Defense Ministry Continues Fortification of Schools in Towns Near Gaza

The Defense Ministry’s Engineering and Building Department, together with the IDF’s Home Front Command, is completing a project to fortify dozens of classrooms, preschools, and public buildings against Hamas missile fire in towns near the Gaza border.

The fortification is part of a general project to rehabilitate and strengthen the Gaza-area communities, which were hard hit during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge.

Both the buildings’ facades and windows are being fortified or replaced, so that children can remain in them as long as necessary during a war.

In the past several months, the Engineering and Building Department’s Southern Command fortified 40 public buildings in Ashkelon (for a total of 14 institutions). Buildings were also fortified in Kfar Silver, Nehora, Netivot, and the regional councils of Sdot Negev, Lachish, Merhavim, Hof Ashkelon, and Sha’ar Hanegev, for a total of 32,292 square feet of fortified buildings.

In addition, another project is starting which will fortify 21,527 square feet of buildings in 28 Ashkelon schools.The project, which will also fortify several educational institutions in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, will cost 20 million shekels.