing approximately 1,240 secure rooms (mamads) concurrently. Next month, construction of dozens of additional secure rooms will begin, joining the hundreds that have already been completed and delivered to residents.

For example, in Rosh Hanikra, in the Mateh Asher Regional Council, work is currently being carried out to build 181 secure rooms out of 196. In Netua, in the Ma'ale Yosef Regional Council, 52 secure rooms out of 56 are being built, and so on throughout most of the settlements along the border.

Tens of thousands of northern residents were forced to evacuate the region after October 7 to hotels and apartments at government expense, due to Hezbollah's increasing missile, drone, and anti-tank missile attacks across the border. These attacks, which took place over almost a year, killed and wounded dozens of Israeli citizens and soldiers.

Channel 14 reports that according to Minister Zeev Elkin, who is in charge of rebuilding the north on behalf of the government, some 43 settlements were evacuated during the war within a range of up to 3.5 kilometers from the Lebanese border, amounting to 64,745 residents in all.

Israel assesses the total property damage caused in the war at 9 billion NIS - 5.5 billion from direct damage and 3.5 billion from indirect damage. Some 2,900 structures were damaged in the war, most of them residential. In addition, 103 educational institutions, out of a total of 278 in the area, were hit.